Spring 2025 Student Marshals

The Penn State College of Engineering has named its student marshals for the spring 2025 commencement ceremony. One student is selected to represent each of the 14 majors associated with the college and the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program. 

Student marshals are selected for their outstanding academic achievement and contributions to engineering student life. 

Peter Eric Bachman

Aerospace Engineering

Peter Bachman will receive a bachelor of science in aerospace engineering.  

Bachman earned several awards and scholarships while at Penn State, including the Evan Pugh Scholar Award, President Sparks Award, President Walker Award, and the Richard W. Leonhard Scholarship.

Bachman was an active member of Nittany Rocket Labs and the Penn State International Affairs and Debate Association.

As an undergraduate research assistant at Penn State, he wrote scripts for aerospace design optimization in the Computational Complex Engineered Systems Design Laboratory. He also conducted research on aerospace design optimization using Bayesian Optimization. 

Upon graduation, Bachman plans to attend Penn State in pursuit of a graduate degree in aerospace engineering.

Sandra Ling

Architectural Engineering

Sandra Ling will receive an integrated bachelor of architectural engineering and master of architectural engineering.

As a Schreyer Honors College student, Ling completed a thesis investigating impacts of building orientation and shading on circadian potential of an open office space.

Ling earned several awards and scholarships while at Penn State, including the International Association of Lighting Designers Travel Stipend to attend the Enlighten Europe 2024 Conference in London, the Designers Lighting Forum of New York Student Achievement Award, Herman O. West Foundation Scholarship, and the Academic Excellence Scholarship.

As an electrical engineering Intern for Summer Consultants Inc., Ling drafted power and lighting plans for buildings and performed lighting calculations and renders. She also performed lighting calculations and drafted lighting plans for buildings as a lighting design intern for EwingCole and learned about lighting and power distribution of buildings and drafting as an electrical engineering intern for CFR Engineering.

Upon graduation, Ling will join Summer Consultants, Inc., as an electrical engineer.

Landis Jane Crawford

Biological Engineering

Landis Jane Crawford will receive a bachelor of science in biological engineering with a minor in sustainability leadership.

As a Schreyer Honors College student, Crawford completed a thesis titled Comprehensive Approach to Improving on-Farm Access Lanes and Stream Crossing with Considerations of Aquatic Passageway and Pollution Reduction.

Crawford earned several awards and scholarships while at Penn State, including the Albert and Ellen Jarrett Scholarship for Biological Engineering Students, Howard D. Bartlett Scholarship in Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Girl Scouts of the USA Gold Award Scholarship, 2022 Farm Credit Growing Your Career Scholarship, 2022 Dairy Excellence Foundation Student Leader Scholarships, Natural Lawn Dan Collins Scholarship Award, and Chancellor's Scholarship: The Behrend College.

She completed research in Australian Nutrient Cycling and Groundwater at IRES Monash University, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture: Agricultural Plastic Waste Improvement in the Penn State Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, and Erie Community Glass Recycling and Food Compost Pilot Project and River Litter and Street Sweeper Litter Monitoring Surveys, both at Penn State Behrend. 

Crawford was an active member in Alpha Epsilon, serving as president from 2024-25.

She was a member of the Penn State 1/4 Scale Pulling Team, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers IQS Competition in 2024-25.

Upon graduation, Crawford will join Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, Inc., as a staff engineer I.

Lindsay Paige Stone

Biomedical Engineering

Lindsay Paige Stone will receive a bachelor of science in biomedical engineering.

Stone earned several awards and scholarships while at Penn State, including the President Walker Award, President Sparks Award, and Evan Pugh Scholar Award.

She completed research in Ultrasound Stimulated Delivery of microRNA Therapeutics, Ultrasound Stimulated Delivery of Growth Factors for Bone Regeneration, and CAR T cell microRNA Bio-factory Project at Penn State and CRISPR-Cas9 Modification of CD11b Receptor at Case Western Reserve University.

She was an active member of Tau Beta Pi and Phi Eta Sigma. She was a member of the Biomedical Engineering Society and the Society of Women Engineers and participated as a dancer in IMPACT, aPenn StateTHON™ organization in 2025.

