A Fort Valley State University administrator is the recipient a prestigious national honor. Associate Vice President for Career and Collaborative Programs and the founder of the Cooperative Developmental Energy Program (CDEP), Dr. Isaac Crumbly will receive the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring on Jan. 27. “It’s humbling. It lets me know I’ve done an acceptable job in increasing the participation of minorities and women in mathematics, science and engineering,” the CDEP director said.
Since its launch 28 years ago, CDEP has received more than $24 million in contributions from petroleum and energy agencies such as BP America, Exxon Mobil and Shell Oil; and FVSU students have earned more than $4 million in paid internships that number more than 850. “I’ve always wanted Fort Valley State to have a niche that other universities could not boast of having,” Crumbly said. “Once we established CDEP, our challenge was —and still—is sustainability. This honor shows that our efforts have not gone unnoticed.”
CDEP partners with the nation’s leading energy companies and educational institutions such as the University of Texas - Austin, the University of Nevada – Las Vegas and Penn State University in a dual degree program. Participating students earn two bachelor’s degrees: one from FVSU, in a math or science-related field, and a second in an energy-related field, such as engineering, geosciences and health physics. Since 1997, FVSU-CDEP and its collaborating universities have graduated 71 engineers, 25 geoscientists, and four health physicists.
