Nosakhare Idiaghe, a Ph.D candidate in Engineering Education Research at UNL, was selected by the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) to receive the 2026 Mike Shinn Distinguished Member of the Year Award.
The Mike Shinn Distinguished Member of the Year Award is one of the highest honors bestowed by NSBE. This award recognizes NSBE members who exemplify the absolute pinnacle of leadership, academic excellence, professional achievement, and community impact. This year’s celebration took place at the organization’s signature Golden Torch Awards ceremony in the historic Charm City of Baltimore, where the award was formally presented to Idiaghe by the Mayor of Baltimore.
As the 2024-25 NSBE Chapter President, Idiaghe led one of the chapter’s strongest periods of growth and engagement. Under his leadership, the chapter expanded its membership, strengthened professional development programming, and increased its visibility and influence on campus and within the city of Lincoln. Idiaghe prioritized community engagement and broadened NSBE’s local footprint by forming new partnerships and ensuring that the chapter’s work supported the academic, professional, and personal development of its members.
Central to Idiaghe’s leadership was a deep commitment to equity and access in STEM. Idiaghe founded an after‑school STEM outreach program serving the Malone Community Center in Lincoln, an initiative that positioned NSBE members as mentors and STEM role models for local youth. Through hands‑on demonstrations, engineering activities, and sustained mentorship, the program helped spark STEM curiosity among students and expanded NSBE’s impact beyond the university setting. This initiative not only strengthened NSBE’s community presence but also created a lasting pathway for introducing underrepresented youth to engineering.
Academically, Idiaghe maintained a 3.96 GPA while earning a Master in Engineering Management in December 2025 and is completing a Ph.D. in Engineering Education Research. Idiaghe holds a B.Eng. in Petroleum Engineering and a M.Eng in Industrial Engineering from the University of Benin in Nigeria.
Idiaghe has earned multiple honors in his time at UNL, including the 2025 Complete Engineer Award®; the 2025 Professional Development Fellowship; the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 Dean’s Fellowship; the 2024 Best Student Paper Award from the ASEE Student Division; the 2024-2025 Ankeny Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award; and induction into the Epsilon Mu Eta Engineering Management Honor Society, among others. Idiaghe’s scholarly excellence, organizational leadership, and community‑centered service exemplify the mission and values at the heart of the Mike Shinn Distinguished Member of the Year Award.
Each year, only two individuals worldwide, one male and one female, are selected for this distinction, placing honorees among an elite group whose accomplishments reflect not only personal excellence but also the highest ideals of NSBE. To receive the Mike Shinn Distinguished Member of the Year Award is to join a select lineage of engineers whose influence extends across industry, academia, and community service. Honorees represent the best of Black engineering achievement and stand as role models for the next generation of STEM leaders.
Recognized as one of the premier acknowledgments within NSBE, the award is tied to a legacy of excellence that spans NSBE’s 28+ years of Golden Torch Awards celebrations, which honor the most accomplished technical professionals, scholars, innovators, and leaders in STEM fields worldwide.
For more information on NSBE and a full list of Golden Torch Award recipients, visit nsbe.org.
