Home : Volume 31 : Winter 2005 :
Faculty news

The International Energy Agency's Solar Heating & Cooling Programme has given its annual Solar Award to Ouweneel-Bascom Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering William Beckman. The award recognizes outstanding leadership and accomplishments in the field of solar energy, particularly in the areas of technical developments, successful market activities and information. Beckman was recognized for his role in the development of TRNSYS (Transient Systems Simulation), a program that analyzes energy systems. Beckman, director of the Solar Energy Laboratory, has authored Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes and more than 130 journal articles. At the awards ceremony, he also received a "Solar Power" award for the second edition of his textbook, Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes.

Civil and Environmental Engineering Associate Professor Dan Noguera and former student S.K. Chaparro have received the Harrison Prescott Eddy Medal from the Water Environment Federation (WEF). Noguera and Chaparro were selected for their paper, "Controlling Biosolids Phosphorus Content in Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal Reactors," originally published in the May/June 2003 issue of Water Environment Research. It highlights new methods and conditions for reducing the phosphorus content of biosolids from enhanced biological phosphorus reactors, a key consideration in the use of land-applied biosolids. The Eddy Medal recognizes research that makes a vital contribution to the existing knowledge of wastewater treatment principles or processes.

The UW System Board of Regents has selected Engineering Physics Professor Ray Fonck as a Steenbock Professor of Physical Sciences. Fonck, who often receives perfect student course-evaluation ratings and has received the highest plasma physics research award from the American Physical Society, studies two aspects of plasma physics aimed toward using thermonuclear fusion energy as an environmentally benign new energy source. He is recognized internationally for his pioneering and outstanding contributions in magnetically confined plasmas and has served on top-level national committees in the plasma field. He will hold the title for an initial period of 10 years. In the early 1980s, Evelyn Steenbock endowed the prestigious Steenbock Professorships to honor her late husband, Harry Steenbock, emeritus professor of biochemistry.

Biomedical Engineering Associate Professor David Beebe has received a Mentored Quantitative Research Career Development Award from the National Cancer Institute via the National Institutes of Health. The award supports career development of investigators with quantitative scientific and engineering backgrounds outside of biology or medicine who have made a commitment to focus their research on behavioral and biomedical research. With the five-year grant, Beebe will work with Assistant Professor Caroline Alexander of the McArdle Cancer Research Center to study progenitor regulation in mouse mammary glands. His goal is to bring newfound knowledge of cancer biology into his research program.

Molly Carnes, a professor of medicine and industrial engineering and co-director of the college's Women in Science and Engineering Leadership Institute (WISELI), has received the 2004 Women in Medicine Leadership Development Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges. The award committee cited Carnes for her track record of academic leadership, which demonstrates a career-long commitment to developing women leaders. In addition, Madison Magazine included Carnes, whose specialty is geriatric medicine, in its list of the 255 best physicians as chosen by their peers. The Wisconsin Alumni Association (WAA) also honored Carnes with its biennial $10,000 Cabinet 99 Recognition Award. Criteria for the award include out-standing contributions to the university in research, teaching, outreach or service; a commitment to increasing opportunities for women; and a reputation for leadership, risk-taking and courage.

Biomedical Engineering Professor Rob Radwin received the University of Michigan Alumni Society Merit Award from the Department of Biomedical Engineering during the school's Oct. 8 homecoming festivities. Radwin, who has been on the UW-Madison faculty since 1987 and helped form the BME department in 1998, earned master's degrees in electrical and computer engineering and bioengineering from the University of Michigan in 1979 and a doctorate in industrial and operations engineering from the University of Michigan in 1986.

Chemical and Biological Engineering Steenbock Professor James Dumesic is the 2004 winner of the Cross Canada Lectureship Award. The award is given to a person active in the field of catalysis and who is recognized as a leader in her or his field, irrespective of their nationality or where the research is carried out. Dumesic will present lectures at four to six locations in Eastern and Western Canada. The Canadian Catalysis Foundation sponsors the lecture tour.

