M. Pena – A Top UCSB Student Award
EE undergraduate student Marcellino Pena among recipients of UCSB student awards for Class of 2026
Excerpt from the UCSB Current News article “University names winners of top student awards for Class of 2026”
UC Santa Barbara has announced the newest recipients of its most prestigious student honors, awarded for scholastic achievement, extraordinary service and personal courage and persistence.
Marcellino Pena has won the Alyce Marita Whitted Memorial Award, which recognizes a nontraditional student’s endurance, persistence and courage in the face of extraordinary challenges while pursuing an academic degree. Paralyzed from the waist down, Pena navigated studies and the lab, engaging in cutting edge optical communications research while obtaining an engineering degree.
Pena beat the odds long before arriving at UCSB: a life-changing accident left him in a wheelchair. Admitted as a transfer student, he embraced the rigors of academics and undergraduate research and gave back to the community as a member of the Chancellor’s Student Council, a counselor at Junior Wheelchair Sports Camp, and a Special Olympics volunteer. His nominator praised his “exemplary degree of resilience and persistence” in demonstrating how one can excel “even in the midst of severe physical challenges.”
An award ceremony for winners of this and other student awards, as well as for their families, faculty and staff, was held Sunday, June 7, at Loma Pelona Center on campus.
