Student given military honor

Engineering student Steven Horvath's career is on the fast track, and he's got a medal to prove it.

UCF President John C. Hitt, Provost Tony Waldrop and a classroom full of engineering students were present Wednesday, Nov. 16, at Horvath's surprise award presentation, where he was given the Achievement Medal for Civilian Service.

Horvath is the first student intern to receive this award.

Horvath has worked for the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation for 18 months, serving as an assistant engineer and aiding the office in a variety of respects.

"For a while, I didn't even realize Steven was a student," said Col. Michael Flanagan, project manager for PEO STRI. "I thought he was a seasoned engineer."

The in-class surprise award ceremony lasted for just a few minutes, but Horvath said it was extremely impactful.

Professor Faissal Moslehy asked Horvath and his fellow engineering students to remain in the classroom mid-lecture, as very important guests were to arrive.

"Once I saw Col. Flanagan come in, I thought that maybe this had something to do with me," Horvath said, referring to the moment when a hush rippled through the classroom as his PEO STRI superiors, Hitt and Waldrop entered the room. "I've never won anything like this before, so it's an honor to be so young and have this award."

During the ceremony, Col. Flanagan listed off reasons for Horvath's professional excellence and presented him with a medal and certificate.

Horvath said that he attributes his personal success to his willingness to help others at his job and through his close relationship with his mentor.

"My experience in a trained, professional environment has been great for my future job," Horvath said.

Flanagan said that Horvath has worked on a variety of projects for PEO STRI, the most notable being a workshop that brought together members of industry and government to demonstrate the significance of "cloud computing" in the training of U.S. soldiers.

According to the PEO STRI website, cloud computing provides virtual simulation training for soldiers, similar to games such World of Warcraft, which prepares them for real-life combat.

Other contributions Horvath has made to PEO STRI during his time as an intern include performing onsite test engineering support for a wireless range data communication system and conducting a study on energy reduction techniques for a Moving Armor Target — a robotic moving target used for a variety of gunnery training applications.

Horvath has also co-authored a paper titled "Next Generation of Distributed Training Utilizing SOA, Cloud Computing, and Virtualization" which he will present at the 2011 Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference.

Jeremy Lanman, who has served as Horvath's task-lead and mentor at PEO STRI, said that the award presented to the intern is a great honor and will remain on his permanent record as long as he remains as federal employee.

After he graduates with his bachelor's in mechanical engineering this semester, Horvath will be working as a nuclear systems crew trainer for the U.S. Navy in Charleston, S.C. He will primarily be responsible for instructing Navy personnel on how to operate nuclear submarines.

"I know he'll do really well up there," Lanman said. "He's got a can-do attitude, and all around he's been the perfect employee – better than some of my senior employees."