College of Engineering News • Iowa State University

Honoring excellence: 2021 College of Engineering faculty and staff award winners, named faculty positions, and new patents

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College of Engineering faculty and staff awards

D.R. Boylan Eminent Award for Research
Venkataramana Ajjarapu, Thomas M. Whitney Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Mid-Career Achievement in Research
Jean-Philippe Tessonnier, Richard C. Seagrave Professor, chemical and biological engineering

Early Achievement in Research
Kristin Yvonne Rozier, Black & Veatch Building a World of Difference Faculty Fellow and associate professor of aerospace engineering
Zhaoyu Wang, Harpole-Pentair Young Faculty, electrical and computer engineering

Outstanding Achievement in Teaching
Jay Shen, associate professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering

Excellence in Foundational Course Teaching
Marlee Walton, associate teaching professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering

Early Achievement in Teaching – Tenure Track
Shan Jiang, assistant professor of materials science and engineering

Early Achievement in Teaching – Term
Andrew Bolstad, adjunct assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering

Excellence in Extension and/or Outreach
Doug Jacobson, University Professor of electrical and computer engineering

Outstanding Achievement in Advising
Jenny Baker, associate teaching professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering

Early Achievement in Advising
Emily Swartz, academic advisor, civil, construction and environmental engineering

Staff Excellence
Cheryl Sansgaard, business administrator, Engineering Research Institute

Outstanding New Staff
Kimberly McFarland, program assistant, mechanical engineering
Miho Walczak, grants specialist, Engineering Research Institute

New named faculty positions

Black & Veatch Building a World of Difference Faculty Fellowship in Engineering – Luke Roling, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering, Cristina Poleacovschi, assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, and Sarah Bentil, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. Established by Black & Veatch in honor of Len (’71 BS Civil Engineering) and Julie (’71 BS Home Economics Education) Rodman

Cargill Professorship in Chemical EngineeringLaura Jarboe, professor of chemical and biological engineering. Established by Cargill

Cerwick Faculty Professorship – Chris Rehmann, associate professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering. Established by Joel (‘66 BS and ’68 MS Civil Engineering) and Judy Cerwick

Cerwick Faculty FellowshipKaoru Ikuma, assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, Behrouz Shafei, Alice Alipour, and Omar Smadi, all associate professors of civil, construction and environmental engineering. Established by Joel (‘66 BS and ’68 MS Civil Engineering) and Judy Cerwick

Vikram L. Dalal ProfessorshipLiang Dong, professor of of electrical and computer engineering. Established by Vik Dalal

Engineering Entrepreneurship Faculty FellowshipMatt Nelson, assistant teaching professor of aerospace engineering, Steve Bell, associate teaching professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering, Nigel Reuel, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering, Anuj Sharma, associate professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, Suraj Kothari, professor of electrical and computer engineering, Gary Mirka, University Professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering, Peter Collins, professor of materials science and engineering, and Cary Pint, associate professor of mechanical engineering. Established by the College of Engineering

Vernon Guse Faculty FellowshipZengyi Shao, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering. Established through the Vernon Guse (’34 Chemical Engineering) Fund in Chemical Engineering

Mary Jane Skogen Hagenson & Randy L. Hagenson Professorship in Chemical & Biological Engineering Eric Cochran, professor of chemical and biological engineering. Established by Mary Jane (’74 BS Physics, ’76 MS ’80 PhD Biomedical Engineering) and Randy (’72 BS Electrical, ’73 MS and ’78 PhD Nuclear Engineering) Hagenson

Murray J. and Ruth M. Harpole Professorship in Electrical and Computer EngineeringManimaran Govindarasu, Distinguished Professor of electrical and computer engineering. Established by Murray (’43 BS Electrical Engineering) and Ruth (2016 Honorary Degree) Harpole

Harpole-Pentair Developing Faculty AwardGoce Tracevski, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, Henry Duwe, Hugo Villegas-Pico, and Mai Zheng, all assistant professors of electrical and computer engineering. Established by Murray (’43 BS Electrical Engineering) and Ruth (2016 Honorary Degree) Harpole

