The two Northridge students, Yvette Romero and Nelson A. Soto, and the other scholarship recipients will be honored at dinner on South Padre Island, Texas, on Oct.19.

"Our college is proud to count Yvette and Nelson among the students in our electrical and manufacturing programs," said S.T. Mau, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. "Their success is a testament to the dedicated faculty and rich academics for which CSUN is known."

Romero has been active with the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and has served as a senator with the university student government, Associated Students Inc. She was also a conference chair of the "Young Latina Forum," which was designed to encourage at-risk youth to get interested in science. Romero received an intern of the year award in 2001 from INROADS Inc., an organization that enhances business career opportunities for minority youth.

Soto has interned at "Raising Interest in Science and Math," where he helped design, build and test a robot that was entered in a national competition earlier this year. He also served as director of finance for Associated Students, where he was directly responsible for the management of a $3.7 million budget. Soto is currently establishing a nonprofit foundation, Technology Empowering Communities Hands-on (TECH), which has a goal of recycling technology from big companies into middle schools, community centers and churches.