Two members of Columbia Engineering’s class of 2026 have extra reason to celebrate this month: Dana Clarke (CE BS 26') and Paul Randall SEAS‘26, both officer candidates in the New York City Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC), received their commissions at a Commissioning Ceremony held May 21 at Faculty House at Columbia’s Morningside campus.
Officer Candidate Clarke earned their BS in computer engineering, and was on the Dean’s List for the spring semesters of 2024 and 2025. They were selected for STA21 in 2023. At Columbia, they were recognized for outstanding leadership, ethics, and scholastic achievement with the Christine and Francis Lombardi Scholarship, and served as a Sexual Violence Response Peer Educator.
They completed the Naval Nuclear Training pipeline as a Nuclear Electronics Technician (ETN), and were the first ETN in their class to qualify at prototype. Their leadership positions included Class Leader in “A” School, Section Leader in Power School, and Class Lead in Prototype. They served as the Command Career Counselor’s Assistant at NNPTC. Following “A” School, OC Clarke earned the CO’s Personal Excellence award. Born in Brooklyn, Clarke graduated from Port Jervis High School.
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