Sami El Awad is an University Innovation Fellow from the Spring 2015 cohort, working to expand the Innovation and

Entrepreneurship ecosystem on campus. In doing so, he works with Epicenter leaders at Stanford University and VentureWell (formerly NCIIA) to ensure all students graduate with an entrepreneurial mindset. Sami is an international student from Venezuela currently residing in Miami. He studies at Florida International University (FIU) and has chosen Mechanical Engineering as his major. His choice of major is due partly to the wonderful and interesting machines mechanical engineers come up with and to the improvements these machines bring to society in general. Having studied 4 years, Sami is categorized as a Senior (100+credits). His main goal is to gain more experience in the real world by interacting or working with more students and engineers who share the same passion. One of his latest accomplishment includes participating and winning second place in Odebrecht Award for Sustainable Development 2014.