Wagura named industrial engineering student marshal

4/12/2016

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Senior David Wagura has been selected as the student marshal for the industrial engineering baccalaureate degree program at the College of Engineering spring commencement ceremony on May 6. Wagura will receive dual bachelor of science degrees in industrial engineering and economics with a minor in business.

He has selected Soundar Kumara, Allan E. Pearce and Allen M. Pearce Professor of Industrial Engineering, to be his faculty escort at the ceremony.

“It is a rare privilege and pleasure to work with a student like David,” said Kumara. “He is very detail oriented and smart, and he is not afraid to tread on the path less taken. He is among the best undergraduates I have ever worked with at Penn State, which includes three student marshals and several Schreyer Honors Scholars.”

A native Kenyan who was raised in Broomall, Pennsylvania, Wagura has been the recipient of several scholarships during his time at Penn State, including the Department of Economics Undergraduate Award (2016), the Harold and Inge Marcus Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Scholarship (2013 and 2015), the Life Technologies Honor Scholarship (2014) and the Accenture Undergraduate Minority Scholarship (2013).

He has been actively involved in the Penn State community since he arrived on campus serving as an Engineering Ambassador (2013-present), a resident assistant in South Halls (2013-14), the Academic Excellence Chair of the National Society of Black Engineers (2012-13) and as the program assistant for the Multicultural Engineering Program Orientation (2012-13).

Wagura also participated in the Penn State Deloitte Case Competition in 2015 where his team finished fourth out of 53 teams.

A Schreyer Honors Scholar, Wagura is a member of several honor societies including: Tau Beta Pi, the honor society for engineering students; Alpha Pi Mu, the honor society for industrial engineering students; Phi Beta Kappa, the honor society for liberal arts and science students; and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.

He has had several intern and co-op experiences while completing his undergraduate studies. He served as an analyst for his co-op with The Connors Group during the summer of 2015 and the fall of 2014. In the role of analyst, he interviewed mechanics and studied jobs for the creation of standards.

He was also a process engineering intern for CNH Industrial during the summer of 2014 and an industrial engineering intern at ArcelorMittal during the summer of 2013.

Wagura spent his spring break this year in Peru as part of the Schreyer Honors College study abroad program. While there, he spent in the Amazon rain forest as well as in the cities of Puerto Maldonado and Lima. The goal of the trip was for students to learn about the Peruvian people and their culture while developing projects that Penn State students and Peruvian students could collaborate on in the future.

“Peru surprised me in how similar it is to my country of birth, Kenya,” said Wagura. “I found it very interesting how two different communities faced with somewhat similar challenges came to very similar conclusions of how to build their civilizations.

“Often we focus on the many things that are different between us and other cultures, but this trip showed me that there are many more things that connect all of us than we realize upon first glance."

Following graduation, Wagura will begin his career as a strategy and operations business analyst at Deloitte Consulting in Philadelphia.

College of Engineering student marshals are selected for their outstanding academic achievement and contributions to engineering student life.