College Faculty Awards

Grainger Engineering faculty are innovators. Their pioneering approaches to teaching and research are world-renowned, and each year the College internally recognizes a select group of these faculty for their achievements.

Maha Alafeef

2022 Ross J. Martin Award

Phillip Ansell

2022 Grainger College of Engineering Teaching Excellence Award

Arijit Banerjee
  • 2020 Everitt Teaching Award for Teaching Excellence
Jennifer Bernhard

2022 College Award for Leadership or Institutional Impact in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Daniel J. Bodony

2022 Rose Award for Teaching Excellence

David Cahill
  • 2020 Tau Beta Pi Daniel C. Drucker Eminent Faculty Award
Qian Chen
  • 2022 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Associate Professor
  • 2020 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor
Girish Chowdhary
  • 2020 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor
Brian Cunningham
  • 2021 Everitt Teaching Award for Teaching Excellence
Davide Curreli

2023 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Associate Professor

Paul C. Davidson

2022 Collins Award for Innovative Teaching

Angela Di Fulvio

2022 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor

Nora El-Gohary
  • 2020 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Associate Professor
Gregory Elliott

2023 College Award For Excellence in Faculty Mentoring

Elif Erketin
  • 2020 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Associate Professor
Randy Ewoldt
  • 2021 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Associate Professor
  • 2023 Everitt Teaching Award for Teaching Excellence
Wade A. Fagen-Ulmschneider

2023 Rose Award for Teaching Excellence

David W. Flaherty

2022 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Associate Professor

Christopher W. Fletcher

2023 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor

Thomas Gaj

2023 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor

Marcelo Garcia

2022 College Award for Excellence in Faculty Mentoring

Jugal Garg

2022 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor

Mattia Gazzola

2023 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor

Molly H. Goldstein

2023 Collins Award for Innovative Teaching

Holly M. Golecki

2023 The College Award for Sustained Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Derek Hoiem
  • 2021 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Associate Professor
Pinshane Huang
  • 2021 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor
  • 2021 Grainger College of Engineering Teaching Excellence Award
  • 2023 Rose Award for Teaching Excellence
Raluca Ilie
  • 2021 Collins Award for Innovative Teaching
Paul Jensen
  • 2020 Stanley H. Pierce Faculty Award
William P. King

2022 College Award for Excellence in Translational Research

Megan Konar

2022 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Associate Professor

Ashish Kulkarni
  • 2020 Ross J. Martin Award
Ranjitha Kumar
  • 2020 Rose Award for Teaching Excellence
Svetlana Lazebnik
  • 2020 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Associate Professor
Cecilia Leal
  • 2022 College Award for Sustained Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  • 2021 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Associate Professor
Minjoo Lee
  • 2021 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Associate Professor
Bo Li

2022 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor

Leon Liebenberg
  • 2021 Rose Award for Teaching Excellence
Virginia Lorenz
  • 2020 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Associate Professor
Kathryn Matlack

2023 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor

Jason M. Merret

2023 Stanley H. Pierce Faculty Award

Nenad Miljkovic

2022 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Associate Professor

Francesco Panerai

2022 Everitt Teaching Award for Teaching Excellence

Arghya Patra

2023 Ross J. Martin Award

Jian Peng
  • 2020 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor
Nicola H. Perry

2023 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor

Chandra Radhakrishnan
  • 2021 Rose Award for Teaching Excellence
Jeffrey R. Roesler

2023 College Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring

Theresa A. Saxton-Fox

2023 College Award for Leadership or Institutional Impact in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Andre Schleife

2023 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Associate Professor

Alexander Schwing
  • 2021 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor
Huseyin Sehitoglu
  • 2021 Tau Beta Pi Daniel C. Drucker Eminent Faculty Award
  • 2023 College Award for Excellence in Faculty Mentoring
Mats Selen
  • 2020 Rose Award for Teaching Excellence
Chenhui Shao

Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor

Julia Shelton
  • 2020 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor
Diwakar Shukla
  • 2020 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor
Mariana T. Silva

2022 Rose Award for Teaching Excellence 

Sanjiv Sinha
  • 2021 Stanley H. Pierce Faculty Award
Murugesu Sivapalan

2022 Tau Beta Pi Daniel C. Drucker Eminent Faculty Award

Andrew Smith
  • 2020 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Associate Professor
Edgar Solomonik
  • 2021 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor
Pengfei Song

2022 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor

Nancy R. Sottos

2023 College Award for Excellence in Translational Research

James F. Stubbins

2022 College Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring

Sameh Tawfick

2022 Stanley H. Pierce Faculty Award
2023 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Associate Professor

Hanghang Tong

2022 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Associate Professor

Dallas Trinkle
  • 2020 Collins Award for Innovative Teaching
Rizwan Uddin
  • 2020 Grainger College of Engineering Teaching Excellence Award
  • 2023 College Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring
Alexander F. Vakakis

2023 Tau Beta Pi Daniel C. Drucker Eminent Faculty Award

Arend van der Zande
  • 2021 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Assistant Professor
Amy Wagoner Johnson

2022 College Award for Sustained Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Tandy Warnow

2022 College Award for Excellence in Faculty Mentoring

Jamison Watson
  • 2021 Ross J. Martin Award
Lingming Zhang

2023 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Associate Professor

Yang Zhang
  • 2020 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research for Associate Professor

The Tau Beta Pi Daniel C. Drucker Eminent Faculty Award recognizes faculty in the College of Engineering who have received national or international acclaim for dedication to academic excellence through teaching and research and have made exemplary contributions to the understanding of their fields. The award demonstrates the ideals of Daniel C. Drucker, dean of the College of Engineering from 1968 to 1984. An internationally recognized scholar in the field of applied mechanics and materials, Dean Drucker's pursuit of scholarly excellence had great influence on the faculty and students of the college. He worked with and supported many programs of Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society. The award consists of $5,000 monetary award in the form of direct deposit and a bronze plaque.

