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SOUTHFIELD—Two outstanding graduates will be honored at the May 7 Commencement ceremonies of Lawrence Technological University as winners of LTU’s 2021-2022 Edward Donley Distinguished Graduate Award.

This year’s winners are Andrea Houck of South Lyon, who will graduate May 7 with dual Bachelor of Science degrees in physics and mathematics, and Juan Jaramillo of Windsor, Ontario, a December 2021 graduate with a Bachelor of Science in biomedical engineering.

Andrea Houck and Juan Jaramillo

Donley Award winners are selected by the LTU Alumni Association Board of Directors. The awards recognize not only academic achievement, but also participation in campus activities, employment while a student, and involvement in professional associations and the community.

Houck, who will graduate summa cum laude, was elected co-vice president of the LTU chapter of the Society of Physics Students in 2020 and its co-president in 2021. That chapter was named an SPS “Distinguished Chapter” in 2020 and an “Outstanding Chapter” in 2021. On LTU’s campus, she helped LTU secure an American Physical Society grant to fund a new organization, “Committee for Women in Physics.”

Houck was an active member of the Chi Omega Rho sorority at LTU, and, with both the sorority and other students, raised funds for several charities. She helped coordinate study sessions for LTU students through SPS and the LTU Math Club, and organized diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. In addition to participating in several research projects at LTU, she performed research as an intern at Brookhaven National Laboratory. She was also secretary and treasurer of the LTU Math Club.

After graduation, Houck plans to pursue a PhD in medical physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Jaramillo, also a summa cum laude graduate, participated in several biomedical engineering research projects. He was vice president of the LTU chapter of Alpha Eta Mu Beta, the biomedical engineering honor society. He was also chosen to lead his LTU BME senior project. He also helped create a mentoring program for first-year BME students and tutored his fellow students.

In addition, Jaramillo was captain of LTU’s men’s soccer team, where he was named to the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference all-conference team his junior and senior years. He was an NAIA academic all-American and a winner of the NAIA Champions of Character award for sportsmanship. He is also a youth soccer coach and a student ambassador for the American Red Cross Collegiate Leadership Program.

After graduation, Jaramillo joined Canadian Hospital Specialties, a privately held medical device manufacturer and distributor in Oakville, Ontario, as a new product introduction biomedical engineer.

The awards are named for Edward Donley (1921-2017), a 1943 engineering graduate of LTU, who went on to become chairman and CEO of Air Products and Chemicals Inc., an Allentown, Pa.-based company that has more than 19,000 employees and annual revenue of $9 billion. He was also a national figure in education, serving on numerous boards dedicated to improving teacher training and certification, and was a longtime LTU board member and benefactor.

Lawrence Technological University is one of only 13 private, technological, comprehensive doctoral universities in the United States. Located in Southfield, Mich., LTU was founded in 1932, and offers more than 100 programs through its Colleges of Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Business and Information Technology, and Engineering. PayScale lists Lawrence Tech among the nation’s top 11 percent of universities for alumni salaries. Forbes and The Wall Street Journal rank LTU among the nation’s top 10 percent. U.S. News and World Report lists it in the top tier of best in the Midwest colleges. Students benefit from small class sizes and a real-world, hands-on, “theory and practice” education with an emphasis on leadership. Activities on Lawrence Tech’s 107-acre campus include more than 60 student organizations and NAIA varsity sports.