U of A Engineering Students Recognized for Transforming Internship Experiences Into Industry Solutions

The U of A College of Engineering is proud to announce the winners of the 2025-26 Student of the Year Awards. These honors, presented by Engineering Career Connections, recognize students who have demonstrated exceptional technical skill, leadership and professional growth during their industry placements. 

This year's honorees include Julie Jansen, Geoffery Agroku and Diego Ignacio Peredo Yshiy. Their achievements highlight the vital connection between classroom learning and real-world impact. 

Technical Innovation and Leadership 

Julie Jansen, a senior civil engineering student, has been named both the 2025-26 Intern of the Year and the national 2025 CEED Intern Student of the Year, presented by the American Society for Engineering Education.  

During her summer internship with Garver, Jansen developed a custom spreadsheet to streamline iterative analysis and optimize beam design. Her work directly reduced steel weight and project costs for the client. 

Beyond her technical contributions, Jansen took the initiative to organize networking and job-shadowing sessions for fellow interns, fostering a collaborative and supportive learning environment within the firm.

Geoffery Agroku, a doctoral student in civil engineering, earned the 2025-26 Graduate Student Intern of the Year Award. While interning at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Agroku developed an upgraded user interface and interactive dashboard to assess closure impacts. The tool allows nontechnical users to make rapid, data-informed decisions, significantly expanding the organization's analytical capacity. His work was also accepted for publication, reflecting the high professional caliber of his research.

Diego Ignacio Peredo Yshiy, the 2025-26 Cooperative Education Student of the Year, is a computer science student who completed summer and fall internships with Angeles Investors Inc. During his co-op experience, Yshiy consistently exceeded expectations by identifying inefficiencies in internal workflows and helping the company operate more efficiently. His work significantly reduced manual processes, allowing teams to devote more time to higher-impact projects. 

Yshiy also demonstrated strong leadership by onboarding and mentoring new interns, ensuring the long-term success of the systems and processes he helped implement. Through this experience, he said he gained a clearer sense of his professional purpose: to drive meaningful change through developing new approaches to existing challenges. 

The Power of Industry Partnerships 

These awards are made possible through collaboration between the Engineering One Stop and industry partners who provide transformative professional experiences for students. 

Engineering One Stop is a centralized student support unit within the U of A College of Engineering that helps engineering and computer science students succeed academically and professionally. The program provides advising support, academic coaching, peer mentoring, scholarship guidance and career connections while partnering closely with the First-Year Engineering Program.

"These recognitions speak volumes about the dedication our students bring to their professional development," said Robyn Williams, director of Engineering Career Connections. "We are incredibly proud of Julie, Greoffery and Diego. We also extend our sincere appreciation to our industry partners. By opening their doors to our students, they provide the real-world environment necessary to help develop the next generation of world-class engineers." 

The College of Engineering also recognized Garver as Large Employer of the Year and Crafton Tull as Small Employer of the Year for their outstanding commitment to mentoring and supporting U of A engineering interns. 

Visit the Employer and Intern of the Year website for more information. 

About the College of Engineering: The University of Arkansas College of Engineering is the state's largest engineering school, offering graduate and undergraduate degrees, online studies and interdisciplinary programs. It enrolls more than 4,700 students and employs more than 150 faculty and researchers along with nearly 200 staff members. Its research enterprise generated $47 million in new research awards in Fiscal Year 2025. The college's strategic plan, Vision 2035, seeks to build the premier STEM workforce in accordance with three key objectives: Initiating lifelong student success, generating transformational and relevant knowledge, and becoming the destination of choice among educators, students, staff, industry, alumni and the community. As part of this, the college is increasing graduates and research productivity to expand its footprint as an entrepreneurial engineering platform serving Arkansas and the world. The college embraces its pivotal role in driving economic growth, fueling innovation and educating the next generation of engineers, computer scientists and data scientists to address current and future societal challenges.