Each year, the George R. Brown School of Engineering honors members of its faculty and staff for their outstanding research, teaching, advising and service. Here are recipients of the 2020-21 Faculty and Staff Awards:
Faculty 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, to December 31, 2020.
Naomi Halas
Stanley C. Moore Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering
“As a pioneering researcher in the field of nanophotonics, Naomi has been one of the most impactful faculty members in the Brown School, the University, nationally and internationally."
Young Faculty Research Award
Recognizes outstanding research achievements, as evidenced by publications, program development results, software, and other research contributions. Given to faculty of rank no higher than assistant professor or assistant research professor.
Anshumali Shrivastava
Assistant Professor
Computer Science
“Dr. Shrivastava is a rising star in the machine learning and data science communities. His work is cutting edge and is noted for both its depth and breadth."
Teaching + Research Excellence Award
Given annually to faculty members, tenured and tenure-track, who demonstrate excellence in both teaching and research.
Matthew Brake
Assistant Professor
Mechanical Engineering
"Dr. Brake has already shown strong technical and educational leadership in the Department, the School, and his profession and he will continue to have a large impact as his career develops."
Santiago Segarra
Assistant Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering
“In addition to his research successes, Santiago is a fantastic teacher who is highly appreciated by both undergraduate and graduate student engineers at Rice."
Edward Knightly
Sheafor-Lindsay Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering
“His research is distinguished by his focus on 'real-world' networking problems and the careful and deep thought evidenced in developing, understanding and evaluating solutions to these problems. In short, Edward is a true leader and top researcher in the area of wireless networking and his record is unsurpassed by his peers."
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, 2016, to December 31, 2020.
Walter Chapman
William W. Akers Chair Professor
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
“Professor Chapman is an outstanding mentor who meets individually with every student each week. He promotes student interaction with international experts through student attendance at major conferences, industrial projects, and by bringing experts to Rice."
Curriculum Innovation Award
Recognizes faculty who are improving the quality of education at Rice University through pedagogical and curricular innovation.
Rudy Guerra
Professor, Department Chair
Statistics
“Dr. Guerra is unequivocal on the importance of our undergraduate program, dedicating much energy and focus to ensure we bring forward state-of-the-art curriculum to our exceptional undergraduate students."
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.
Pratiksha Dongare
Postdoctoral Researcher
Electrical and Computer Engineering
“Pratiksha Dongare has made extraordinary advances in solar-driven desalination, which include fundamental discoveries, dramatic improvements and innovative new strategies that are already rapidly moving this technology forward."
Award for Excellence in Teaching in the School of Engineering
Recognizes continued excellence in teaching and exemplary commitment to the education of undergraduate or graduate students within the School of Engineering. The award will also be announced with the University Awards.
Bilal Ghosn
Lecturer
Bioengineering
"Dr. Ghosn has often worked to incorporate innovative pedagogical methods, experiential learning, real-world examples and open-ended problems into his courses, and he has presented these educational research studies at ASEE and BMES."
Staff Awards:
Hardy M. Bourland Award for Distinguished Service
Recognizes two staff members (one exempt and one non-exempt) 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.
Alicia C. Herrera
Undergraduate and Graduate Studies Administrator
Mechanical Engineering
"Many people at some point give up and say, 'This is all I could do.' Alicia has a very high threshold for that--the highest we have seen among all of the staff members we have known in our long careers."
Andrea C. Torres
Graduate Program Coordinator
Civil and Environmental Engineering
“She has shown a willingness to take on additional duties, assist the department outside her role, create departmental processes for efficiency, provide assistance to others, and much more."
Rising Star Award
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. Given to individuals beginning their career at Rice within the past three years.
Rosario Sa Martinez
Marketing and Recruitment Specialist
Office of the Dean
"During the pandemic, as we needed to double or even triple our efforts to recruit students so she worked during weekends, evenings, early in the morning and very late at night hosting and attending more than 80 events."
2021 Award Committee
- 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
- Marek Kimmel, Statistics