The Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Graduate College have announced the recipients of the 2016 fall semester Research and Teaching Excellence Awards. The recipients include:
Darrel Enyart- Teaching Excellence Award
Stephanie Oyola- Reynoso- Research Excellence Award
Jiahao Chen- Research Excellence Award
Honghu Zhang- Research Excellence Award
These graduate students have been recognized by the department, faculty and the Graduate College as students who have demonstrated outstanding achievements in teaching or research. The top 10% of graduate students involved in research and teaching are being recognized across the university.
The award consists of a certificate of recognition, a congratulatory note from Iowa State University President, Steven Leath, and an honor cord to be worn during the graduation ceremony. These students will be specially recognized in the commencement program, and the award will be noted on each student’s transcripts.
Each student was nominated by a faculty member from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
About the Students:
Stephanie Oyola-Reynoso
Oyola-Reynoso is working towards her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering. She is expected to graduate in June 2017. Her major professor is Dr. Martin Thuo. She has received the Research Excellence Award.
“Stephanie is a well-published scientist with 21 publications in her graduate career. This year alone she has authored or co-authored ten publications. Stephanie is also a co-inventor in one published patent and two others at the disclosure stage… This level of impact is rare for a graduate student and is a testament to her work ethic, commitment to research and research aptitude.” -Dr. Martin Thuo
Jiahao Chen
Chen is seeking to earn his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering. He is expected to graduate in June 2017. His major professor is Dr. Martin Thuo. He has received the Research Excellence Award.
“Jiahao is well published with 13 publications (nine papers, two peer-reviewed conference proceedings, and two book chapters) with five papers under review and two patents. He has co-authored five manuscripts, and three more are under review. The diversity of his skill, being empirical and mathematical, has allowed Jiahao to significantly change our understanding of materials surface and interfaces, and this is demonstrated in the level of citations he has received for his work over the last two years.” -Dr. Martin Thuo
Honghu Zhang
Zhang will graduate in December 2016 with his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering. His major professors are Dr. Mufit Akinc and Dr. Surya Mallapragada. He has received the Research Excellence Award.
“His project initially focused on biomineralization which was then morphed into a focus on self-assembled systems because of a change in the U.S. Department of Energy priorities. Therefore, Honghu had to make a major shift in his research project right in the middle of his PhD work. He has done this beautifully. He embodies all the characteristics that we want to recognize with the Research Excellence Award.” -Dr. Mufit Akinc
Darrel Enyart
Enyart is working towards his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering. He is expected to graduate in May 2017. His major professor is Dr. Alan Russell. Enyart has received the Teaching Excellence Award.
“Darrel has taught five Materials Engineering courses during the last two years of his PhD program. The number of student comments given in Darrel’s teaching evaluations are too numerous to present here, but student comments were uniformly positive. The average student evaluation for MatE/MSE courses is usually around 4.1, and Darrel’s student evaluations were generally substantially higher.” -Dr. Alan Russell.
It is with great pride and pleasure that the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Graduate College recognizes these four students for their outstanding accomplishments.