Jacob Holmes Named 2026 College of Engineering Outstanding Senior

Jacob Holmes, a senior in the Department of Industrial Engineering, has been named the 2026 College of Engineering Outstanding Senior at the U of A. The college presents this honor each year to a graduating senior whose dedication to campus and the engineering profession reflect the values of the college. 

Holmes graduated Saturday with a Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering and operations analytics and a Bachelor of Arts in French and German, with minors in engineering management, Japanese and mathematics. A Bodenhamer Fellow in the Honors College, he has maintained a 4.0 GPA across both degrees while completing master's-level engineering coursework in German at the Technical University of Darmstadt. 

Much of the work that distinguished Holmes traces back to the Jane B. Gearhart Full Circle Food Pantry, where he served for two years as an intern and as the pantry's data and operations coordinator. He managed an $80,000 operating budget, justified a request to double the pantry's operational funding and led a competitive bidding process to install an optimized locker system that expanded capacity for patrons. 

That project became the foundation of his honors research. Working with associate professor Ashlea Bennett Milburn, Holmes built simulation models to evaluate operational policies for the locker system, supporting decisions aimed at keeping the pantry accessible as demand grows. The research has been supported by $5,500 in grants and presented at three conferences. 

During an eight-month internship with United Airlines, Holmes worked as an internal consultant building data frameworks to standardize baggage recovery operations across the carrier's network. He helped launch baggage-prioritization and training programs at five hub airports, investigated and resolved a scheduling-engine bug that returned a portion of lost bags to passengers more quickly and proposed a plan to cut engine-overhaul turnaround time at the airline's San Francisco facility. 

Holmes studied at TU Darmstadt during the spring and summer of 2025 and completed his engineering coursework in German. He reached advanced proficiency in French through coursework at TU Darmstadt and earlier programs in Grenoble, France, and Québec, Canada, and passed the Japanese Language Proficiency Test at the N3 intermediate level in 2021. 

Chase Rainwater, professor and head of the Department of Industrial Engineering, nominated Holmes for the award. 

"Jacob represents the best of what an industrial engineer can be," Rainwater said. "He combines technical mastery with empathetic problem solving, and he has applied both to real systems on this campus and beyond. The work he did at the food pantry is the kind of student project where service, leadership and research converged on the same problem, and his impact will outlast his time here." 

"Jacob embodies the qualities the college honors with the award," said Kim Needy, dean of the College of Engineering. 

"He is exactly the kind of graduate the College of Engineering is proud to send into the world," Needy said. "He is technically excellent, globally prepared and grounded in service to his community. Jacob used his engineering education to make a measurable difference for his peers, and we expect he will continue to do so throughout his career." 

Three other graduating seniors were named College of Engineering Outstanding Senior finalists: Shdan Alserhan, biomedical engineering; Barrett Johnson, civil engineering; and Shae Threlfall, mechanical engineering. 

On campus, Holmes serves as vice president of operations for the Volunteer Action Center, where he oversees a $325,000 annual operations budget and leads recruitment and interviews for more than 60 board positions. He is treasurer of the U of A student chapter of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers, a teaching assistant for the department's Facility Logistics course and a member of Alpha Pi Mu, Delta Phi Alpha and Pi Delta Phi honor societies. He was named to the 2025 Homecoming Court. 

"Engineering taught me to work with the unexpected. That's what lets you solve big problems," he said. 

Holmes delivered remarks as the Outstanding Senior at the College of Engineering's spring commencement ceremony. After graduation, he will join capSpire as an associate consultant in Houston in July. 

Outstanding Departmental Seniors 

Each program in the College of Engineering names an outstanding senior. The 2026 honorees are: 

• Holli Jenkins, Biological and Agricultural Engineering
• Shdan Alserhan, Biomedical Engineering 
• Jared Noel, Ralph E. Martin Department of Chemical Engineering 
• Barrett Johnson, Civil Engineering 
• Charles Williams, Computer Engineering 
• Ethan Coffman, Computer Science 
• Jordan Shortt, Data Science 
• Aidan Donoho, Electrical Engineering 
• Jacob Holmes, Industrial Engineering 
• Shae Threlfall, Mechanical Engineering 

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.