Engineering Departments Honor Faculty

College of Engineering faculty and staff members were honored for their achievements in teaching, research and service during the 2019-20 academic year during the college's faculty and staff meeting May 1.

Congratulations to these winners:

Biological and Agricultural Engineering

• Teaching: Tom Costello, associate professor
• Research: Jun Zhu, professor
• Service to Students: Kieu Le, teaching assistant professor
• Staff Excellence: Linda Pate, departmental administrative manager

Biomedical Engineering

• Teaching: Chris Nelson, assistant professor, The Twenty-First Century Professorship in Biomedical Engineering
• Research: Narasimhan Rajaram, assistant professor
• Service to Students: Kyle Quinn, assistant professor
• Staff Excellence: Jonathan Ward, master scientific research technician

Ralph E. Martin Department of Chemical Engineering

• Teaching: Christa Hestekin, associate professor, Ansel and Virginia Condray Endowed Professorship in Chemical Engineering
• Research: Lauren Greenlee, associate professor, Ralph E. Martin Leadership Chair in Chemical Engineering
• Service to Students: Heather Walker, teaching assistant professor
• Staff Excellence: Tammy Lutz-Rechtin, safety coordinator

Civil Engineering

• Teaching: Gary Prinz, associate professor
• Research: Sarah Hernandez, assistant professor
• Service to Students: Rod Williams, clinical assistant professor
• Staff Excellence: David Peachee, scientific research technician

Computer Science and Computer Engineering

• Teaching: John Gauch, professor
• Research: Jia Di, professor, 21st Century Research Leadership Chair
• Service to Students: Brajendra Panda, professor
• Staff Excellence: Brandy Meredith, fiscal manager

Electrical Engineering

• Teaching: Roy McCann, professor
• Research: Fisher Yu, associate professor
• Service to Students: Robert Saunders, assistant department head
• Staff Excellence: Connie Howard, assistant to the department head

Industrial Engineering

• Teaching: Kelly Sullivan, associate professor
• Research: Haitao Liao, professor, John and Mary Lib White Endowed Systems Integration Chair
• Service to Students: Tish Pohl, teaching assistant professor
• Staff Excellence: Matt Sparks, master scientific research technician

Mechanical Engineering

• Teaching: Zhenghui Sha, assistant professor
• Research: David Huitink, assistant professor
• Service to Students: Adam Huang, associate professor
• Staff Excellence: Melynda Hart, operations manager

College of Engineering

• Teaching: Brandon Crisel, instructor
• Research: Candace Rainwater, clinical assistant professor
• Staff Excellence: Kyle Cook, facilities manager

John English, dean of the College of Engineering, said even though the format for this year's award ceremony was different, the achievement is no less meaningful.

"I wish we would have been able to gather as a college to celebrate these outstanding faculty and staff members, but the ceremony is not what makes these accomplishments real," he said. "These awards are chosen based on nominations from colleagues, and each one represents the life-changing teaching, research and student support that takes place in our college every day. I'm so grateful to work alongside each of these incredible individuals."