Valedictorian

Lara Chern

College of Engineering | Honors College

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering with Minors in Engineering Leadership and Management, and Mathematics

Lara Chern of Bow, New Hampshire is the 2023 valedictorian. The Honors College student is a mechanical engineering major with minors in engineering leadership and management, and mathematics.

Chern graduated high school two years ahead of her class and enrolled at UMaine when she was 16. As a UMaine junior, she defended her honors thesis, “An Automated Process to Produce Rebar Reinforced Concrete Parts Using Additive Manufacturing.” Her many scholarships and awards include the 2022 Servant Heart Award and the Ouellette Honors Thesis Fellowship.

In her first year at UMaine, Chern was a special projects assistant at the FrancoAmerican Center. During her sophomore year, she collaborated in the laboratory of UMaine professor Yingchao Yang on nanomaterials research and on research with professor Bashir Koda on biobased gels for human organ growth and timed drugrelease capsules. With professor Richard Kimball, Chern collaborated on research in large-scale additive manufacturing for use in wave energy converters.

Since 2020, Chern has worked in the Advanced Structures and Composites Center’s Project Management Office. In summer 2021, she was a project management intern with Weyerhaeuser Lumber Mill in Cottage Grove, Oregon and, in 2019–20, served as a mathematics instructor/tutor with Mathnasium in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Chern has served as president of the UMaine chapters of Pi Tau Sigma and Engineers Without Borders, and vice president of the UMaine chapter of Circle K International. In the community, her volunteer work has included the Bangor Humane Society, Telstar Regional High School Think Tank Project and Hirundo Wildlife Refuge.

In June, Chern will begin a job as a project manager at Procter & Gamble in Iowa City, Iowa. She plans to pursue an MBA and take a law certificate program.