Joanna David, a Natchez native, received the annual Senior Leadership Award for the UM School of Engineering, among other awards.
OXFORD, Miss. – While many students are nominated for the University of Mississippi School of Engineering’s annual Senior Leadership Awards, few are actually chosen to receive the honor. So when Joanna Leigh David of Natchez was told of her selection for the coveted recognition, she was greatly appreciative.
“I have had the immense honor of representing all of the 1,034 engineering students this past year by serving as the Engineering Student Body president,” said the 23-year-old chemical engineering major with an environmental engineering emphasis. “The greatest lesson I have learned at Ole Miss is that we, as engineers, are the helpers of the world.”
A Taylor Medalist and student in the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, the David Arnold Service Award winner also served as a Delta Delta Delta sorority officer and engineering ambassador. A member of Phi Kappa Phi academic honorary, David has been on both the chancellor’s and dean’s honor rolls at the university. While managing to maintain a stellar grade-point average, she was vice president of the Ole Miss chapter of Tau Beta Pi, a National Engineering Society and Twin Creeks Technologies scholarship recipient and participant in the Luckyday Success Program.
“My favorite professors include Dr. John O’Haver, who challenged me not only as a student, but also as a Christian,” David said. “Dr. Cris Surbeck, Dr. Peter Sukanek and Dr. Paul Scovazzo have also been remarkably instrumental in my development as an engineer.”
Her community services include Engineers Without Borders and Living Waters for the World. She has been a summer intern for Mississippi River Pulp LLC, Engineering Ambassador Program and Jefferson Street United Methodist Church.
“The University of Mississippi and the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College have provided me with the opportunity to invest myself in this interest through completing undergraduate research focusing on drinking water treatment through an electricity-free, solar disinfection method,” David said. “My research has allowed me to reveal my passion for engineering with others through sharing my experiences with local youth, as well as being invited to speak at the 2012 World Environmental and Water Resources Congress.”
In addition, David’s research is pending peer review for journal publication. If published, the findings could save the lives of countless individuals in Third World countries.
A UM faculty member said David is most deserving of her accolades.
“Joanna is very smart, witty, vivacious, caring and involved,” said O’Haver, professor of chemical engineering. “She will continue to make a positive impact in the world around her, at work, home and in church.”
David’s post-graduation plans include working for ExxonMobil in Baton Rouge as a contact engineer, volunteering in local schools to help educate youth in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics areas and becoming involved in her church’s youth ministry.
“With a firm grip on my objectives, I will work to obtain my professional engineering license, as well as to become involved in professional organizations,” she said. “Once I am an engineer, safeguarding the public’s life, health, property and welfare is the principal objective I will meet every day, as this is what I feel constitutes being a successful engineer. Furthermore, I will also aspire to perform my work in an ethical and professional manner.”
Engineering has taught David more than academics, she said.
“As I began to pursue a career plan, I knew that I wanted to reflect my parents’ influence and be in a field that would allow me to not only obtain personal fulfillment, but also increase my awareness of the ability to improve the lives of others,” David said. “Fueled with a desire to help others, I decided to pursue a degree in chemical engineering with an environmental engineering emphasis. Having recently accepted a job with ExxonMobil, I aspire to improve the lives of numerous people through making chemicals or gasoline more accessible and more affordable.”
If asked to share wisdom with the incoming freshmen class entering the School of Engineering, David said she would advise them to become acquainted with the faculty.
“The faculty has been a continued blessing in awarding scholarships, offering advice and assisting in continuing the role of my parents by being examples of service and work ethic,” she said. “Secondly, I would implore them to discover and foster a sense of pride in their work as an engineer.”
David is the daughter of Jerry and Joan David. She plans to marry her classmate Alex Harrelson in October.