• Mattheos Koffas, the Dorothy and Fred Chau '71 Constellation Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, received the award for his contributions in the development of metabolic engineering methods to produce animal free natural products.
• Jie Lian, a professor of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering, was recognized for his contributions to the fundamental understanding of materials behavior under extreme environments, accomplishments in graphene research and applications, and his development of innovative materials and technologies.
• Kristen Mills, an assistant professor of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering, received this honor for her contributions in experimental cell and tissue biomechanics, leading to greater understanding of the role of mechanics in disease, especially cancer.
• Ravishankar Sundararaman, an assistant professor of Materials Science and Engineering, received this award for his contributions to quantum simulations of charge transport and interfacial phenomena in complex materials.
• Pingkun Yan, an assistant professor of Biomedical Engineering, was recognized for his contributions during the pandemic by developing a method for analyzing chest CT images to predict a patients’ likelihood of needing ICU intervention.

Class of 1951 Outstanding Teaching Award
Prof. Victoria Bennett, Civil and Environmental Engineering

James M. Tien '66 Early Career Award for Faculty
Prof. Sandipan Mishra, Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering

Jerome Fischbach '38 Faculty Travel Award
Prof. Henry Scarton, Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering

William H. Wiley 1866 Distinguished Faculty Award
Prof. Steven Cramer, Howard P. Isermann ’42 Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Kurt Anderson, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, presented the Classroom Excellence Award to Prof. Ali Tajer, Electrical, Computer, and Systems.

Matt Oehlschlaeger, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, presented the Education Innovation Awards to Prof. Wei Ji, Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering and Prof. Nihat Baysal, Chemical and Biological Engineering.

Dean Shekhar Garde presented the Outstanding Team Award to Prof. B. Wayne Bequette, Prof. Nihat Baysal, and Faye Cameron, Research Scientist, for “Closed-loop Artificial Pancreas for Individuals with Type 1 Diabetes.”

Liping Huang, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs, presented the Research Excellence Awards to Prof. Daniel Gall, Materials Science and Engineering, Prof. Mariah Hahn, Biomedical Engineering, Prof. Jian Shi, Materials Science and Engineering, and Prof. Meng Wang, Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering.

Dean Shekhar Garde pesented the Outstanding Professor of Engineering Award to Prof. Ge Wang, Biomedical Engineering.

Ishwara Bhat, Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering, was presented with the Jerome Fischbach '38 Faculty Travel Award.

Joe H. Chow, Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering, was presented with the William H. Wiley 1866 Distinguished Faculty Award.

Kurt Anderson, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, presented the Classroom Excellence Awards to Prof. Diana Borca Tasciuc, Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering and Prof. Ryan Gilbert, Biomedical Engineering. Education Innovation Awards were presented to Prof. Sandipan Mishra, Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering, and Prof. Shayla Sawyer, Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering.

The Outstanding Team Award was presented by Matt Oehlschlaeger, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs to Profs. Robert Karlicek, Rich Radke, Art Sanderson, Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering; Prof. Sandipan Mishra, Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering; and Michelle Simkulet and Arunas Tuzikas (LESA staff members) for “Development of LESA’s Smart Conference Room Testbed."

Assad Oberai, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs presented the Research Excellence Awards to Professors Nikhil Koratkar, and Jason Hicken, both of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering, and Prof. Ali Tajer, Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering.

Dean Shekhar Garde presented the Outstanding Professor of Engineering Award to Prof. Michael Shur, Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering.

The Classroom Excellence Award was presented by Kurt Anderson, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, to Mariah Hahn, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and the Education Innovation Awards to Tarek Abdoun, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Ken Connor, Professor of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering.

The Excellence in Assessment and Continual Improvement Award was presented by Matt Oehlschlaeger, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, to Richard Smith, Professor of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering; the Research Team Award was presented to George Xu, Mark Shephard, and Wei Jei (Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering) and Chris Carrothers (Computer Science).

The Research Excellence Awards were presented by Assad Oberai, Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and Research, to Mattheos Koffas, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Agung Julius, Professor of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering, and Johnson Samuel, Professor of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering.

The Outstanding Professor of Engineering Award was presented by Dean Shekhar Garde to Joe H. Chow, Professor of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering.

The Classroom Excellence Awards were presented by Kurt Anderson, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, to Amir H. Hirsa, Professor of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering, and to Patrick T. Underhill, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering.

The Education Innovation Awards were presented by Matt Oehlschlaeger, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, to Johnson Samuel, Professor of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering, and Thomas C. Sharkey, Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

The Research Excellence Awards were presented by Tarek Abdoun, Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and Research, to Qun Leo Wan, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Assad A. Oberai, Professor of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering, and Joel L. Plawsky, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering.

The Outstanding Professor Award was presented by Dean Shekhar Garde to Steven M. Cramer, William Weightman Walker Professor of Chemical Engineering.

Associate Dean Kurt Anderson presented the following Education Excellence Awards:

Richard J. Radke, Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering received the Classroom Excellence Award.

Daniel F. Walczyk, Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering received the Excellence in Assessment and Continual Improvement Award.

Associate Dean Linda Schadler presented the following Research Excellence Awards:

Xuegang Jeff Ban, Civil and Environmental Engineering received the Award for Junior Faculty.

Pankaj Karande, Chemical and Biological Engineering received the Award for Junior Faculty.

Catalin R. Picu, Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering received the Award for Senior Faculty.

Mark Shephard, Onkar Sahni, Assad Oberai, Catalin Picu, and Antoinette Maniatty of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering, received the Outstanding Team Award.

Dean Joe Chow presented the following Outstanding Professor Award:

David J. Duquette, Materials Science and Engineering

2014 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Faculty Recognition and Awards

Michael Podowski, Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering, received the Jerome Fischbach '38 Travel Award.

Johnson Samuel, Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering, received the Class of 1951 Outstanding Teaching Development Grant.