This award was established by the college to recognize outstanding research achievement by a graduate student in the College of Engineering as a memorial to Ross J. Martin, Associate Dean of the College, who served as director of the Engineering Experiment Station for 26 years, until his death in 1984.  During his tenure as director, the engineering research budget grew eightfold.  Dean Martin realized how essential research is to a sound graduate engineering education and was instrumental in making this college one of the foremost research institutions in the world.  This award is a tribute to his guidance and to the outstanding research conducted in this college.  Awardee receives a direct deposit of $2,000.

The Rose Award for Teaching Excellence shall be presented annually to a member of the College of Engineering's undergraduate teaching faculty in recognition of his or her innovative teaching methods and instructional programs.   Nominations may be submitted for excellence in instruction or excellence in course design and development (including the creation of new courses or significant revisions of existing courses). The recipients of the award receive a monetary award of $3,000 in the form of direct deposit and a plaque.

The Rose Award for Teaching Excellence shall be presented annually to a member of the College of Engineering's undergraduate teaching faculty in recognition of his or her innovative teaching methods and instructional programs.   Nominations may be submitted for excellence in instruction or excellence in course design and development (including the creation of new courses or significant revisions of existing courses). The recipients of the award receive a monetary award of $3,000 in the form of direct deposit and a plaque.

A well-crafted nomination for this award would clearly address sustained excellence and innovation in undergraduate teaching and contributions to undergraduate learning beyond classroom instruction. These are the principal campus awards for excellence in undergraduate teaching. Up to 15 recipients will be chosen (5 tenure-system faculty, 5  specialized faculty and 5 graduate teaching assistants). The award consists of an honorarium and a personalized commemorative plaque.

Established in 1995, the College of Engineering Teaching Excellence Award is funded through an endowment by an alumnus and his spouse in appreciation for the excellent teaching that he received during his student days. In support of undergraduate instruction, the donors seek to improve the excellence of teaching in the college by providing an annual teaching award that will motivate teachers to increase the educational impact they make on their students. From the endowment's net income, one recipient receives a monetary award of $4,000, which is in the form of direct deposit.

In 1968, undergraduate engineering students established the Everitt Award for Teaching Excellence to honor Dean Emeritus William L. Everitt at the time of his retirement. The award, which annually recognizes one engineering faculty member for outstanding undergraduate teaching, is one of the most coveted awards available to the faculty and serves to emphasize the importance attached to good teaching in the college. The award is made possible through an endowment contributed by the personal and corporate friends of Dean Everitt.  The recipient receives a plaque in recognition for his or her outstanding effort as well as direct deposit in the amount of $3000.00. The winner's name is also engraved onto a plaque that is placed in Engineering Hall.

The Dean's Award for Excellence in Research honors faculty members annually for outstanding research in two categories: to assistant professors based on one (1) year of research accomplishments; and to associate professors based on five (5) years of research accomplishments.

The Dean's Award for Excellence in Research honors faculty members annually for outstanding research in two categories: to assistant professors based on one (1) year of research accomplishments; and to associate professors based on five (5) years of research accomplishments.

W. Leighton Collins was a faculty member in the College of Engineering from 1929-65 and former executive director of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). He was a pioneer and leader in ASEE and helped shape engineering instruction in the United States. This award recognizes outstanding development or use of new and innovative teaching methods. The recipient of the award receives direct deposit in the amount of $3,000 and a plaque.

The College Award for Sustained Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) shall be presented annually to a member of the College of Engineering's faculty or staff in recognition of their contributions to advance DEI through work with individual students, staff, faculty, community members, or organizations. The contributions may pertain to the nominee’s impact in research, teaching, and/or service. The recipients of the award receive a monetary award of $3,000 in the form of direct deposit and a plaque.

The College Award for Leadership or Institutional Impact in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) aims to recognize a member of the College of Engineering's faculty or staff in recognition of leadership in establishing or running programs or strengthening institutional policy in DEI-related research, teaching, and/or service. The recipient of the award receives a monetary award of $3,000 in the form of direct deposit and a plaque.

The Grainger College of Engineering Award for Excellence in Translational Research honors faculty or staff researchers for special achievement in translational research. Examples of translational research include, but are not limited to: entrepreneurial activities related to research outcomes, technology transfer of research through licensing of intellectual property, and research leading directly to products/outcomes with notable societal impact. Winners will receive a plaque and a prize of $3000.

Established 2022, the Grainger College of Engineering has created this college-wide award to recognize engineering faculty members who have demonstrated a sustained excellence and innovation in graduate student mentoring.  This award, which comes with a $3000 prize and plaque, will be presented at the annual College Faculty Awards ceremony.

Faculty Awards Ceremony, April 25, 2022