2003 Engineering Ingenuity Awards presented

Two students and two professors in the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science received Ingenuity Awards on April 24 from RCEAS dean Mohamed El-Aasser.

Ashish Pattekar, a Ph.D. candidate in chemical engineering, received the Lehigh Engineering Ingenuity Award for Graduate Research and Scholarship for excelling in his field “with unwavering dedication and intellectual courage toward a definite goal in a most ambitious pursuit of advanced research.”

Lori Shuler ‘03, a computer engineering major and outgoing president of Lehigh’s chapter of the Society of Women Engineers, received the Lehigh Engineering Ingenuity Award for Undergraduate Leadership. The award is given to RCEAS undergraduate students “who clearly demonstrate the qualities of leadership by example in action, perseverance and congeniality among their contemporaries, and who exemplify the spirit of the Lehigh University family.”

 Theodore K. Ralphs,  assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering, received the Lehigh Engineering Ingenuity Award for Exceptional Accomplishment in Teaching and/or Research for Junior Faculty. The award recognizes an RCEAS junior faculty member who has “evidenced the highest promise of potential as a talented and inspirational teacher and/or scholar, contributing progressive research to his or her field.”

Martin P. Harmer, Alcoa Foundation professor of materials science and engineering and director of the Center for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, received the Lehigh Engineering Ingenuity Award for Distinguished Faculty. The award recognizes a tenured RCEAS faculty member “who has demonstrated preeminence in his or her academic or professional discipline, contributed to the advancement of his or her field through novel and valuable research, acquired external funding, published scholarly work and made professional presentations, as well as having served as an innovative and inspirational teacher in a full range of learning situations, including integrating current research into classroom practice.”

Each award recipient received a striking crystal pyramid designed specifically for the Award by respected local artist Peter Yenawine.

The Engineering Ingenuity Awards were established in October 2002. The first, the Lehigh Engineering Ingenuity Award for Alumni or Friend of the College, was given to Peter C. Rossin, the college’s namesake and benefactor.

The RCEAS Recognition Committee included RCEAS associate dean Rick Weisman (chair); RCEAS associate dean John Coulter; David Wu, chair of the department of industrial and systems engineering; Richard Sause, director of the Engineering Research Center for Advanced Technology for Large Structural Systems (ATLSS); Patrick Schmid ‘03, a computer science major; and Alexander Verdooren, a Ph.D. candidate in chemical engineering.