Achievement Awards: College of Engineering and Polymer Science

All members of the College of Engineering and Polymer Science are encouraged to submit nominations for the CEPS Annual Achievement Awards: Louis A. Hill Award, Outstanding Staff Award, Outstanding Service Award Fostering Student Success and Chemstress Teaching Award. These awards honor faculty, staff and professional staff whose contributions to the College warrant recognition.

Louis A. Hill Award

To be eligible, for the Louis A. Hill Award, the person shall be a full-time member of the College of Engineering and Polymer Science with a faculty rank (TT or NTT) at either the Associate, Full or Distinguished level who has been part of CEPS for at least three years. Individuals who have received the award in the past five years are ineligible.

The faculty member shall have made outstanding contributions to the STEM professions, the University or community through one or more of the following: teaching, research, consulting, invention, service to the profession and/or service to the community.

2024 Recipient: Dr. Yilmaz Sozer, Distinguished Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

2023 Recipient: Dr. Xiong Gong, Professor, School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering

Outstanding Staff Award

All active staff and professional staff are eligible for this award. Anyone who has received the award in the past five years is ineligible.

The Outstanding Staff Award recognizes outstanding service achievements by a staff or professional staff member in the College of Engineering and Polymer Science. Awards typically recognize an individual who gives maximum effort, consistently goes beyond the scope of expected job duties, motivates others and displays a positive “can-do” attitude.

2024 Recipient: Sarah Hoge, Director of Advising Services, College of Engineering and Polymer Science

2023 Recipient: Edward Laughlin, Senior Engineering Tech, School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering

Outstanding Service Award Fostering Student Success

The College of Engineering and Polymer Science Outstanding Service Award Fostering Student Success recognizes an individual who has demonstrated a commitment to recruiting, retention and engagement of students to help ensure a successful college experience. The award is given annually to a faculty, staff or professional staff member who is dedicated to K-12 outreach and recruiting, engages students in high – impact activities that foster a sense of belonging and works in a collaborative manner with campus or community groups to foster recruitment and retention.

2024 Recipient: Dr. Bi-min Zhang Newby, Professor of Chemical Engineering and Associate Chair of Graduate Studies for the Department of Chemical, Biomolecular, and Corrosion Engineering

Chemstress Teaching Award

The purpose of the Chemstress Teaching Award is to recognize the outstanding teaching achievement of a full-time faculty member in the College of Engineering and Polymer Science. Faculty members who have received the award in the previous five years are not eligible this year.

2024 Recipient: Dr. Ala Abbas, Professor of Civil Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering

2023 Recipient: Dr. Audrey Nguyen, Assistant Professor of Practice, Department of Biomedical Engineering