Faculty highlights

Three receive NSF CAREER Awards

Three faculty members from the NC State College of Engineering (COE) received Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The NSF CAREER Award is one of the most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty members who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations.

They are among five COE faculty members to receive CAREER awards this year, and 25 have received the award over the last five years.

Ashly Cabas, assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering (CCEE), will receive $566,155 over five years for her project, “Multiscale Probabilistic Characterization of Seismic Site Response in Highly Uncertain Environments.”

Spyridon Pavlidis, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), will receive $500,000 over five years for his project “Engineering Ultra-Wide Bandgap III-Nitride Devices for Highly Efficient and Robust Electronics.”

Wenyuan Tang, assistant professor in ECE, will receive $500,000 over five years for his project, “Pricing Non-convexities Toward Transparency in Electricity Markets.”

Husain, Kudenov receive 2022 Alcoa Foundation Awards

Iqbal Husain, ABB Distinguished Professor in ECE and director of the Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management (FREEDM) Systems Center, received the 2022 Alcoa Foundation Distinguished Engineering Research Award. The award recognizes a senior faculty member for research achievements made over a period of at least five years at NC State. An internationally renowned researcher, his work centers on decarbonization to address environmental concerns and global energy supply challenges.

Michael Kudenov, associate professor in ECE, received the 2022 Alcoa Foundation Engineering Research Achievement Award. The award recognizes young faculty members for significant research contributions during the preceding three years. Kudenov’s research is focused on developing novel imaging systems, interferometers, detectors and anisotropic materials related to polarization and spectral sensing, for wavelengths spanning ultraviolet through the thermal infrared. He has helped establish interdisciplinary research collaborations at NC State.

Lunardi, Welton receive 2022 Blessis Outstanding Undergraduate Advisor Awards

Leda Lunardi, professor in ECE, and Steven S. Welton, teaching professor in CCEE, were awarded the 2022 Blessis Outstanding Undergraduate Advisor Awards from the College. The award recognizes recipients’ outstanding commitment to ensuring students are academically and personally supported by routinely giving their time and effort to advising, counseling and mentoring individual students and student groups. It is also a tribute to George H. Blessis, a faculty member whose interest in undergraduate education and advising serves as an example today.

Three COE faculty members among Holladay Medal winners

Three faculty members in the College were honored with the Alexander Quarles Holladay Medal for Excellence, the highest honor bestowed by NC State and the University’s Board of Trustees.

James Lester III, Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Computer Science, is the director of the Center for Educational Informatics at NC State. His research centers on transforming education with artificial intelligence.

Veena Misra, MC Dean Distinguished University Professor in ECE, is director of NC State’s Advanced Self-Powered Systems of Integrated Sensors and Technologies (ASSIST) Center. She has built a community of faculty members across universities and created a rich, interdisciplinary experience for student researchers while advancing technologies behind wearable and implantable health monitoring devices.

Richard Spontak is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. His primary research interests relate to the phase behavior and morphology /property development of nanostructured polymers, polymer nanocomposites and coatings, electron microscopy and stimuli-responsive soft materials.

De los Reyes receives NC State Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor Award

Francis de los Reyes III, Glenn E. and Phyllis J. Futrell Distinguished Professor #2 in CCEE, received the Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor Award, a prestigious honor that recognizes excellence in undergraduate education.

For more than two decades, de los Reyes has been praised for his approaches to course delivery in water system process design and mentoring, illustrating his dedication to student learning, outcomes and overall success.

De los Reyes previously received several accolades including the Water Environment Federation Gordon M. Fair Distinguished Engineering Educator Award and the NC State Outstanding Teacher Award.