Salt Lake City — Workman Nydegger is pleased to award the Workman Nydegger Diversity Scholarship for students in engineering, science, and technology to two Brigham Young University students, Nigel Kundayi Chigede and Sebastian Zapata for the Fall 2021 semester.  

Nigel Kundayi Chigede is a senior student at Brigham Young University where he is pursuing a degree in Civil Engineering and a minor in Mathematics. He is the recipient of the Workman  Nydegger Diversity Scholarship of winter 2021. Nigel is set to graduate in April of 2021. Upon completion of his undergraduate studies, he will work as a Project Engineer for a successful civil engineering firm in the intermountain west, where he will prepare preliminary calculations and drawings for residential buildings. He plans to work for a year to gain field experience and be certified as an engineer-in-training.  He intends to use that same year to evaluate his options for a graduate program. His current options include furthering his knowledge of structural analysis and progress toward a career as a Structural  Engineer or use his engineering expertise and progress toward a career as an intellectual property attorney.  

Sebastian Zapata is a senior studying Electrical Engineering at Brigham Young  University. He was born in Cañete, Chile and came to the United States almost five years ago to start his  bachelor’s program. He works as a Research Assistant in the Kelly Lab at BYU, developing a platform for  automating the implementation of the NanoPOTS technology, used for single-cell proteomics. He also  works as a Research Assistant in the ICE Lab developing methods to enhance Physical Layer Security in  wireless communication. Sebastian is the electrical team leader in the BYU Wind Energy Club, currently  designing a customized generator for the Collegiate Wind Competition and is also part of the electrical  team of the BYU Mars Rover, competing in the University Rover Challenge. He has served as a board  member and treasurer of the BYU Chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) and as  a member of the Automated Ground Vehicle Club. He loves adding variety to his extracurricular  involvement and is passionate about building meaningful connections with the people around him. In his  free time, he enjoys playing the violin, learning new salsa dance spins, and practicing German.  

Workman Nydegger awards a total of two scholarships in each semester schedule (fall and winter or equivalent), for a total of four scholarships per calendar year. Through a combination of demonstrated achievements and written essays submitted by the students, Workman Nydegger attorneys work closely with universities’ scholarship committees to identify the exceptional and promising undergraduate candidates. The scholarships are offered to junior and senior diverse students at the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. Both universities have agreed to match the scholarship amounts contributed by the firm.  

These scholarship programs represent Workman Nydegger’s commitment to helping diverse students  succeed in their engineering or science training. The firm hopes to provide these students with an  understanding of the many career opportunities available to them with science and engineering  backgrounds and an interest in intellectual property law as a career path.  

Workman Nydegger specializes in intellectual property law and litigation. The firm represents a wide  array of clients in all areas of intellectual property law, including patent, trademark, copyright, litigation  and prosecution, unfair competition and related licensing matters, and possesses expertise in a diverse  range of technologies, including computer systems, software, e-commerce and information technology;  electronics and electrical engineering; pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, chemical, biotechnology, and  medical and life science technologies; physics and optics; mechanics and mechanical engineering and  alternative energy. For additional information, please visit www.wnlaw.com.