UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Rico Polim has been named the student marshal for the Penn State College of Engineering fall commencement ceremony on Dec. 17. Polim will receive a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering and master of science degrees in both industrial engineering and operations research.
A native of Pontianak, Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia, and a Schreyer Honors Scholar, Polim is minoring in mathematics and Six Sigma.
He has selected Soundar Kumara, Allen E. Pearce and Allen M. Pearce Professor of Industrial Engineering, to be his faculty escort at the ceremony.
College of Engineering student marshals are selected for their outstanding academic achievement and contributions to engineering student life.
While at Penn State, Polim was a recipient of the 2016 John W. Oswald Award, the President Sparks Award and the President Freshman Award. He also earned numerous scholarships, including the Harold and Inge Marcus Scholarship in industrial engineering, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Education Foundation’s E. Wayne Kay Graduate Scholarship, the International Society of Automation Scholarship, the Material Handling Education Foundation Scholarship, and the Society of Automotive Engineers Long-term Member Scholarship.
Polim was part of the Penn State Formula SAE team from 2012 through 2015, serving as the co-captain during the 2014-15 academic year, administrative lead during the 2013-14 academic year, and machinist throughout the 2012-2015 academic year. He has also been an active researcher in the Laboratory for Intelligent Systems and Analytics within the Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering since 2014.
Polim is a member of the Indonesian Student Association at Penn State, serving as the head of the National Academic Committee in 2014. He was also a math tutor and grader in the Department of Mathematics from 2012 through 2015.
After graduation, Polim will begin his career as an associate at Axtria where he will provide data analytics and modeling to clients, conduct reporting and analyses, evaluate test results, and work with Axtria’s clients and global delivery organization to deliver client solutions, among other duties.