Thomas D. McGee & Ick-Jhin Rick Yoon Department Chair in Materials Science & EngineeringChris Cornelius, department chair of materials science and engineering. Established by Ick-Jhin Rick (’72 BS and ’77 PhD Ceramic Engineering) and Sandy Yoon

Ross Martin Mehl and Marylyne Munas Mehl Computer Engineering Professorship – Joseph Zambreno, professor of electrical and computer engineering. Established by Ross and Marylyne Munas Mehl

David C. Nicholas Professorship – Julie Dickerson, professor of electrical and computer engineering. Established in honor of David C. Nicholas (’67 BS, ’68 MS and ’71 PhD Electrical Engineering)

Northrup Grumman Professorship in honor of Fred W. O’GreenZhaoyu Wang, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. Established by Northrup Grumman Professorship in honor of Fred W. O’Green (’43 Electrical Engineering)

Palmer Professorship in Electrical and Computer EngineeringRatnesh Kumar, professor of electrical and computer engineering. Established by Barbara Palmer (1946 BS Household Equipment) in honor of her late husband, James Palmer (1944 BS Electrical Engineering)

Pitt-Des Moines, Inc. Professorship in Civil Engineering – Halil Ceylan, professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering. Established by Pitt-Des Moines Inc.

Willard & Leitha Richardson Professorship in Electrical and Computer EngineeringAhmed Kamal, professor of electrical and computer engineering. Established by Willard (’34 Electrical Engineering) & Leitha Richardson

Richard G. Schultze and Suzanne M. Schultze Teaching FellowshipJenny Baker and Brad Perkins, both teaching professors of civil, construction and environmental engineering. Established by Rick (’82 Construction Engineering) and Suzanne Schultze

Richard C. Seagrave ProfessorshipJean-Philippe Tessonnier, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering. Established by former students and friends in honor of Dick Seagrave (’59 MS and ’61 PhD Chemical Engineering)

Herbert L. Stiles Faculty Fellowships in Chemical EngineeringWenzhen Li, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering. Established by Herbert (’29 Chemical Engineering) and Louise Stiles

Thomas M. Whitney Professorship in Electrical and Computer EngineeringVenkataramana Ajjarapu, professor of electrical and computer engineering. Established by Donna Whitney in honor of Tom Whitney (’61 BS Electrical Engineering)

Wilkinson Chair in Materials Science and EngineeringChris Cornelius, department chair of materials science and engineering. Established through the Wilkinson Engineering Fund, which was established by Carla Wilkinson in honor of her husband, Roger Wilkinson (’24 Electrical Engineering)

Wilkinson Professorship in Interdisciplinary Engineering – Gül Kremer, professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering. Established through the Wilkinson Engineering Fund, which was established by Carla Wilkinson in honor of her husband, Roger Wilkinson (’24 Electrical Engineering)

Patent recipients

R. Chris Williams, Gerald and Audrey Olson Professorship in Civil Engineering, Eric Cochran, Mary Jane Skogen Hagenson & Randy L. Hagenson Professor in Chemical & Biological Engineering, Michael Forrester, research scientist, chemical and biological engineering, and Nacu Hernandez, scientist, chemical and biological engineering, Poly(acrylated polyol) and Method for Making and Using Thereof as Asphalt Rubber Modifiers, Adhesive, Fracking Additives, or Fracking Fluids

R. Chris Williams, Gerald and Audrey Olson Professorship in Civil Engineering, Eric Cochran, Mary Jane Skogen Hagenson & Randy L. Hagenson Professor in Chemical & Biological Engineering, Nacu Hernandez, research scientist, chemical and biological engineering, Thermoplastic Elastomers via Reversible Addition-fragmentation Chain Transfer Polymerization of Triglycerides and Rejuvenation of Vacuum Tower Bottom Through Bio-derived Materials

Austin Hohmann, engineer, chemical and biological engineering, Eric Cochran, Mary Jane Skogen Hagenson & Randy L. Hagenson Professor in Chemical & Biological Engineering, Michael Forrester, research scientist, chemical and biological engineering, and Nacu Hernandez, research scientist, chemical and biological engineering, Thiocarbonylthio Compounds as Chain Transfer Agents Suitable for Raft Polymerization

