Awards reception held for alumni, faculty and students

Auburn University's Samuel Ginn College of Engineering recently honored students, faculty and alumni at a ceremony and reception at the Auburn University Hotel and Dixon Conference Center.

The Annual Faculty and Student Awards and Alumni Recognition began in 1998 as a way to recognize outstanding students, faculty and alumni in a single event, rather than a number of smaller events.

Heather Layne, a senior in industrial and systems engineering, was this year's recipient of the Fred and Mary Lou Birdsong Study Abroad Scholarship. Layne will travel to Klagenfurt, Austria, this summer to study German. This scholarship was created in 1990 by the Birdsongs to give engineering students the opportunity to enrich their educations through the study of humanities and other cultures. Students submit a proposal for a semester or year of international study in a discipline other than engineering.

The recipient of the Fred H. Pumphrey award, named in honor of Pumphry who was dean of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering from 1958 to 1968, was aerospace engineering faculty member Christopher Roy.

Recipients of the Pumphrey Outstanding Pre-Engineering Student Awards, given to students with 4.0 GPA's were Bradley Diedrick, aerospace engineering; Paul Hutchinson, chemical engineering; John Betbeze, civil engineering; Mustafa Ali and Konrads Kalnajs, electrical and computer engineering; Gabriel Hein, Christa Soutullo and Michael Taylor, mechanical engineering; and Joshua Martin, wireless engineering.

The William F. Walker Teaching Awards for Excellence, established in honor of professor Walker, recognize outstanding faculty members in the College of Engineering. Merit winners, who receive a stipend of $5,000, were Robert Barnes from civil engineering, John Hung from electrical and computer engineering, and Gisela Buschle-Diller from textile engineering. Steve Duke, a chemical engineering faculty member, received the Walker Teaching Award in the superior category which provides a stipend of $10,000.

At this year's ceremony, the College of Engineering also honored outstanding alumni from eleven departments and programs. Nominated by department heads in the College of Engineering were for aerospace engineering Walter Woltosz, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Simulations Plus; for biosystems engineering Eldridge Collins, a retired faculty member at Virginia Polytechnic Institute; for chemical engineering John Smyth, Jr., director of edge implementation for International Paper; for civil engineering Jeffery Stone, chief operating officer of Brasfield & Gorrie; for computer science and software Engineering Helen Gill, program director for the Embedded & Hybrid Systems Program of the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering; for electrical and computer engineering David Burks, team leader for research on next-generation systems at Raytheon; for industrial and systems engineering Lavon Jordan, founder of Frontier Technology; for materials engineering Paul Munafo, assistant director for safety and engineering at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center; for mechanical engineering Dwight Wiggins, retired president of Tosco Refining Corporation; and for textile engineering David Major, director of manufacturing for Frontier Yarns.

In addition, faculty members from eleven engineering departments and programs were recognized for their outstanding achievements. Winners, chosen by current students, include Christopher Roy, aerospace engineering; Oladiran Oluwafemi Fasina, biosystems engineering; Robert Chambers, chemical engineering; Mary Hughes, civil engineering; Juan Gilbert, computer science and software engineering; Stuart Wentworth, electrical and computer engineering; Jeffery Smith, industrial and systems engineering; Barton Prorok, materials engineering; David Bevly, mechanical engineering; and Yasser Gowayed, textile engineering.

Finally, this year's outstanding students, nominated by faculty in their department, were honored. Winners included Joshua Doyle, aerospace engineering; Sarah Sanders, biosystems engineering; Thushari Dilini Abesingha, chemical engineering; Kathleen Donovan, civil engineering; James Glass IV, computer engineering; John Paul Jansen, electrical and computer engineering; Karlee Copeland, environmental engineering; Kristin Hermann, industrial and systems engineering; Robert Love, materials engineering; Mark Whitt, mechanical engineering; William Cleveland, Jr., software engineering; and Katie Hudson, textile engineering.

"I never fail to be impressed by the achievements of our students, faculty and alumni," says Larry Benefield, Dean of the College of Engineering. "This event showcases the talents of our faculty who work very hard to ensure the success of our students. It also gives young engineers a chance to visit with successful alumni who become role models; and alumni to visit with the faculty and students who represent the strength of our programs today. I congratulate all of our winners. They are what make this college a leader in the state, the region and the nation."