Americo Darin, center, presented the first awards in celebration of his 80th birthday with daughters, alumnae Mary Ellen Darin-Tarpley, left, and Ann Therese Palmer. The family has sponsored the Americo Darin Engineering Prize since 1999.

Undergraduates Honored with Americo Darin Award  

Magdalene L. Albrecht, Robert J. Kane, and Richard A. Pingalore Jr., have been named the recipients of the 2005 Americo Darin Engineering Prize. The Darin Prize was first awarded in 1999 to celebrate the 80th birthday of Americo Darin. It is presented annually to sophomores in recognition of a significant improvement in grades between their first year of studies and their first semester of the sophomore year and as an encouragement for those who strive and succeed.

Darin, the son of Italian immigrants faced many hardships in his life, beginning at age 10 when his father died. At 13 he was admitted to the Henry Ford Trade School. The school’s mission was to teach boys industrial skills so they could support themselves and their families. Expectations were much higher at the trade school than anything Darin had encountered in the public school system, but he didn’t give up. When he finished trade school, he entered the Ford Engineering Apprenticeship Program.

At 18 he started working for the Ford Motor Company. In spite of advancing significantly in the company, he felt that not having a college education had held him back.  By the time he retired in 1980, Darin was a divisional manager of plant engineering and had supervised the construction of 11 assembly plants. He remains an outstanding example of the determination and quest for excellence the College of Engineering hopes each of its students follows.

Albrecht and Pingalore are studying computer engineering. Kane is majoring in mechanical engineering.

Copyright 2005

. University of Notre Dame.