Jean-Philippe Tessonnier, Richard C. Seagrave Professor, Eric Cochran, Mary Jane Skogen Hagenson & Randy L. Hagenson Professor in Chemical & Biological Engineering, Nacu Hernandez, research scientist, chemical and biological engineering, Bioadvantaged Nylon: Polycondensation of 3-Hexenedioic Acid with Hexamethylenediamine

Yue Wu, professor of chemical and biological engineering, Two Dimensional Metal Carbide Catalyst

Derrick Rollins, University Professor of chemical and biological engineering, Automatic Insulin Delivery System With Minimized Input Variable Lag

Martin Thuo, associate professor of materials science and engineering, Mechano-chemical De-mixing of Metal Alloys and Mixed Materials and Self-strengthening Polymer Composites

Robert Brown, Gary and Donna Hoover Chair in Mechanical Engineering, Fast Pyrolysis of Biomass in an Autothermally Operating Reactor

Liang Dong, Vikram L. Dalal Professors/Northrop Grumman Professor in honor of Fred W. O’Green, and Ratnesh Kumar, Palmer Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Integrated Dual-Modality Microfluidic Sensor For Biomarker Detection Using Lithographic PlasmonicCrystal and Nano-Patterning Methods Including: (1) Patterning Of Nanophotonic Structures At Optical Fiber Tip For Refractive Index Sensing And (2) Plasmonic Crystal Incorporating Graphene Oxide Gas Sensor For Detection Of Volatile Organic Compounds

Liang Dong, Vikram L. Dalal Professors/Northrop Grumman Professor in honor of Fred W. O’Green, and Jiming Song, professor of electrical and computer engineering, Wearable Microwave Meta-Skin with Tunable Frequency Selective and Cloaking Effects

Liang Dong, Vikram L. Dalal Professors/Northrop Grumman Professor in honor of Fred W. O’Green, High Sensitivity Mems Pressure Sensor, Miniature Sensors With Probe Insertable Into And For Obtaining Measurements From Plants And A Variety Of Other Mediums, and High-Resolution Patterning And Transferring Of Functional Nanomaterials Toward Massive Production Of Flexible, Conformal, And Wearable Sensors Of Many Kinds On Adhesive Tapes

Thomas Chiou, professor of practice, aerospace engineering, Soil Nitrate Sensing System for Precision Management of Nitrogen Fertilizer Applications

Balaji Narasimhan, Vlasta Klima Balloun Faculty Chair, chemical and biological engineering, Influenza Nanovaccine

Santosh Pandey, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Lee Harker, electronics technician, electrical and computer engineering, Methods, Apparatus, and Systems to Extract and Quantify Minute Objects from Soil or Feces, Including Plant-Parasitic Nematode Pests and their Eggs in Soil

Iver Anderson, adjunct professor of materials science and engineering and scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, Stability of Gas Atomized Reactive Powders Through Multiple Step In-situ Passivation, Atomizer for Improved Ultra-fine Powder Production, and Solid State Grain Alignment of Permanent Magnets in Near-final Shape

Daji Qiao and Long Que, both associate professors of electrical and computer engineering, Smart Installation And Monitoring System For Large Anchor Bolts Of Support Structures For Highway Signs, Luminaries, And Traffic Signals (SLTS)

Jonathan Claussen, associate professor of mechanical engineering, High Resolution Graphene Films for Electrochemical Sensing Via Inkjet Maskless Lithography and Tunable Nano-structured Inkjet Printed Graphene Via UV Pulsed-laser Irradiation for Electrochemical Sensing

Ikenna Nlebedim, adjunct professor of materials science and engineering and scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, High Command Fidelity Electromagnetically Driven Calorimeter

Zengyi Shao, Vernon Guse Faculty Fellow, chemical and biological engineering, Methods and Compositions for Production of Aromatic and Other Compounds in Yeast

Steve Martin, Distinguished Professor of materials science and engineering, Oxy-Thio-Nitride Mixed Network Former Solid Electrolytes

Nigel Reuel, Engineering Entrepreneurship Faculty Fellow, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering, Optical Nanosensorsfor Hydrolytic Enzyme Characterization

Shan Jiang, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, UV-Absorbing Coating Including Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles

Travis Sippel, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and James Michael, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, Microwave Flame Enhancement of Energetic Material Combustion

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