Dr. Joseph W. Tedesco, Elizabeth D. Rockwell Dean of the UH Cullen College of Engineering, announced that 17 students and faculty members had been selected as recipients in the 2019-2020 Faculty and Student Excellence Awards, which recognize teaching and research achievements.
“Each year, the Cullen College recognizes the exemplary contributions and achievements of its faculty and students,” he said. “These contributions come in many forms, from conducting groundbreaking research to mentoring and advising students, all of which have helped bring the University of Houston to top-tier status.”
The William A. Brookshire Teaching Excellence Award recognizes faculty who demonstrate an unwavering commitment to exemplifying the highest levels of teaching excellence inside the classroom. David Shattuck of Electrical and Computer Engineering was bestowed the honor this year.
The W.T. Kittinger Teaching Excellence Award was given to Matthew Franchek of Mechanical Engineering. The award is traditionally one of the highest teaching honors given at the Cullen College. This award recognizes outstanding teaching and service to students.
Karolos Grigoriadis of Mechanical Engineering received the Career Teaching Award. The honor is given intermittently, and reserved for faculty who have shown a lifetime commitment to students.
The Cullen College of Engineering Faculty Excellence Award (formerly funded by Fluor Corporation) is the highest honor afforded to a faculty member for research. This year's recipient is Kirill Larin of Biomedical Engineering. This award recognizes career excellence in research, teaching and service.
The 2019-2020 Teaching Excellence Award recognizes outstanding teaching and service to students. This year's faculty awardees are:
- Sheereen Majd of Biomedical Engineering
- Stacey Louie of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Rose Faghih of Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Shailendra Joshi of Mechanical Engineering
This year, the following teaching assistants were awarded:
- Tina Kazemi of Biomedical Engineering
- Amir Rahmati of Mechanical Engineering
- Vishal Talari of Mechanical Engineering
The Research Excellence Award recognizes faculty for their outstanding research contributions. This year's senior-level faculty awardees are:
- Muna Naash of Biomedical Engineering
- Jacinta Conrad of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Junior-level faculty receiving awards this year are:
- Stacey Louie of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Rose Faghih of Electrical and Computer Engineering
The Andrea Prosperetti Research Computing Faculty Award recognizes faculty within the college who have demonstrated a singular achievement in the broadly defined topics of scientific computing and data science. This year's awardee is Di Yang of Mechanical Engineering.
Dajla Neffati of Mechanical Engineering received the Andrea Prosperetti Research Computing Faculty Award. The honor recognizes graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who have made outstanding contributions to research in data science and high-performance computing as well as their applications.
The Career Innovator award recognizes a track record of successful efforts by faculty in innovation and entrepreneurship during their career at UH. Qualifications include dedication to technology transfer, commercialization and startups. This year's awardee is Sergey Shevkoplyas of Biomedical Engineering.
Jae-Hyun Ryou of Mechanical Engineering was honored with the Rising Innovator Award. It recognizes efforts by tenured associate faculty in innovation and entrepreneurship at UH who have demonstrated a track record of mentorship, in addition to clear efforts in transferring technology to practice.
Because of safety precautions being taken in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the awards were not given out at the spring faculty and staff meeting. The college will honor each of them during an awards ceremony at the annual State of the College meeting in the fall.