Student Recognized for Academic and Service Achievements

A Clark School student is the 2011 recipient of the Shirley C. Sorensen Academic Excellence Award from the University of Maryland Phi Kappa Phi Foundation.

Matthew Marcus, a junior aerospace engineering major, received the annual $1,000 scholarship that honors the long-time executive secretary of Phi Kappa Phi Chapter 22 and faculty member of the university’s mathematics department, Shirley C. Sorensen.

“Marcus clearly demonstrated the Phi Kappa Phi motto, ‘Let the Love of Wisdom Rule Humanity,’” said the foundation’s Board of Trustees chairman Charles F. Peake.

Peake said Marcus was selected as the award’s winner because of his strong academic and service achievements at Maryland. Marcus currently serves as the president of Sigma Gamma Tau Honor Society (for aerospace engineering) and recently participated in UM’s winning Solar Decathlon efforts as a member of the energy modeling team. Marcus earned a College Park Scholars citation this past spring from the Environment, Technology and Economy program.

Upon completion of his undergraduate degree, Marcus plans to pursue a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering. His research interests are in the development of manned spacecraft technologies, particularly the application of robotics systems. Marcus is a 2009 graduate of the Shoshana S. Cardin School in Baltimore and is the son of Jeffrey and Helene Marcus, of Ellicott City, Md.

Published December 2, 2011