Message from BDPA Cincinnati Chapter President (May 2018)

Johnson, Harrigan, Harrigan and Murph

Good morning BDPA Members, I am prompted to give you this update because I attended a graduation celebration for one of our BDPA students last night. I will additionally update you on three other BDPA Students in attendance. This was Hadiya Harrigan’s celebration. From left to right Christian Johnson, Hasani Harrigan, Hadiya Harrigan and Austin Murph are shown in the photo.

Christian graduated this spring from North Carolina A&T State University with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and he has accepted a Product Engineering position at Microsoft in Dallas Texas.

Second from the left is Hasani Harrigan. Hasani is a junior at Tuskegee University majoring in Mechanical Engineering. Hasani has been selected for an internship at Boeing this summer.

Frank Hill

Third from the left is Hadiya Harrigan. Hadiya graduated Summa Cum Laude from Tuskegee University with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. Hadiya will be attending Duke University in the fall, pursuing Masters and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering. Hadiya will intern at P&G this summer.

Austin Murph is on the far right. Austin is currently attending the University of Cincinnati at Blue Ash. Austin plans to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering at Ohio State University in the fall.

As a long time, instructor for BDPA and Cincinnati State, I am continuously energized by the success of students that I have taught. I further believe that there is a great need for people to teach technology at any level and I encourage everyone to actively "get in the game". You are needed and your impact will last forever!

Have a great day!
Frank Hill
President, BDPA Cincinnati Chapter

Bemley Scholar Ahmed Mahamad Graduates with Health Sciences Degree from University of Minnesota

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) is proud to recognize Bemley Scholar Ahmed Mahamad for his successful graduation from the University of Minnesota (Rochester) with a bachelor of sciences degree in Health Sciences.

Ahmed has a powerful BDPA legacy. He is one of the rare students in history to win three (3) national BDPA High School Computer Competition (HSCC) championships. He won those three championships in 2007, 2008 and 2009 as a member of the HSCC teams trained by BDPA Southern Minnesota chapter. As a result of his excellence Ahmed earned multiple college scholarships including the Dr. Jesse Bemley Scholarship awarded by BETF to support his educational efforts at the University of Minnesota.

Ahmed joined with two other HSCC alums (James Arama and Adwait Walimbe) in 2010 to create the StartLounge. StartLounge was a visual, social interface that engaged users with Facebook integration to let them preview Facebook news feeds and photos.

As a college student Ahmed continued to support his BDPA family. He was a student instructor for BDPA Southern Minnesota for a number of years and he was a participant in the 2010 BDPA IT Showcase held in Philadelphia PA. His research topic during that year's IT Showcase was entitled, 'Robotics Bioinformatics and Medicine' [paper / poster].

Ahmed is the 'future face of technology'. His graduation this weekend from the University of Minnesota is simply another step in his personal quest to rise from 'the classroom to the boardroom'. Whenever BETF donors or volunteers begin to waiver in our commitment to support of BDPA programs, scholarships and services we merely need to remember the example of Ahmed Mahamad. Today, I ask all of you to join BETF in tipping our caps to this talented young man ... and if your heart tells you ... please help us provide more college scholarships in the future for other young 'uns like Ahmed!

Congratulations Ahmed ... University of Minnesota graduate, Class of 2013!