HOUGHTON, MI (04/16/2012)(readMedia)-- Robert Parker, a third-year chemical engineering student at Michigan Technological University, has received $1,000 from the James D. and Monica A. Coté Endowed Scholarship.
Parker graduated from Cedarburg High School in 2009 and is the son of Cedarburg residents Jeff and Heidi Parker.
The annual scholarship provides $1,000 to the student with the highest fall-semester grade point average in the University's chapter of Theta Tau, the professional engineering fraternity. Parker has earned a cumulative GPA of 3.59 and a departmental GPA of 4.0.
"We set it up to recognize the top GPA of my fraternity and encourage academic achievement within the brotherhood," said James Coté, who earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Michigan Tech in 1962 and retired from General Motors in 2000 as the chief engineer for medium-duty trucks.
According to Parker, that's exactly what the scholarship has done. "I'm very thankful for the scholarship, plus The James and Monica Coté Endowed Scholarship instills positive competition amongst our members," he said. "Along with a strong sense of brotherhood, I believe it will lead inevitably to an increase in the academic success of Theta Tau."