Mechanical engineering Ph.D. student Christopher Ortega has been awarded the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Graduate Teaching Fellowship for the 2015-2016 academic year. The fellowship, awarded by the ASME Board on Education to outstanding mechanical engineering Ph.D. students interested in an academic engineering career, supports his current studies and provides a full teaching assistantship in the department.
Ortega, a native Houstonian, is the not only the first University of Houston student but also the first Latino to be awarded the fellowship in the 23 years of its existence. After attaining his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from UH in 2012, he was admitted into the Cullen College’s mechanical engineering doctoral program. Ortega has been an active member of ASME since 2009, participating in both the local UH ASME student organization and the South Texas Section. He is also the founder of the UH ASME student section’s Intro to Cougar Engineers Program, an educational outreach event that introduces over 400 local high school students each year to engineering principles through a design competition.
Ortega comes from a family of UH alumni and is proud to carry on the legacy of representing the University of Houston.