As a patient care coordinator with Rheumatology Associates, Stone checked-in patients, measured height and weights, and managed prescription refills and insurance information. She also graded exams and homework for organic chemistry classes as a CHEM 110/112 grader at Penn State.

Upon graduation, Stone plans to attend graduate school and major in cancer biology and immunology.

Mitchell Hayden Barker

Chemical Engineering

Mitchell Hayden Barker will receive a bachelor of science in chemical engineering with a minor in chemistry.

As a Schreyer Honors College Student, Barker completed a thesis on the first principles study of hydrogenation reactions on (110) titania rutile surface.

Barker earned several awards and scholarships while at Penn State, including the President Walker Award, President Sparks Award, Evan Pugh Scholar Award, Penn State Provost Award, M. A. Montecalvo Scholarship, Schmanske Family Honors Scholarship, Lucas Family Honors Scholarship, Fick Honors Scholarship in Engineering, Baynard & Ethel Kunkle Scholarship, and the Rabosky Scholarship.

Barker was an active member in Omega Chi Epsilon, serving as corporate outreach chair 2023-25, and Tau Beta Pi. 

As an instructor's aide for the Penn State Department of Chemical Engineering, he assisted students with learning in CHE 330 and 230 via office hours and classroom activities. He also managed projects tied to water treatment and wastewater systems as an engineering intern for Guilford Performance Textiles by Lear and conducted testing on carbon capture in soil using agricultural amendments during a research and development co-op with Specialty Granules.

Upon graduation, Barker will join the Naval Nuclear Laboratory as a field engineer.

Evan Olver Kase

Civil Engineering

Evan Olver Kase will receive a bachelor of science in civil engineering with certificates in fundamentals of engineering and AutoCAD fundamentals.

Kase earned several awards and scholarships while at Penn State, including the President Walker Award, President Sparks Award, J. Bailey Kendlehart Award, Morrow Endowment Scholarship, Perry Gentzel Endowment Scholarship, Education Abroad Scholarship, Emil M. & Estelle F. Keen Scholarship, Carpenter and Masland Engineering Scholarship, Ready to Succeed Scholarship, and Dean’s list each semester.

Kase was an active member of Chi Epsilon.

He completed undergraduate research in ecological life cycle analysis of Penn State Solar Fields in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Kase was a 2022 finalist in the Undergraduate Teaching and Research Experiences in Engineering (UTREE) Leonhard Center Speaking Competition and a qualifier in the 2022 College Club Swimming National Championship. He participated in Penn State THON™ 2025, serving as executive committee operations director and in Penn State THON™ 2024as operations captain. He was a member of the Penn State swimming club, Penn State American Society of Civil Engineers, and the UTREE Professional Society, serving as competition judge from 2023-24 and mentor in 2024.

Upon graduation, Kase will join Kimley-Horn as a surface water engineer.

James Michael Connelly Jr.

Computer Engineering

James Michael Connelly Jr. will receive a bachelor of science in computer engineering with a minor in mathematics.

As a Schreyer Honors College Student, Connelly completed a thesis on the mixed reality fire escape tool with intelligent guide.

Connelly completed undergraduate research in an extended reality and computer networking Research Experiences for Undergraduate with Penn State and Smelting with Microwave Energy for Lunar Technologies  System for in-situ resource processing with Penn State and NASA.

As a CMPEN 331 learning assistant for Penn State, Connelly held office hours, proctored exams, and helped with recitations. He served as a leader in the Student Space Programs Lab, a volunteer in the Science Olympiad at Penn State, and as a volunteer committee member for Penn State Robotics Day.

Connelly earned first place in the Movin' On Battle of the Bands.

David Anthony Saldubehere

Computer Science

David Anthony Saldubehere will receive a bachelor of science in computer science and a bachelor of science in mathematics.

As a Schreyer Honors College student, Saldubehere completed a thesis on improved U-Net model for medical image segmentation tasks. He also completed undergraduate research in enhancing developer productivity in graphics processing unit programming through the Penn State School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Saldubehere earned several awards while at Penn State, including the President Walker Award, President Sparks Award, and Evan Pugh Scholar Award.

