With just a glance at Dylan Rebois’ resumé, it becomes clear he is not your average student.

The junior mechanical engineering major practically hasn’t stopped moving since he arrived at the university. He has been involved with Engineers Without Borders since he was a freshman and has taken two trips with the group, serving as a project leader on one of them. He sits on the University Sustainability Council’s student subcommittee, which is developing a new student “green fee” to fund renewable energy procurement. Last semester, he was a sustainability adviser for the Office of Sustainability and is a teaching assistant for engineering professor David Lovell’s “I”-Series course ENCE 289I: Engineering in the Developing World.

And he accomplished all of this while maintaining a perfect GPA as a member of the university’s Gemstone program.

Rebois has been rewarded for his efforts: Last week, he was one of 60 students in the United States to be awarded the prestigious Truman Scholarship.

The Truman Scholarship is a $30,000 merit-based scholarship offered by the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation to fund graduate studies in public service fields. Its recipients must have outstanding leadership potential, be in the top quarter of their class and committed to careers in government or the not-for profit sector.

Rebois’ perfect grades and passion for international sustainability made him an ideal candidate.

“Dylan has a very rare combination of intellect, diligence and compassion about his chosen field, sustainable energy,” Lovell said.

As a freshman, Rebois decided to give the university’s Engineers Without Borders program a try, having decided to dedicate more time to volunteering once he got to college.

He took his first trip with Engineers Without Borders after his freshman year, traveling to Burkina Faso to install solar-powered pump retrofits in village wells to ensure the villagers would have access to water during the six-month dry season.

“EWB ended up being a fantastic way to merge my interest in community service with my interest in engineering,” Rebois said.

“It was an incredible project on the engineering side and social side and overall a very immersive experience,” he added.

But one trip alone wasn’t enough for Rebois, who the following fall became a project leader, responsible for planning and executing a trip to Ethiopia in January. In Ethiopia, Rebois and his team of 30 students were responsible for designing and constructing a recreation center for a community.

Rebois said the stress level involved with being in charge differentiated his second trip from his first. However, he said one of his most rewarding experiences thus far was the ceremony with the villagers at the end of his trip.

Given the list of his activities, it is no surprise Rebois’ plans revolve around international community development, climate change mitigation and environmentally sustainable development.

Rebois attributed much of his involvement and success to Lovell, who was his faculty advisor for both Engineers Without Borders trips and whom Rebois cited as his mentor.

Lovell said the award will give Rebois the opportunity to create his own research without being “restricted by the confines of his faculty adviser’s current grant suite or research agenda.”

“I plan to keep a close eye on him as his career unfolds because I predict great accomplishments for him,” Lovell said.

farrell@umdbk.com