Mechanical Engineering Student Wins Outstanding Student of the Year Award

Brent Kostich received the University Transportation Center Program’s Outstanding Student of the Year Award in Washington DC in January. Dr. Jun-Seok Oh, WMU’s Transportation Research Center for Livable Communities director, nominated Brent for his participation in the Effect of Cycling Skills on Bicycle Safety and Comfort Associated with Bicycle Infrastructure and Environment research project for the Transportation Research Center for Livable Communities. Brent’s role in the project was the design and implementation of the sensor system and data collection for the project.

When asked how he went about completing the project, he stated “Using bits and pieces from all of my classes with other outside knowledge to aid in the design process.” He was interested in the project because it was dynamics related, a passion of his. Brent is also passionate about engineering as a field. When asked what he would change in the world if he could, he mentioned that he would love to revamp the system to inform people in a practical way of what makes an engineer. He feels that if people truly understood engineering that there would be more individuals interested in the STEM fields. 

Brent is from Clarkston, Michigan and a mechanical engineering graduate student. As a graduate student, he is teaching a recitation class this semester and finds it’s a very rewarding environment helping undergraduate students get a better understanding of the class. He will be graduating this spring.