GEORGE R. BROWN SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

Faculty & Staff Awards

School-Granted Faculty & Postdoc Awards

Outstanding Faculty Research Award

Awarded to faculty who most contributed to highly impactful publications or publicly available software, based on research conducted at Rice and published/developed during the period January 1, 2016 – December 31, 2020. $5,000.

Nomination: Two-page nomination letter and CV. Limited to two nominations per department. Nominations due January 19, 2021.

Past Recipients:

  • 2020: Lydia Kavraki, CS
  • 2019: Boris Yakobson, MSNE
  • 2018: Pulickel Ajayan, MSNE

Young Faculty Research Award

Given to faculty of rank no higher than assistant professor or assistant research professor. Recognizes outstanding research achievements, as evidenced by publications, program development results, software and other research contributions. $3,000.

Nomination: Two-page nomination letter, copy of papers and other research products, and CV.  Limited to two nominations per department. Nominations due January 19, 2021.

Past Recipients:

  • 2020: Haotian Wang, ChBE
  • 2019: David Zhang, BIOE
  • 2018: Adrianna Gillman, CAAM

Teaching + Research Excellence Award, Tenured

Given annually to one tenured faculty member who demonstrates excellence in both teaching and research. $3,000.

Nomination: Two page nomination letter, one-page summary of research successes in prior two years; one-page summary of teaching excellence in prior two years and CV. Limited to two nominations per department. Nominations due January 19, 2021.

Past Recipients:

  • 2020: Rafael Verduzco, ChBE
  • 2019: Robert Griffin, CEE
  • 2018: Ming Tang, MSNE

Teaching + Research Excellence Award, Tenure-track

Given annually one tenure-track faculty member who demonstrate excellence in both teaching and research. $3,000.

Nomination: Two page nomination letter, one-page summary of research successes in prior two years; one-page summary of teaching excellence in prior two years and CV. Limited to two nominations per department. Nominations due January 19, 2021.

Past Recipients:

  • 2020: Meng Li, STAT
  • 2019: Philip Ernst, STAT

Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Adviser Award

Awarded in recognition of the achievements of a faculty member's doctoral students who completed all degree requirements from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2019. $3,000

Nomination: Two-page nomination letter and CV. Limited to two nominations per department. Nominations due January 19, 2021.

Past Recipients:

  • 2020: Marina Vannucci, STAT 
  • 2019: Junghae Suh, BIOE
  • 2018: Luay Nakhleh, CS 

Curriculum Innovation Award

Recognizes faculty who are improving the quality of education at Rice University through pedagogical and curricular innovation. Open to full-time tenure track or teaching faculty. $2,500.

Nomination: Two-page nomination letter, CV and teaching scores. Limited to two nominations per department. Nominations due January 19, 2021.

Past Recipients:

  • 2020: Genevera Allen, ECE
  • 2019: Scott Rixner, CS
  • 2019: Ray Simar, ECE

Outstanding Postdoctoral Research Award

Recognizes a postdoctoral researcher currently at Rice who has significantly contributed to a research program through highly impactful publications, proposal writing, or other endeavors at Rice University. $2,500.

Nomination: Two-page nomination letter and CV. Limited to two nominations per department. Nominations due January 19, 2021.

Past Recipients:

  • 2020: Linan Zhou, ECE 
  • 2019: Jing Zhang, MSNE
  • 2018: Sharmila Shirodkar, MSNE

School-Granted Staff Awards

Hardy M. Bourland Award for Distinguished Service

Recognizes two staff members in the School of Engineering whose performance is consistently outstanding or whose contributions have significantly improved the School of Engineering or Rice as a whole. $500.

Nomination: Nomination letter. Email to Stephanie Post. Review details about the Hardy M. Bourland Award. Nominations due January 19, 2021.

Rising Star Award

This award is for individuals beginning their career at Rice within the past three years. It recognizes a staff member who has created or utilized an opportunity to grow and develop in their role and as a result, has made important contributions to their unit. $1,000.

Nomination: Nomination letter. Email to Stephanie Post. Nominations due January 19, 2021.

Submit Your Application Materials

Awards Committee

  • Marek Kimmel, Chair, Statistics
  • K. Jane Grande-Allen, Bioengineering
  • Rafael Verduzco, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
  • Philip Bedient, Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • Keith Cooper, Computational and Applied Mathematics
  • Eugene Ng, Computer Science
  • Thanos Antoulas, Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Enrique Barrera, Materials Science and NanoEngineering
  • Tayfun Tezduyar, Mechanical Engineering