Tyler Heffernan, ’25 Receives The Edwin Eikel Outstanding Student Award
The prize, presented during TAMUG commencement on May 8, honors the graduate from the past year who best represents such values as leadership, courage, and humility.
Col. Michael E. Fossum, ’80, brags on Tyler Heffernan, ’25, , who serves as a watch standing officer aboard the American Energy, the only U.S.-flagged liquified natural gas (LNG) carrier.
Former Summer Sea Term commander Tyler Heffernan, ’25 has received the highest honor given to a Texas A&M University at Galveston graduating senior – The Edwin Eikel Outstanding Student Award.
Each Spring, since 1978, the award has gone to a graduate from the past year who best exemplified such qualities as leadership, patriotism, fortitude, intelligence, courage, and humility.
Col. Michael E. Fossum, ’80, vice president of Texas A&M University, chief operating officer of the Galveston campus, and superintendent of the Texas A&M Maritime Academy, presented the award during afternoon commencement on May 8.
Fossum described his recent visit to the Jacksonville, Florida headquarters of Crowley, a U.S.-owned shipping and logistics company that Heffernan joined in September.
“They just love her. They were bragging on her so much,” Fossum said of Heffernan, who serves as a watch standing officer aboard the American Energy, the only U.S.-flagged liquified natural gas (LNG) carrier. “They said send me more.”
Heffernan graduated in August with a Bachelor of Science degree in marine engineering technology with a U.S. Coast Guard 3rd Assistant Engineer License Option and a minor in maritime business administration.
In addition to the Texas A&M Maritime Academy, Hefferman was involved on campus with Student Government, TAMUG Women on the Water, Maroon Delegates, and the TAMUG student chapter of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers and Marine Technology Society. She was also a Student Enrollment Services Student Ambassador.
Heffernan, who grew up in Willis, Texas, north of Houston, knew she wanted to study engineering and was looking at Texas A&M in College Station before discovering what the Galveston campus offered.
“I found out there was the coastal option and getting to do engineering involving the ocean, which I was sold on immediately,” Heffernan said.
After a year on campus, Heffernan “decided that going to sea and getting a license was something I wanted to pursue.”
Heffernan now describes that as her best decision, one that relates to the advice she would give future Galveston Aggies: “Don’t be afraid to change your path a little bit and step outside of your comfort zone to find what you really want to do. Once you find it, dive in headfirst and get involved. And it’s very worth it in the end.”
Intracoastal Towing and Transportation Corporation (ITT) of Houston, Texas, funded the award, whose namesake worked for the company for 30 years, including as president. The late Edwin Eikel, who died in 1977, is remembered for his love of the sea, his faith in the potential of U.S. youth, and the values celebrated in the selection process.
Nominations come from academic department heads, the chair of the Faculty Advisory Committee, and the assistant vice president for student affairs. The winner is selected by a secret committee appointed by Fossum.
The award comes with a cash stipend of $15,000 and a diploma frame. The recipient’s name is added to a display in the Seibel Student Services Center.
Former winners have gone on to careers in engineering, law, higher education, and the maritime industry. They include John Michael ’98, who heads the Maritime and Offshore legal practice for Vinson & Elkins LLP in Houston; April Justice ’05, a rail operations specialist for Chevron Phillips Chemical Company in the Woodlands, Texas, where she has worked for more than 18 years; and Maya Sandy ’22, a career services coordinator at Texas A&M University at Galveston.
