2012 Research Excellence Award winners

2012 Research Excellence Award winners (from left) Shyam Aravamudhan, Solomon Bililign, Ajit Kelkar, Ram Mohan, Ellie Fini, and Dhananjay Kumar.

Five outstanding faculty researchers and an interdisciplinary team were honored Wednesday with Research Excellence Awards at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

This year marked the establishment of two new awards – the Interdisciplinary Team Award and the Intellectual Property Award.

These two categories reflect trends that are dramatically changing the work of university researchers, said Dr. Celestine Ntuen, interim vice chancellor for research and economic development.

“Interdisciplinary work is critical to success in today’s world of emerging and converging technologies,” he said.  “And intellectual property is now one of the most important elements of a university’s research enterprise.  It’s a key to our ability to have a positive, meaningful impact on the economic development of our community and our state.”

This year’s winners are:

• Senior Researcher of the Year (tie): Dr. Dhananjay Kumar, Department of Mechanical Engineering; and Dr. Ram Mohan, Department of Nanoengineering.
• Outstanding Junior Researcher: Dr. Ellie Fini, Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering.
• Rookie of the Year: Dr. Shyam Aravamudhan, Department of Nanoengineering.
• Intellectual Property Award: Dr. Ajit Kelkar, Department of Nanoengineering.
• Interdisciplinary Team Award: NOAA Interdisciplinary Scientific Environmental Technology Cooperative Science Center, Dr. Solomon Bililign, director.

(For more information on their accomplishments, see the long version of this post.)

The winners were selected by the Research Excellence Awards Committee, a group of five faculty members appointed by Chancellor Harold L. Martin, Sr.   The nominees are the winners of the research awards in the colleges and schools.

This year’s nominees

Senior Researcher of the Year:

• Dr. Luba Kurkalova, School of Business and Economics
• Dr. Stephanie Lusk, School of Education
• Dr. Musibau Shofoluwe, School of Technology

Outstanding Junior Researcher:

• Dr. Lemuria Carter, School of Business and Finance
• Dr. Yevgeniy Rastigeyev, College of Arts and Sciences
• Dr. Shengmin Sang, School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences
• Dr. Qing-An Zeng, School of Technology

Rookie of the Year:

• Dr. Narayan Bhattarai, College of Engineering
• Dr. Kathryn Kisska-Schultze, School of Business and Economics

Intellectual Property Award:

• Dr. Kelly Graves, School of Education
• Dr. Mitchell Henke, School of Technology

Interdisciplinary Team Award:

• The NSF Engineering Research Center for Revolutionizing Metallic Biomaterials, Dr. Jagannathan Sankar, director
• The Economic Geography of Water and Agricultural Resources, Dr. Mark Burkey, director.

2012 Research Award nominees announced

Seventeen outstanding faculty members at N.C. A&T and three interdisciplinary teams have been nominated for the university’s 2012 Research Excellence Awards.

The awards honor top researchers at all levels of faculty.  This year’s program adds two new awards, for interdisciplinary team research and for intellectual property. The annual program is now in its 13^th year.

The winners will be announced on Wednesday April 18 at the Research Excellence Awards luncheon on campus.

The nominees are all winners of the research awards in their school or college.  This year’s nominees are:

Senior Researcher of the Year

• Dr. Dhananjay Kumar, College of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering;
• Dr. Lyubov Kurkalova, School of Business and Economics, Department of Economics and Finance;
• Dr. Stephanie Lusk, School of Education, Department of Human Development and Services;
• Dr. Ram Mohan, Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, Department of Nanoengineering; and
• Dr. Musibau Shofoluwe, School of Technology, Department of Construction Management and Occupational Safety and Health.

Outstanding Junior Researcher

• Dr. Lemuria Carter, School of Business and Economics, Department of Accounting;
• Dr. Ellie Fini, College of Engineering, Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering;
• Dr. Yevgeniy Rastigeyev, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Mathematics;
• Dr. Shengmin Sang, School of Agriculture, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, Center of Excellence for Post-Harvest Technologies; and
• Dr. Qing-An Zeng, School of Technology, Department of Electronics, Computer and Information Technology.

