Four engineering faculty honored

Daniel Weile, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Kristi Kiick, assistant professor of materials science and engineering

3:06 p.m., May 17, 2005--The College of Engineering has awarded excellence-in-teaching and outstanding-junior-faculty awards to four faculty members.

Kristi Kiick, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, and Daniel Weile, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, were both named Outstanding Junior Faculty of Engineering.

John Elias, professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Babatunde Ogunnaike, William L. Friend Professor of Chemical Engineering, received the College of Engineering Excellence in Teaching award and the Slocomb Excellence in Teaching award, respectively, during Honors Day, Friday, May 6.

The excellence-in-teaching award, which carries a cash prize for professional development during the next academic year, is given to a faculty member who demonstrates true excellence in teaching.

According to the students and recent graduates who nominated the recipients, the professors are “highly knowledgeable and intellectually challenging, deeply committed to teaching and to students, skilled in communicating and in finding innovative ways to promote learning and understanding that have a positive and long-lasting impact upon students and their educational development,” Eric Kaler, Ellizabeth Inez Kelley Professor of Chemical Engineering and dean of the College of Engineering, said.

Babatunde Ogunnaike, William L. Friend Professor of Chemical Engineering

“I was absolutely surprised by this one, as I did not know I had even been nominated for the award,” Ogunnaike said. “I moved from the DuPont Central Research and Development organization in the fall of 2002, after 13 years with them, and it didn't take me long to realize how much I truly enjoy being around students.”

Recipients of the Outstanding Junior Faculty of Engineering award, which carries a $5,000 prize for professional development during the next academic year, are selected by named professors of the College of Engineering, Kaler said.

“There are so many excellent young faculty members in the college that I felt particularly fortunate that my group's work and accomplishments were chosen for recognition,” Kiick said. “The scientific environment and facilities here are truly excellent and have been an integral factor in the development of my research programs in the design and synthesis of protein- and polymer-based advanced biomaterials. Continued development of our program will also be facilitated by the appointment, which carries with it funds for professional development activities.”

Weile said he would use the cash prize to support his research into the numerical solution of time-domain integral equations, or possibly to explore some ideas in computational geometry.

Article by Martin Mbugua
Photos by Kathy Atkinson and Greg Drew

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