Gridiron Club of Greater Boston Honors Alex Rubino

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Senior Alex Rubino added to an awards-filled postseason by being selected as the 2009 Nils V. “Swede” Nelson Award winner. He is the second consecutive member of the Cardinal and Gray to earn this honor and fourth overall. Presented at the Bob Whelan College Awards Dinner by the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston, the Swede Nelson Award is the fourth-oldest nationally recognized collegiate football award.

The Nelson Award is given to a college senior playing in the Bowl/Championship Division and the Division II and III levels who displays outstanding achievement in academics, athletics, sportsmanship, and citizenship. A four-year starter on the Engineers’ defensive line, Rubino received his second straight New England Football Conference (NEFC) Boyd Division Second-Team selection. He also earned the Hal Chalmers Award, which goes to the senior scholar-athlete in the league. Rubino ranked in the top-10 in the NEFC in tackles for loss, producing 12 tackles that yielded 37 yards.

A Chemical Engineering major with a minor in Economics, he is a member of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. Rubino was a member of a team that conducted an on-site feasibility study of installing solar and/or wind power on Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School. He continued his research in alternative energy at the Cummins Group by looking at methods of converting carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide using a vanadium organometallic framework.

Given annually since 1946, the Nelson Award follows only the Heisman, Maxwell, and The Gridiron Club’s own Bulger Lowe in longevity.