Saldubehere was an active member of the 3D Printing Club, serving as treasurer, and the Website Development Club, serving as president.

As a software engineering intern for Sheetz, Saldubehere developed several new inventory management systems. As a software engineering intern with the Penn State Office of Research Information Systems, he optimized and redesigned key in-house research administration tools.

Julian Gregory Daswani Gavino

Data Science

Julian Gregory Daswani Gavino will receive a bachelor of science in data sciences with a minor in mathematics.  

Gavino earned several awards and scholarships while at Penn State, including the President Walker Award, Discover Award, and the Signa Scholarship.

He completed undergraduate research in researching techniques and covariates for small-area estimation for Bao Lab.

Gavino held multiple positions at Penn State Erie, the Behrend College including a CMPSC 122 teaching assistant, on-campus tutor, and a PHYS 211 teaching assistant. He also explored applications of large language models and autonomous drones for analytic research as a data science intern with the U.S. government.

He was an active member of the Association for Computing Machinery, serving as machine learning director in 2025. 

Upon graduation, Gavino plans to attend graduate school to pursue a master’s degree in biostatistics.

Benjamin John Geoffroy

Electrical Engineering

Benjamin John Geoffroy will receive a bachelor of science in electrical engineering.

Geoffroy earned multiple awards and scholarships while at Penn State, including the President Walker Award, President Sparks Award, Evan Pugh Scholar Award, Dean’s list each semester, and the David Devore Scholarship.

Geoffroy was an active member in the Penn State Mont Alto Racket Club.

As an electrical engineering intern with Fives Landis, Geoffroy designed and tested electrical control systems for CNC grinding machines.

Upon graduation, Geoffroy will join Fives Landis as a controls engineer.

Evan Fonash

Engineering Science 

Evan Fonash will receive a bachelor of science in engineering science with a minor in engineering leadership development. 

As a Schreyer Honors College student, Fonash completed a thesis on characterization of early-stage mechanical fatigue mechanisms in aluminum. 

Fonash earned several awards and scholarships while at Penn State, including the President Walker Award, President Sparks Award, Dean’s list, Judith A. Todd Scholarship, Frank Gabron Scholarship, and Greater Cleveland Alumni Chapter of the Penn State Alumni Association Scholarship.

As a manufacturing engineering intern, he designed aviation parts, tooling fixtures, manufacturing processes, and capacity planning tools.

He was an active member in the Engineering Leadership Society, Society of Engineering Science, serving as treasurer in 2024 and president in 2025; Penn State THON™, serving as a hospitality committee member in 2024 and dancer relations committee member 2025; and Engineering Orientation Network, serving as a student mentor in 2025. Fonash also participated in intramural basketball and flag football.

Upon graduation, Fonash plans to attend graduate school to study engineering design and innovation.

Joseph Lee Mast

Industrial Engineering

Joseph Lee Mast will receive a bachelor of science in industrial engineering with a minor in engineering leadership development.

As a Schreyer Honors College student, Mast completed a thesis on investigating transportation methods and cost optimization for medical simulators.

Mast earned several awards and scholarships while at Penn State, including the Mike Erdman Global Leader Award, Phillip Seville Outstanding Community Service Award, Evan Pugh Scholar Award, President Sparks Award, President Walker Award, Amos E. Neyhart Scholarship in Industrial Engineering, Harold and Inge Marcus Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Scholarship, Norbert P. Gaelen Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Scholarship, Robert M. Troxell Engineering Scholarship, Wells Family Endowed Scholarship, William and Wendy Korb Scholarship in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Student Leadership Scholarship, and Becker Family Scholarship.

Mast was an active member in Tau Beta Pi; Delta Phi Alpha,;and Alpha Pi Mu, serving as treasurer 2024-25. He also participated in the ACRP Design Competition (Augmenting Passenger Throughput in Airport Terminals), winning second place nationally. 

