Department News

Richard Braatz was one of sixteen scientists elected Fellows of the IFAC for 2008. IFAC is a multinational federation of approximately 50 national member organizations concerned with automatic control. "The IFAC Fellow Award is given to persons who have made outstanding and extraordinary contributions in the field of interest of IFAC, in the role as an Engineer/Scientist, Technical Leader, or Educator." Professor Braatz was recognized for his "contributions to the robust control of industrial systems".

Huimin Zhao is the recipient of the 2008 Young Investigator Award from the Division of Biochemical Technology of the American Chemical Society, sponsored by Genetech, Inc. He was cited for "pioneering contributions in the area of directed evolution for industrial and medical biotechnology applications". He will be presented the award at the annual American Chemical Society meeting in April.

Edmund Seebauer has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He was cited for the discovery of a new suite of physical mechanisms for controlling the behavior of point defects in semiconductors using surfaces, photostimulation and ions, with applications in transistor manufacture for integrated circuits.

Edmund Seebauer, the James W. Westwater Professor was recently awarded the distinction of Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Election as a fellow is an honor bestowed upon members by their peers. Seebauer was honored for discovery and application of new mechanisms to engineer the behavior of defects within semiconducting solids and on their surfaces.

Kenneth Schweizer was awarded the Polymer Physics Prize of the American Physical Society, the highest honor in physical polymer science awarded in the United States. He was cited for his "outstanding theoretical contributions to the fundamental understanding of structure and dynamics in polymer melts, polymer blends, polymer-particle composites, and glasses". The prize consists of $10,000 and a certificate citing the contributions made by the recipient. It is presented annually.

(read more...)

Christopher Rao was awarded a 2007 CAREER Award by the National Science Foundation. The title of his grant is "Quantitative analysis of translational regulation".

Charles F. Zukoski was elected a member of National Academy of Engineering for his research on the manipulation of particle interactions to alter their suspension properties, and for leadership in education. (more information)

Richard Braatz became a Fellow in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, January 1, 2007. This is a great honor as the total number of Fellows selected in any one year does not exceed 0.1% of the total voting Institute membership. Professor Braatz was elected for "contributions to robust control of industrial systems".

We are greatly pleased to announce that Hyun Joon Kong joined our faculty January 2007.