Nicholas Clift receives CoE Distinguished Leadership Award

Nicholas Clift, a master’s student in the Electrical Engineering:Systems program, received a 2014 College of Engineering Distinguished Leadership Award for his outstanding leadership and service to the College and community.

Nick, who received his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering just last year, has an impressive record of service to the community throughout his years at Michigan.

He was the School Programs Director of The Detroit Partnership from 2011-2012, and during that time more than doubled the number of engineers in the volunteer corps, while launching new partnerships and programs at four new schools. He spent the summer of 2013 working with the non-profit group, Youth for Understanding USA, which is one of the world’s oldest and most respected exchange organizations, and one that began in Ann Arbor, MI.

In 2013, he co-founded Own It along with seven colleagues. Own it is an engineering-based student group whose goal it is “To challenge everyone to be our most authentic selves, while offering support and affirmation for others to do the same.” Own it aims to support anyone falling outside the perceived “norm,” and to offer education about those groups to individuals unfamiliar with their unique challenges. He is a recipient of the 2013 North Campus Martin Luther King, Jr. Spirit Award.

Reflective of his participation in the Engineering Global Leadership (EGL) program, he is interested in business management, and will be joining a management consulting firm upon his graduation in May.