SoE Student Receives Rutgers University Presidential Fellowship

Shane Le Compte, who earned his BS and MS degrees in mechanical and aerospace engineering in 2021 and 2022, has received a five-year Rutgers University Presidential Fellowship to support his doctoral studies.  

“It means a lot to me to be recognized for my hard work, especially by the same people who originally piqued my interest in the subject, and made it all possible,” says Le Compte, who was both an ARESTY research assistant and JJ Slade Scholar.  

“As a master’s degree student, I designed a decentralized control algorithm to guide a swarm of spacecraft through the rings of Saturn,” recalls Le Compte, who was advised by Annalisa Scacchioli, an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE).   

He will be studying the basics of computational fluid dynamics with MAE professor Prosenjit Bagchi as a graduate student. “I hope eventually to be able to simulate blood flow in complex capillary networks with deformable blood cells,” he says. 

A Passion for Discovery 

“I’ve always been interested in mathematics and physics and how things work the way they do,” Le Compte says. “MAE seemed to be the perfect encapsulation of all that.” 

He also is an accomplished musician, who has been part of the Mason Gross band program every semester he’s been at Rutgers. “I’ve played clarinet in the Rutgers Symphony Band, Symphonic Winds, and successfully auditioned for the Rutgers Wind Ensemble alongside performance majors and doctoral candidates,” he says. “I’m forever grateful that Rutgers allowed me to be part of their music program as a non-major.” 

The Rutgers Presidential Fellowship stipend of $15,000 a year will enable Le Compte to work towards his ultimate goal of teaching at a university and conducting his own research.