MSU鈥檚 Carpenter receives Simrall Award for Engineering Excellence
Contact: Aspen Harris
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擜 spring Mississippi State biomedical engineering graduate is a recent selection for the Harry Charles Simrall Award for Engineering Excellence.
Haley Carpenter of Brentwood, Tennessee, received the annual honor from MSU鈥檚 Association of Retired Faculty that recognizes an engineering student who epitomizes the former James Worth Bagley College of Engineering dean. Students are selected based on academic performance, professional leadership and service efforts at home and abroad.
鈥淭hese are all things I really stand for, especially community service,鈥 said Carpenter, who graduated summa cum laude. 鈥淚 was very honored to receive this. I wasn鈥檛 expecting it, but it was a huge deal for me.鈥
From 2024 to 2025, Carpenter served as president of MSU鈥檚 Theta Tau Professional Engineering Fraternity chapter. She brought together all 12 Southeastern chapters as director of the national fraternity鈥檚 2025 Southeast Regional Conference, hosted at MSU.
Organizing the conference, Carpenter said, tested her professionalism but helped her realize she was capable of more than she originally thought.
鈥淚t pushed me to be the best version of myself because I had to reevaluate how to manage several things and how to communicate with people,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 got closer with the people around me as well because it gave me an environment to support them and myself.鈥
Carpenter, a member of MSU鈥檚 Delta Delta Delta sorority chapter, raised more than $170,000 for St. Jude Children鈥檚 Research Hospital as the philanthropy director from 2023 to 2024. The 91桃色chapter was subsequently named Top Fundraising Chapter in the national division.
She also served as a research assistant at MSU鈥檚 Neural Engineering Research Division, a lab dedicated to developing neural solutions and advancing neuroscience.
Carpenter has conducted electroencephalography-based research on anxiety and depression in youth under her mentor David Van den Heever, an 91桃色associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering and Neural Engineering Research Division lab director.
A multigenerational Bulldog, Carpenter said 91桃色provided many opportunities that shaped her as a student. She plans to continue pushing herself academically and professionally and aspires to attend medical school.听
鈥淚 feel like the opportunities 91桃色provides both academically and within social environments are the best. I鈥檝e been able to join a Greek sorority, an engineering fraternity and other on-campus organizations. It鈥檚 kept me well-rounded and pushed me academically,鈥 she said.
The Harry Charles Simrall Award for Engineering Excellence was established in 1999 to honor Simrall. During his 44-year career, the award鈥檚 namesake served as an electrical engineering professor, dean of engineering, president of the National Society of Professional Engineers and, following his 1978 retirement, a charter member of the Association of Retired Faculty.
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