Rookie of the Year

• Dr. Shyam Aravamudhan, Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, Department of Nanoengineering;
• Dr. Narayan Bhattarai, College of Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering;
• Dr. Kathryn Kisska-Schulze, School of Business and Economics, Department of Management.

Interdisciplinary Team

• The Economic Geography of Water and Agricultural Resources, Dr. Mark Burkey, team leader;
• NOAA Interdisciplinary Scientific Environmental Technology (ISET) Cooperative Science Center (CSC), Dr. Solomon Bililign, team leader; and
• NSF Engineering Research Center for Revolutionizing Metallic Biomaterials, Dr. Jagannathan Sankar, team leader.

Intellectual Property

• Dr. Kelly Graves, School of Education, Department of Human Development and Services, Center for Behavioral Health and Wellness.
• Dr. Mitchell Henke, School of Technology, Department of Graphic Systems and Technological Studies, Folded Sheets of Material for Use as a Structural Member and Assembly Thereof.
• Dr. Ajit Kelkar and Dr. Lifeng Zhang, Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, Department of Nanoengineering, Novel Carbon Nanofibers, Yarns and Weaves from Electrospinning and Their Innovative Composite.

The selection committee for the awards is appointed by the chancellor.  This year’s committee consists of Dr. Shanthi Iyer, Department of Nanoengineering, chair; Dr. Anthony Graham, Department of Curriculum and Instruction; Dr. Kofi Obeng, Department of Economics and Finance; and Dr. Guoqing Tang, Department of Mathematics.

For a list of all previous Research Excellence Award winners, see the N.C. A&T Division of Research and Economic Development website.

Research Week 2012 schedule announced

2011 Research Award winners Dr. Ellie Fini, Dr. Zhichao Li, and Dr. Millie Worku

The work of outstanding faculty members, undergraduate researchers and freshman innovators will be recognized during Research Week 2012 next month.

The events also will feature a graduate-student panel discussion and a morning focused on the university’s role in applied research. Keynote speakers will include Mr. Theodore Wood, intellectual property attorney in Washington, D.C., and graduate of N.C. A&T; Mr. Robert Bennett, CEO of US Green Energy Corp.; Dr. Solomon Bililign, professor of physics and director of the NOAA ISET CRC; and Dr. Shirley Hyman-Parker, associate dean for research in the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.

The full agenda is here.  Highlights:

Innovation and Applied Research Day

• Friday April 13
• 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Fort IRC, Room 410
• Corporate panel: The University’s Role in Innovation and Applied Research
• Lunch speaker: Mr. Robert Bennett, US Green Energy

Undergraduate Research Day

• Monday April 16
• 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Fort IRC, Room 410
• Undergraduate poster presentations
• Lunch speaker: Dr. Shirley Hymon-Parker, Associate Dean for Research, School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences

Graduate Research Day

• Tuesday April 17
• 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Fort IRC, Room 410
• Graduate student panel discussion
• Lunch speaker: Dr. Solomon Bililign, Professor, Department of Physics; Director, NOAA ISET CRC

Research Excellence Day

• Wednesday April 18
• 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Alumni-Foundation Event Center
• Research Excellence Awards luncheon, noon
• Keynote speaker, Mr. Theodore Wood, Esquire, Sterne Kessler Goldstein Fox PLLC, Washington, DC

Research awards nomination period now open; two new awards to be presented this year

Click image for PDF

The nomination period for the N.C. A&T Research Excellence Awards 2012 is now open.  In addition to the Senior Researcher of the Year, Outstanding Junior Researcher and Rookie of the Year, there are two new awards this year:

• The Interdisciplinary Team Award and
• The Intellectual Property Award.

Nominations from departments to their school/college are due Thursday March 15. The school/college nominations are due to DORED on Thursday March 29.

Winners will be announced Monday April 9. They will be honored and receive their awards on Research Excellence Day, Thursday April 19, at the awards luncheon.

Full details — including eligibility rules, judging criteria and application forms — are available here (PDF).

