ENGINEERING STUDENTS FILL TOP RANKS IN STATE TEST

Written by Cory Chandler

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: August 16, 2005
CONTACT: Cory Chandler, cory.chandler@ttu.edu

LUBBOCK – Five Texas Tech University engineering students ranked among the top 1.2 percent of Texas test-takers on the Spring 2005 Fundamentals of Engineering exam, administered by the Texas Board of Professional Engineers.

These five College of Engineering students were named top performers on the exam. Only 19, or 1.2 percent, of the 1,582 students who took the exam in Texas achieved this exclusive status. Texas Tech students accounted for 26 percent of the top-performing test-takers in the state even though they represented only 7 percent of the total examinee population, said College of Engineering Dean Dr. Pamela Eibeck.

The Fundamentals Exam is an eight-hour, nationwide exam given to applicants for engineering licensure. It is administered in two parts, with the first 120-question section covering questions common to all engineering disciplines. The second part of the exam focuses on questions specific to selected engineering programs.

To achieve the “top performer” ranking, students must score 90 percent or better on the exam.

The Texas Tech students were: Rahul Khopkar, a graduate student in electrical engineering; Fei Gao, a graduate student in electrical engineering; David Hasting, a dual civil engineering and architecture student; Puneet Jagralapudi, a graduate student in electrical engineering and Erik Hansen, a civil engineering major.

More information can be found at: http://www.tbpe.state.tx.us/exam_topscores_405.htm

-30-

CONTACT: Dr. William Lawson, deputy director, National Institute for Engineering Ethics, College of Engineering, Texas Tech University, (806) 742-3521, or william.d.lawson@ttu.edu.