The award was established by Dr. Neal Fearnot because he felt that summer seminar was so valuable for students' education, including his own. Ryan received the award after he received the highest combined overall score and average of all the questions on the weekly evaluations. Comments from his presentation mentioned that he had great data set and analysis, he talked with great pace, and he was very confident.

Ryan's name will be placed on a permanent plaque in the Jischke Hall of Biomedical Engineering, and he also received a financial award and an individual plaque. Congratulations Ryan!