Industrial engineering student places 1st at HENAAC Conference

By Kristina Kenney
University News Service
October 19, 2011

Texas State University-San Marcos School of Engineering student Saul Villarreal took top honors at the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation (HENAAC) Conference on Oct. 8, placing first for his research on “Modeling, Analysis and Integration of Distributed Generation Systems in a Semiconductor Wafer Fab.”

Villarreal, an industrial engineering senior, competed against such universities and laboratories as the University of Notre Dame, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Clemson University and Florida A&M University. Villarreal worked with assistant professors Jesus Jimenez and Tongdan Jin from the Ingram School of Engineering on the project.

The annual HENAAC conference was initiated in 1989 as a means of identifying, honoring, and documenting the contributions of outstanding Hispanic American science, engineering, technology and math professionals, and during the past 22 years, the conference has evolved to provide additional activities and opportunities for students and professionals. The conference’s main goal is to highlight and showcase outstanding role models in order to inspire young people to pursue careers in technology and to motivate professionals to continue to connect with the Hispanic community.

For more information, contact Susan Romanella at (512) 245-7464 or by email at sr23@txstate.edu.