Chad Sterling, Computer Science

By Andy Fell, Dateline

Chad Sterling says it would be easy to come to the lab in the morning, get caught up in research all day, and not do anything else. Not that he ever does.

"He's an outstanding individual, in his service to students, to the African American community on campus, the campus as a whole, and the general community," said Rene Maldonado, director of the Math, Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA) outreach program at UC Davis.

Sterling, 24, of Vallejo, a graduate student in computer science, has won a national 2005 Black Engineer of the Year Award in the category of graduate student leadership, one of two winners in the category. Winners of this year's awards will be honored at the annual Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference in Baltimore, Feb. 17 to 19. And the Sacramento Observer newspaper recently named Sterling one of "30 under 30" young professionals recognized for their service to the Sacramento community.

Sterling received his bachelor's degree in computer science and engineering from UC Davis in 2003, and plans to graduate this June with a master's in computer science. Following an internship with Hewlett-Packard last summer, he plans to accept a job offer with the computer manufacturer after graduating. He is considering whether to return for a doctoral degree after a few years working.

For his master's degree, Sterling has been working on software to automatically find the source of bugs in programming code.

"He's been a pleasure to work with," said his thesis adviser, computer science professor Ron Olsson. "I'm sort of disappointed he's not staying on for a Ph.D."

As an undergraduate, Sterling took a leadership role in both campuswide activities and service to the African American and minority communities. In winter quarter 2002, he was elected as a senator of the Associated Students of UC Davis, and he has served on a number of ASUCD committees and organizations.

"I wanted to highlight issues that are sometimes overlooked on campus, and to provide a voice for those who don't have one," Sterling said.

He has held a number of posts in the Black Engineers Association, including president and telecommunications chair, driving an increase in membership and activity by the club. The association is the campus chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers. The student-run society aims to increase the numbers of black engineers who "excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community."