UAH faculty and researchers recognized with University Awards for Excellence

On Monday, April 15, The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) hosted the 2019 University Awards for Excellence Ceremony in the Student Services Building to recognize the contributions of the university’s faculty members and researchers.

The annual event honors, among others, faculty who have received external awards and those whom their UAH colleagues identify as being best among peers in teaching and research. The latter includes the university distinguished teaching award, the university distinguished research award, and the distinguished professor award. Each college also gives an award to the faculty member who has had the best performance in teaching, research, and service for the year.

“The faculty and staff awards ceremony gives us an opportunity to recognize the contributions and achievements of our staff and faculty,” says Dr. Christine Curtis, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “We are very fortunate at UAH to have dedicated and high-achieving staff and faculty. It is an honor and a pleasure to acknowledge their accomplishments and to thank them for their part in making UAH a good place to work and university of which we can be proud.”

The ceremony began with a welcome address from Dr. Robert Altenkirch, UAH president, followed by the presentation of staff awards to Jacob Kerstiens, Anita Deer, and Lyndsey Torok, and the Facilities Excellence Award to Joshua Sisco.

Dr. David Berkowitz, dean of UAH’s Graduate School, presented the Graduate School Mentor Award to Dr. Ivey Mackenzie in the College of Business and the Graduate School Advisor Award to Dr. Elise Adams in the College of Nursing.

Dr. Curtis presented the University Research and Creative Activity Mentor Award to Dr. Bryan Mesmer in the College of Engineering. She then recognized the promotion of the following faculty members:

• Lecturer Promotions:
  • Ms. Mary Snow
  • Ms. Shelley Lenahan
  • Ms. Elizabeth Bowman
  • Dr. Terri Johnson
  • Dr. Brinda Mahalingam
  • Mr. Ron Bowman
  • Mr. Dennis Hite
  • Ms. Sinceree Gunn
  • Dr. Susan Friedman
  • Ms. Heather Cross
  • Mr. Karl Keller
  • Ms. Johnna Doty

• Tenured and Promoted to Professor
  • Dr. Ellise Adams

• Tenured and Promoted to Associate Professor:
  • Dr. Yu Lei
  • Dr. Chang-Kwon Kang
  • Dr. Andrei Gandila
  • Dr. Nicole Pacino
  • Ms. Katie Baldwin
  • Dr. Melody Ng
  • Dr. Louise O’Keefe
  • Dr. Yeow-Chye Ng

• Tenured
  • Dr. Sophia Marinova

• Promoted to Clinical Associate Professor:
  • Dr. Daniel Armentrout

• Promoted to Clinical Professor
  • Dr. Lori Lioce

• Promoted to Professor:
  • Dr. Babak Shotorban
  • Dr. Dongsheng Wu
  • Dr. Gang Li
  • Dr. Lawrence Carey
  • Dr. Haley Hoy
  • Dr. Pam O’Neal

The outstanding faculty awards on behalf of each college were presented by Dr. Brent Wren, associate provost, to the following recipients:

• Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences: Dr. Melody Ng
• Business: Dr. Eric Fong
• Education: Dr. Sarah Roller Dyess
• Engineering: Dr. Michael Anderson
• Nursing: Dr. Azita Amiri
• Science: Dr. Robert Griffin

Patent awards were then presented by Dr. Tom Koshut, the associate vice president of research:

• "Thermo-compensated Silicon Photomultiplier with On-chip Semiconductor Temperature Sensor" (Inventor: Dr. Evgeny Kuznetsov, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research)
• "Thermo-compensated Silicon Photomultiplier with On-chip Thermistor" (Inventor: Dr. Evgeny Kuznetsov, Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research)
• "Methods for Extracting Lipids from Algae" (Inventor: Dr. Chen Zhang, Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering)
• "Systems and Methods for Reducing Cutting Blade Noise” (Inventor: Dr. William Kaukler, Rotorcraft Systems Engineering and Simulation Center)
• "Systems and Methods for Providing Gaze-Based Notifications" (Inventors: Dr. Sandra Carpenter, Department of Psychology; Dr. Feng Zhu, Department of Computer Science)
• "Silicon Film Optical Filters Systems and Methods of Fabrication" (Inventor: Dr. Junpeng Guo, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering)
• "Airflow Sensing Systems and Methods" (Inventor: Dr. Gang Wang, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering)

Wall plaques for these patents will be on display outside the UAH Office of Technology Commercialization in Von Braun Research Hall Room E39.

The final two awards of the ceremony were presented by Dr. Curtis to the following recipients:

• Distinguished Teaching Award: Dr. Laurie Joiner in the College of Engineering
• Distinguished Research Award: Dr. Phillip Ligrani in the College of Engineering

The ceremony concluded with recognition of and appreciation for the various committees involved in both the selection and review of award nominees and recipients, including the University Distinguished Awards for Excellence Committee, the University Review Board, the University Research and Creative Activity Mentor Award Committee, and the Staff Excellence Awards Committee.

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