Daniel Eipper, a senior at Millersville University of Pennsylvania, is the recipient of the seventh Syed R. Ali-Zaidi Award for Academic Excellence presented by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE).

Eipper of Lititz will receive $1,000 and a medallion in recognition of his outstanding academic performance and involvement in extra-curricular activities. A member of the Honors College at Millersville, Eipper will graduate in May with a major in meteorology and a minor in mathematics.

Eipper currently has a perfect 4.0 grade point average at Millersville and has been the recipient of numerous academic scholarships. He served an internship last summer at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. He presented findings of research he conducted during his NASA internship at the fall convocation of the American Geophysical Union.

While a student at Millersville, Eipper has been a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society and both the local and national chapters of the American Meteorological Society. He also served as a teacher’s assistant and worked for two years for the Campus Weather Service preparing weather forecasts.

The Ali-Zaidi award was established by Syed R. Ali-Zaidi, a founding member of PASSHE’s Board of Governors, to annually recognize and reward a graduating senior from one of the 14 state-owned universities. Each of the 14 PASSHE University presidents is asked to nominate a student for the annual award. A committee appointed by the chancellor reviews the nominations and selects the award recipient and two runners-up.

This year’s runners-up are Jessica Lott of Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Rachael Harris of Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Ali-Zaidi served two terms on the Board of Governors. He initially was appointed to the Board by then-Gov. Dick Thornburgh, upon the creation of the System in 1983. He later was re-appointed by then-Gov. Tom Ridge. He also has served for more than 20 years on the Council of Trustees at Clarion University of Pennsylvania.

With more than 109,000 students, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth. The 14 PASSHE universities offer degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. Approximately 405,000 PASSHE alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.

The state-owned universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock, and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. PASSHE also operates branch campuses in Clearfield, Freeport, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg.