Several UNM faculty members are the recent recipients of departmental awards. The Gala Celebration of the 75th anniversary of the College of Education was the setting for the Travelstead Faculty Award, presented to Leroy I. Ortiz. Among those in attendance was Chester C. Travelstead, COE dean from 1956 – 1968, the namesake of the award.
Ortiz is an associate professor in the department of Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies and is the director of the Multicultural Education Center. He began his career as an elementary school teacher in Chinle, Ariz. In 1972 he became COE supervisor of student teaching with the department of elementary education. Ortiz is affectionately known as the “Senior Statesman” for the College of Education.
Hundreds of students, staff and faculty recently attended the annual School of Engineering celebration and luncheon awards ceremony. SOE Dean Joe Cecchi presented awards for faculty excellence in teaching and research. Awards were also given to outstanding staff and students.
The Senior Faculty Award for Teaching was presented to Peter Dorato, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. From 1976 to 1984, Dorato was chairman of the department. He is currently director of the School of Engineering Center for Intelligent Engineering Systems. In 2000, he was named a Gardner-Zemke professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department for his outstanding teaching.
Plamen Atanassov, professor of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, received the Junior Faculty Award for Teaching. Atanassov began at UNM in 1992, first as a senior research associate, then as a research assistant professor. Atanassov received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Last year he received the Junior Faculty award for Research.
The Senior Faculty Award for Research was given to Chaouki Abdallah. In 1988, Abdallah began with UNM in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department, where he is currently professor, associate chair and director of the graduate program. His research focuses on systems theory and he has been funded and published in the areas of control systems, signal processing, communications and computing.
Darko Stefanovic, assistant professor of Computer Science, received the Junior Faculty Award for Research. Stefanovic received his Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts and began at UNM in 2000. He is the recipient of a National Science Foundation Career Award. His research has focused on memory management in programming languages, as well as on biochemical computing using DNA molecules.
School of Engineering staff awards were presented to Monica Fishel-Arvizu, Center for High Technology Materials, Outstanding Support Staff; Josie Gibson, Civil Engineering, Outstanding Administrative/Professional Staff and to Geoff Curtain, Chemical and Nuclear Engineering for Outstanding Technical/Research Staff.
The School of Engineering awards ceremony concluded with the unveiling of the 2004 formula-style race car, designed and built by Mechanical Engineering students for entry into an international competition.
Contact: Greg Johnston, 277-1816
Posted by at May 21, 2004 11:13 AM