Grainger College of Engineering Alumni Award for Distinguished Service
Jigar H. Shah
BSME 1996 University of Illinois
MBA 2001, University of Maryland, College Park
Jigar H. Shah is a serial entrepreneur, investor and energy strategist. From March 2021 to January 2025, Shah served as director of the Loan Programs Office (LPO) at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). He led and directed LPO’s loan authority to support deployment of innovative clean energy, advanced transportation and Tribal energy projects in the United States.
Prior to his work at the DOE, Shah was co-founder and president at Generate Capital, where he focused on helping entrepreneurs accelerate decarbonization solutions using low-cost infrastructure-as-a-service financing. Shah served as the founding CEO of the Carbon War Room, a global non-profit founded by Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Unite to help entrepreneurs address climate change. He also founded SunEdison, a company that pioneered “pay as you save” solar financing.
In 2024, TIME named Shah to its 100 Most Influential People list.
The Grainger College of Engineering Alumni Award for Distinguished Service is conferred upon exceptional alumni each year. Recipients are recognized for professional distinction through outstanding leadership, contributions to the field of engineering, creativity, and entrepreneurship; as well as service to society, the professional community, and to the department, college, or university.
Knights of St. Patrick
Jon Coonley
Jon Coonley is a mechanical engineering senior graduating this May. He is the current vice president of technical affairs for the Illinois student chapter of American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), where he works to support the technical side of the group and promotes workshops for students to expand engineering skills. Coonley is also a drop-in tutor for the Center for Academic Resources in Engineering (CARE), and he served as a facilitator for the PHYS 211 Peer Led Tutoring (PLT) program for three consecutive semesters.
During his junior year, he was an undergraduate research assistant in MechSE Assistant Professor Jie Feng’s Fluids, Interfaces, and Transport Lab, where he worked on understanding fluid structure interactions within microfluidics. During this time, he also served as the ASME Special Projects Committee Co-Director, navigating teams through five Engineering Open House projects.
Coonley said that Feng as well as MechSE Professor Alex Vakakis – with whom he also worked for a semester – helped immensely in defining his college career.
After graduation, Coonley will begin his career at Sargent and Lundy as an analyst for nuclear power systems.
“If there’s one quote that summarizes my whole college experience it is this: ‘It’s not about how you did; it’s about what you do.’ And now, I am beyond excited to start my career and apply my education and knowledge to advancing the field of energy systems,” Coonley said.
Rene Mohammadi
Rene Mohammadi is a mechanical engineering senior with a focus in women’s health bioengineering. She currently works in Professor Brendan Harley’s lab (Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering) on a project using 3D bioprinting methods to develop hydrogel-based models of endometriosis lesion etiology and progression.
For two years, she has served as an Engineering Learning Assistant (ELA) for Grainger’s First Year Experience, was president of the nonprofit organization Engineers in Action Bridge Program, and has been active in Engineering Council’s Engineering Outreach Bureau. Additionally, she worked with New Student Registration as Student Co-Director to welcome new classes of Grainger engineers.
Mohammadi said a highlight of her undergraduate years is her teaching experience as an ELA, during which she oversaw two years of students and enjoyed the time getting to know each student and encouraging their individual paths as engineers. She is also active in engaging students with research opportunities through the Mayo Clinic & Illinois Alliance, through which she conducted endometrial cancer microbiome research.
In her free time, Mohammadi said she enjoys spending time with loved ones, playing a variety of musical instruments, and coffee-shop hopping. Post-graduation, she will continue her research in women’s health with the goal of pursuing a PhD and advancing the field through holistically innovative bioengineering solutions.
The Knight of St. Patrick is an honor awarded to students who demonstrate leadership characteristics, excellence of character, and exceptional contribution to The Grainger College of Engineering. The award originated at the University of Missouri, Columbia, where students claimed St. Patrick must have been an engineer to have been able to drive all the snakes from Ireland, and since then the honor has represented excellence in engineering fields.
Naira Hovakimyan
Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring
Established in 2022, this award recognizes engineering faculty members who have demonstrated a sustained excellence and innovation in graduate student mentoring.