Mechanical Engineering Assistant Professor Tim Shedd and graduate student Diego Arias received the Best Paper Award at the Small Engine Technology Conference in Graz, Austria. The paper, chosen from more than 100 submitted at the conference, is titled "Numerical and Experimental Study of Fuel and Air Flow in Carburetors for Small Engines."

Irving Langmuir Professor of Engineering Physics Noah Hershkowitz has received the 2004 Plasma Prize from the Plasma Science and Technology Division of the American Vacuum Society. Only the sixth such award, the prize honors Hershkowitz's outstanding contributions to the fundamental understanding of plasma transport in materials-processing devices. In addition, it recognizes his many technical advances in plasma physics, his research on the fundamental properties of magnetized plasmas for fusion applications, his mentoring activities and exemplary service to the plasma community.

Mechanical Engineering Professor John J. Uicker Jr. has received the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Design Engineering Division Mechanisms & Robotics Award. The honor recognizes career achievement and continued distinction in the field of mechanism design or theory.

Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Larry Bank and former CEE graduate student Eric Fink received an award for best pultrusion technical paper at the COMPOSITES 2004 Convention and Trade Show of the American Composites Manufacturers Association. The paper was titled, "Pultruded Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic and Paperboard Composite Tubes." It was the result of research supported by UW-Madison's Industrial and Economic Development Grant Program, with industry partners Sonoco Products Co., Hartsville, S.C., and Teel Plastics of Baraboo. Fink currently works for STS Consultants in Green Bay.

Engineering Physics Assistant Professor Todd Allen received the Literary Award from the Materials Science and Technology Division (MSTD) of the American Nuclear Society for his paper, "Variability of radiation-induced segregation in iron-chromium-nickel alloys." Allen co-authored the paper, which was published in the Journal of Nuclear Materials in 2000, with Gary Was of the University of Michigan and Ed Kenik at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The Literary Award recognizes authors who have contributed the best full-length materials-oriented paper or review article in the field of materials science and technology contributing to the development of nuclear energy.

Wisconsin Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering Rolf Reitz has received the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Soichiro Honda Medal. The medal recognizes outstanding contributions to developments in the field of personal transportation. Reitz was recognized for his contributions to the understanding and modeling of turbulence, sprays and combustion chemistry related to the performance and emissions from diesel, spark ignition, and HCCI engines. He was also recognized for his technological innovations in fuel-injection systems and computation methods for defining future diesel combustion systems and advanced engine controls for low emissions.

Civil and Environmental Engineering Associate Professor Hussain Bahia has been named the new technical director of the Wisconsin Highway Research Program. He takes over for Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Peter Bosscher, who had directed the program since its inception in 1998. The Wisconsin Highway Research Program is intended to integrate the highway research efforts of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, academia and industry representatives to strategically improve Wisconsin's highways and transportation system. Bahia has been a member of the college's faculty since 1996, and has served as principal or co-principal investigator on several Wisconsin DOT research projects, in addition to research sponsored by private industry.

Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Peter Bosscher has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Engineers Without Borders-USA (EWB-USA). He also serves as the faculty advisor to the UW-Madison EWB student group. The mission of EWB-USA is to help disadvantaged communities improve their quality of life through implementation of environmentally and economically sustainable engineering projects, while developing internationally responsible engineering students.

Engineering Physics Professor Joseph Bisognano, also director of the UW-Madison Synchrotron Radiation Center, was elected vice-chair of the American Physical Society Division of Physics of Beams Executive Committee. In this four-year position, Bisognano, will serve one year as vice-chair, one year as chair-elect, one year as chair, and one year as immediate past chair.

Content by perspective@engr.wisc.edu

Date last modified: Tuesday, 26-Apr-2005 17:06:42 CDT
Date created: 26-Apr-2005

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