The Division of Research and Economic Development encourages all colleges and schools to submit nominations. In the last four years, winners have come from five different academic units.

Thursday’s Research Appreciation Week agenda features Duke research dean, award winners

Thursday’s Faculty Research Day will feature two events of particular interest to researchers.  All faculty members — deans and department chairs in particular — are invited to a talk at 9 a.m. by a top research administrator at the Duke University School of Medicine.  Dr. Sally Kornbluth, the school’s vice dean for research, will speak on, “Managing research at the college/school level: Deans and chairs as enablers.”

Following Dr. Kornbluth’s talk, the three winners of the 2011 Research Excellence Awards — Dr. Millie Worku, Dr. Zhichao Li, and Dr. Ellie Fini — will give talks on their research.

All of the day’s events will take place at the Alumni-Foundation Event Center. The full schedule is here (PDF).

Worku, Li and Fini win 2011 research awards

Faculty members in animal science, industrial engineering, and civil engineering are the winners of the university’s 2011 Research Excellence Awards.

Senior Researcher of the Year: Dr. Mulumebet Worku

The Senior Researcher of the Year is Dr. Mulumebet “Millie” Worku, professor of animal sciences.  Her current research studies the immune systems of cattle, goats, and sheep to help reduce disease, improve food safety, and promote animal and public health.

A member of the awards selection committee summed up her appraisal of Dr. Worku with one word: “Awesome!”  Her funded research projects have included “Biologically inspired adaptive and reconfigurable systems: Modeling, synthesis, and simulation”; “Genomic diversity and innate immune system response”; and “Harnessing the power of genomics to determine the effect of post-harvest technologies on N.C. heirloom tomatoes.”

She has been a principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on 29 successful grant proposals at the university, worth a total of more than $7.5 million.

The Senior Researcher of the Year award is presented annually to a tenured faculty member.

Outstanding Junior Researcher: Dr. Zhichao Li

The Outstanding Junior Researcher of the year is Dr. Zhichao Li, professor of industrial and systems engineering.  His research focuses on modeling, simulation, and optimization of advanced manufacturing processes.

“Dr. Li is a highly active, innovative, and skilled researcher,” one member of the selection committee wrote in evaluating his nomination.  Since coming to North Carolina A&T in 2008, he has received a National Science Foundation Career research award, published eight scholarly papers and had two more accepted for publication.  For the past four years, he has served as a symposium chair for the International Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference.  He was the university’s research Rookie of the Year in 2010.

The Outstanding Junior Researcher of the Year award is presented annually to a tenure-track faculty member.

Rookie of the Year: Dr. Elham “Ellie” Fini

The Rookie of the Year is Dr. Ellie Fini, assistant professor of civil engineering.  Her current research focuses on sustainable alternatives for asphalt binder.

Members of the research awards committee characterized her research ability as “extraordinary” and “exceptional.” She is currently is the lead investigator on four National Science Foundation grants.  She has developed a sustainable infrastructure material laboratory, filed two patent applications, and published four journal articles.

The Rookie of the Year Award is presented annually to an untenured faculty member in his or her second year of tenure-track teaching and research at the university.

About the awards

The 2011 Research Excellence Award winners were announced on March 15 at the university’s Honors Convocation.  They will be invited to make presentations on their research on Faculty Research Day, Thursday April 14, and will be honored at the annual Research Awards Luncheon, also on April 14.

For more information on the winners and the awards, see the news release (PDF).

Research Appreciation Week set for April 11-14

North Carolina A&T State University will expand its traditional Research Appreciation Day this year into a four-day event showcasing the diversity of research at the university.

Research Appreciation Week will run from April 11 through April 15.  The week’s events include:

• Student Research Day, Monday April 11, featuring oral and poster presentations by undergraduate and graduate students;
• Graduate Student Research Day, Tuesday April 12, which will include two panels of graduate students speaking on the graduate student experience at A&T;
• Faculty Research Day, Thursday April 14, which includes the Research Excellence Award presentation luncheon; and
• Corporate Research and Innovation Day, Friday April 15, featuring a panel of academic and corporate representatives speaking on corporate-community-university collaboration for innovation and commercialization.