He held multiple internships during his undergraduate career. As a V-22 new build program management intern with Boeing, Mast lead program meetings, managed over 4,300 tool transfer projects and a two-ton waste reduction initiative. He also worked urgent supply chain parts with a Texas supplier and documented quality discrepancies on aircraft as V-22 modification program management intern with Boeing. As an industrial engineering intern for Ventura Foods, he digitalized an onboarding and machine work-instruction database and identified faulty machinery with Kaizen.

Mast was an active member in Navigators; Food Recovery Network; Nittanyville; Penn State Engineering Global Brigades, serving as president in 2022 and treasurer from 2024-25; Schreyer Honors Orientation (SHO TIME), serving as orientation leader from 2022-25; Science Olympiad at Penn State, serving as event supervisor from 2021-25. He also participated in intramural sports, playing 119 games and earning 16 trophies.

Upon graduation, Mast will join Merck’s Manufacturing Leadership Development Program.

Joseph Thomas Daghir

Mechanical Engineering

Joseph Thomas Daghir will receive a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering with minors in engineering design and entrepreneurship and innovation.

As a Schreyer Honors College student, he completed a thesis on analyzing the effect of embedded fluorescent particles in elastomeric parts manufactured with digital light processing.

Daghir earned several awards and scholarships while at Penn State, including the Evan Pugh Scholar Award, President Sparks Award, President Walker Award, Penn State Engineering Alumni Society Scholarship, Schramm Foundation Scholarship, Myers Study Abroad Scholarship, Schreyer Academic Excellence Scholarship, Mary Allison Lang Scholarship, and American Society of Mechanical Engineers Scholarship.

As an Industry X summer analyst for Accenture, Daghir built the deployment strategy for the installation of a manufacturing asset management software. He automated the validation of post-processing techniques for additively manufactured heat exchangers as an additive design intern for GE Aerospace, and assisted material qualification processes for novel specialty alloys as a product development intern for Carpenter Technology.

He was an active member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; Digi Design, serving as E-hand project lead in 2022; and Engineering Undergraduate Council, serving as vice president of university relations from 2024-25.

Upon graduation, Daghir will join Accenture as an engineering and manufacturing consulting analyst.

Andrew Sallie

Nuclear Engineering

Andrew Sallie will receive a bachelor of science in nuclear engineering.

Sallie earned several awards and scholarships while at Penn State, including the Evan Pugh Scholar Award, President Sparks Award, President Walker Award, Dean’s list each semester, Academic Achievement in Engineering Award, Provost’s Award, Renaissance Scholarship, Scott M. Eckert Memorial Conservation Trustee Scholarship, Edward H. and Deborah R. Klevans Scholarship in Nuclear Engineering, R. Herman Trustee Scholarship in Engineering, and William J. Madden and Ethel Harer Madden Memorial Trustee Scholarship in Engineering. 

Sallie was an active member of Alpha Nu Sigma.

He completed undergraduate research in modeling lead fast reactor decay heat removal in CFD software for Penn State. 

Sallie competed in the John G. Palmer Woodsmen's Meet, earning first place in the water boil and log roll; 2023 Mid-Atlantic Woodsmen's Competition, earning third place in the orienteering and water boil and first place team; and 2024 Mid-Atlantic Woodsmen's Competition, earning second place in bow saw. He also participated in Penn State Mont Alto Cross Country and the Woodsmen's Team.

As a reactor engineering intern at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station with Constellation Energy, Sallie modified fuel tracking software to track control assemblies and analyzed factors affecting startup.

Upon graduation, Sallie will pursue a career in reactor engineering.

Tristian Michael Ritter

ROTC

Tristian Ritter will receive a bachelor of science in nuclear engineering.

Ritter was an active member in the Nuclear Navy Club, serving as treasurer in 2023 and president in 2024, and Penn State's Military Excellence Competition team, winning first place in 2023.

Ritter has held multiple internships with the United States Navy including midshipman submarine cruise intern, learning as much as possible about submarine systems; midshipman surface warfare-nuclear cruise, with a focus on aircraft carrier systems and operations; and midshipman instructor, training prospective midshipmen on military bearing and professionalism.

Upon graduation, Ritter will continue his military career with the United States Navy.