The University of Hawaii can add another nationally recognized electrical engineering student to its honor roll.

Larry K. Martin, a UH-Manoa graduate student, was honored with the 2011-2012 Alton B. Zerby and Carl T. Koerner Outstanding Electrical and Computer Engineering Student Award by IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ national student honor society. He is the fourth UH student to receive the award since 2001.

"I think there are a lot of good students that have good grades, but I think what really made Larry stand out was just the diversity of his experience," said Wayne Shi­roma, a UH electrical engineering professor and founder of the UH College of Engineering’s 11-year-old Small-Satellite Program.

"Not only is he a good student academically, but he also has a lot of leadership skills," Shi­roma said. "He interacts with the community by volunteering — he put in something like 160 hours of service in a year — and he is active in his role as a student leader for my satellite program where he interacts with people in government and in the (engineering) industry. … I’ve been at UH for 16 years, and he is probably the most well-rounded student I’ve ever seen."

Martin, 26, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from UH-Manoa last fall after transferring from Windward Community College with an associate degree in liberal arts. He received several awards and scholarships as an undergraduate, and has participated in UH’s Small-Satellite Program for 3 1/2 years. He currently serves as its program/technical manager. The program is set to launch a nanosatellite on a NASA radar-calibration mission next year.

"It’s really solving a real-world application type of problem, especially since we’re actually launching next year," Martin said. "It’s going through all the stages of engineering — designing, building and fabricating, to testing, then actually launching — from start to finish. I think that’s what’s given me the best practical experience."

Martin was also recently selected as student editor of IEEE’s bimonthly undergraduate, graduate and young professionals magazine, Potentials, which has an international circulation of about 45,000.

"I think it’s every engineer’s duty to give back and pay it forward, give back to humanity in some way," the Kailua resident said. "Being involved in work that helps others is inevitable, but it’s also something I’m looking forward to."