Pierce Hadley, an undergraduate working in the Bioimaging Science and Technology Group, has been named the recipient of the William R. Schowalter Award, which recognizes outstanding leadership, creativity, encouragement of others, and dedication to the college. The College of Engineering will host an awards ceremony Saturday, April 1.

Hadley is a member of the first class of Cancer Scholars within the Department of Bioengineering. As someone with an interest in tackling medicine both from the clinical side and the research side, Hadley has been able to benefit from the program that emphasizes both. At the Beckman Institute, he works in the Chemical Imaging and Structures Laboratory run by Rohit Bhargava, a professor of bioengineering and member of Beckman’s Bioimaging Science and Technology Group, who also directs the Cancer Scholars Program.

Both a James Scholar and Chancellor’s Scholar, Hadley founded the Urbana campus Stereolithography Printing Organization, the mission of which is to develop 3D printed products for educational research and biomedical applications, as well as the brainstorming organization Think Illinois, which strives to create student projects and discussions across disciplines on campus.

Now a junior, Hadley has been an undergraduate teaching assistant for numerous bioengineering courses and plans to pursue an M.D./Ph.D. program to continue work in biomedical engineering, both as a researcher and an instructor.

Schowalter served as the dean of the College of Engineering for 12 years, and the award was established by the Engineering Council upon his retirement in 2001.