Philosophy and engineering normally aren’t associated with each other, but that didn’t stop Vinod Lakshmipathy from receiving recognition in the former, despite a background in the latter.

The department of philosophy awarded Lakshmipathy the C. Mason and Madeline Myers Graduate Philosophy Award for outstanding achievement in graduate study, an honor made more remarkable because of the fact that he graduated NIU as an engineering major and has been in the program for only a short time.

“I am very pleased, and it means a lot,” Lakshmipathy said. “I started studying philosophy just two years ago, so I can look back with some pride in my accomplishments.”

David Buller, chairman of the philosophy department, said he was impressed by Lakshmipathy’s accelerated learning curve.

“He has performed brilliantly in our graduate program,” he said. “We have a very rigorous series of comprehensive examinations that students have to pass for their master’s degree, and typically, graduate students don’t pass them their second year or the summer after their second year, and he passed all four exams during the second semester in the program.”

While he has been in the program for only two years, Lakshmipathy said he always has been fascinated by philosophy.

“I was always interested in philosophy, and I knew I could do well,” he said. “The challenge was to do it well at the graduate level, but I put a lot of effort into it.”

Buller said Lakshmipathy’s effort has been evident in all of his work.

“He has been a very enthusiastic and energetic force in the department and impressed everyone with his brilliance and his quick mind,” he said.

The honor comes with a financial award that varies each year. Lakshmipathy plans to use the award to pursue a Ph.D. and eventually become a teacher.

“I love philosophy and want to teach it because it deals with fundamental questions, and I guess that is the attraction for me,” he said. “Any kind of inquiry is probably not satisfied until you deal with those fundamental questions of life and philosophy does that.”

The award is named for the late C. Mason Myers. Myers chaired the philosophy department and taught at NIU for 27 years until his death in 1986.