Fifteen UA Engineering students and eight Management students have been named 2013 Thomas R. Brown Distinguished Scholars. The UA College of Engineering, Eller College of Management, and Thomas R. Brown Foundations recognized the scholars as well as Brown professors and chairs at an annual luncheon on October 24.

“The UA is one of our most important assets to leverage expertise and create things of value for humankind,” said Sarah Brown Smallhouse, who along with her sister, Mary Brown Bernal, leads the foundation named for their father.

Tom Brown started Burr-Brown Research Corp. in 1956 with his partner Page Burr, whom Brown later bought out. He eventually sold the company, which became a global leader in the semiconductor industry, to Texas Instruments in a stock deal worth more than $7 billion.

By supporting the best students, the best faculty, and the best programs, Smallhouse said, “we can hopefully set the table for something like that to happen again.”

Brown was named technology executive of the year in 2001 at the University’s Technology and Management Awards, which marked a longstanding collaboration between the College of Engineering and the Eller College of Management. It has become tradition at the annual scholarship luncheon to watch a video of Brown’s acceptance speech. His wisdom, humor, and business and engineering acumen are thus passed on every year to a new generation of entrepreneurs.

Brown, who died in 2002, said in the speech that support from the UA College of Engineering, the state, the community, outstanding employees, and good customers -- plus a degree of serendipity -- made Burr-Brown successful.

“To be successful you need good engineering, good management, and a noble purpose for the good of mankind,” he added, also saying that “you have to make enough mistakes to get your humility factor.”

Jean Wilkening, a sophomore in chemical engineering, spoke for all of the Engineering scholarship recipients when she said, “I, as an engineering student, would not be here today if I were not fortunate enough to have people helping me. With the support of the Brown Scholarship, I have been able to pursue so many opportunities. I only hope that I can one day repay your generosity by taking these experiences I’ve been granted here and turning them into a meaningful career where I can make a difference.”

To honor Tom Brown and continue his legacy of innovation and entrepreneurship, the Brown Family Foundations generously supports several University of Arizona endeavors. Gifts from the foundation to the College of Engineering and Eller College of Management are intended to foster an environment of creativity and enterprise that will produce the leaders of the future.

The foundation’s scholarships for Engineering and Management students reflect Tom Brown’s own educational choices, which began with an undergraduate engineering degree from MIT and continued with an MBA from Harvard. In 2006, the Brown Family Foundation established two permanent endowments to support the Thomas R. Brown Distinguished Scholarships in perpetuity.

See below for complete list of 2013 Thomas R. Brown Distinguished Scholars.

College of Engineering Thomas R. Brown Scholars
Rachel Braun       
Nathan Brooks       
Madison Egan       
Jeremy Gin       
Safatul Islam       
Daniel Martin
Mireya Moleres   
Haley Odom
Cody Pederson
Emily Ramirez
Jacob Rockland
Dominique Rodriguez
Suhitha Veeravelli
Sumana Veeravelli   
Jean Wilkening

Shown in photo at top of page are from left:
Bottom row -- Sarah Brown Smallhouse, Thomas R. Brown Distinguished Chair in Bioengineering Linda Powers, and Mary Brown Bernal
Middle row – Engineering alum and former scholar Mark Lauer; and 2013 Brown Engineering Scholars Jeannie Wilkening, Suhitha Veeravelli, Madison Egan, and Jacob Rockland
Back row – College of Engineering Dean Jeff Goldberg, Brown Foundations board member John Carter, Brown Engineering Scholar Dominique Rodriguez, foundations board member Gerald Swanson, and Engineering scholars Mireya Moleres and Rachel Braun
                
Eller MBA Scholars                    
Nir Herlinger                                     
Erica Morey               
James (Jimmy) O’Shea                                                
           
Eller Economics Graduate Fellows
Mike Matheis

Eller Economics Graduate Fellows
Mike Matheis
Erin McGuire
Ivan Rudik
Kyle Wilson

Eller Entrepreneurship Fellow
Nima Jamilpour