The featured speaker on Faculty Research Day will be Dr. Sally Kornbluth, vice dean for research, Duke University School of Medicine, speaking on “Managing Research Activities at the College/School level — Deans and Chairs as Enablers.”  Other speakers, including the keynote speaker at each day’s luncheon, will be announced over the next several days.

Click here for the week’s agenda (PDF).

Nine nominated for 2011 Research Excellence Awards

Nine outstanding A&T researchers have been nominated for the 2011 Research Excellence Awards.

The university presents three research awards each spring—Senior Researcher of the Year, Outstanding Junior Researcher, and Rookie of the Year.  Nominations are made by the colleges and schools.  Each college and school has the opportunity to nominate a candidate in each category.

Nominees for Senior Researcher of the Year are:

• Dr. Yusuf Adewuyi, Department of Chemical & Bioengineering, College of Engineering;
• Dr. Lyubov Kurkalova, Department of Economics, School of Business & Economics;
• Dr. Tyra Whittaker, Department of Human Development and Services, School of Education; and
• Dr. Mulumebet Worku, Department of Animal Sciences, School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.

Nominees for Outstanding Junior Researcher are:

• Dr. Zhichao Li, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, College of Engineering; and
• Dr. Zhaoqiong Qin, Department of Manufacturing Systems, School of Technology.

Nominees for Rookie of the year are:

• Dr. Quintin Boston, Department of Human Development and Services, School of Education;
• Dr. Elham Fini, Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering; and
• Dr. Jenora Waterman, Department of Animal Sciences, School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.

The winners will be announced on Tuesday March 15 at the university’s Honors Convocation.  They will be invited to make presentations on their research on Faculty Research Day, Thursday April 14, and will be honored at the annual Research Awards Dinner on Friday April 15.

Update on University Research Awards: Eligibility changed for Junior Researcher Award

The eligibility guidelines for the University Junior Researcher Award have been changed to eliminate an unintended problem, which, for some reason, no one had pointed out in the 10 years since the award was created.

The award is now open to all tenure-track faculty members who are in at least their third year of service at North Carolina A&T.  Previously, eligibility was limited to tenure-track faculty members who had completed their terminal degrees within the past five years.  That created a group of faculty members (untenured but more than five years out from receiving their terminal degrees) who were not eligible for either the senior or junior researcher awards.  It was not intended that any group of faculty members with more than one year of service be excluded from the awards program, so we’re changed the rule.

Here are the revised rules in PDF form.

With this change, all tenured and tenure-track faculty members with at least one year of service at A&T are eligible for one (and only one) of the three awards:

Outstanding University Senior Researcher Award: Tenured faculty members.

Outstanding University Junior Researcher Award: Tenure-track faculty members with at least three years of service at A&T.

Rookie of the Year: Tenure-track faculty members in their second year of service at A&T.

Any questions can be posted here as comments or directed to Dr. Mitzi Bond, mbond@ncat.edu; Ms. Saundra Evans, syevans@ncat.edu; or Mr. David Arneke, drarneke@ncat.edu.

UPDATE: 2011 Research Excellence Awards process begins

Each academic unit has received the rules and process summary for this year’s Research Excellence Awards.  An updated and expanded PDF of the document is attached below.  It now contains full details on the the submission procedure, an application checklist, coversheets for hte college/school awards and tghe unisity awards, and a full timetable for the process.

The deadline for applications for college/school awards is Tuesday January 18.  The deadline for colleges and schools to submit their nominees for the university awards is Tuesday February 1.

Each college and school has the opportunity to select a nominee for the Outstanding Senior Researcher Award, Outstanding Junior Researcher Award, and Rookie of the Year award.  The college and school nominees will be reviewed by a committee appointed by the Chancellor for selection of the winners.

The awards will be presented March 15 at the Honors Day Convocation.  Winners will be invited to give presentations on Faculty Research Day, Thursday April 14, and will be honored at the annual Research Awards Dinner on April 15.  So get your taxes done early if you plan to be a winner.

RESEARCH AWARDS 2011 — Updated and expanded announcement