In Brief: IEEE honors engineering professor as Outstanding Student Branch Counselor

By Jack McClellan
Office of Media Relations
May 4, 2017

Texas State University's Lawrence Larson, a professor in the Ingram School of Engineering, was named the Region 5 Outstanding Student Branch Counselor by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE) at the IEEE Region 5 Annual Conference and Student Competitions.

Larson is the founding counselor of the IEEE Texas State University Student Branch. Texas State has participated in the annual conference since the founding of the Ingram School of Engineering in 2008.

“The award is a recognition of the effort spent supporting the activities of the student branch,” Larson said. “It recognizes both my success and the student branch's in their being a vibrant example of a successful student organization.”

Larson was nominated for the award by the Central Texas section of the IEEE, and chosen for the award by a regional selection committee. He was selected over candidates from 70 universities with IEEE student branches.

Larson credits the students for Texas State’s success at the conference, and said sees his role as one of support.

“I actively try to stay out of visibility and let the student leaders be the visible lead, while encouraging them to actively build new efforts and at the same time removing impediments that may be in their way,” Larson said.

The Texas State IEEE student branch has a history of success at the conference. Last year, the branch was named the best large student branch. In 2011, Texas State won the ethics competition and was named best small student branch.