February 13, 2008

Five College of Engineering faculty members were recognized at the annual university-wide Awards Convocation February 12 at the Pasant Theatre, Wharton Center: Bruce Dale, Steven Shaw, Ning Xi, Carl Boehlert, and Ramakrishna Mukkamala. They were among 30 members of the campus community honored at the ceremony.

Receiving Distinguished Faculty Awards were Bruce Dale, professor of chemical engineering and materials science; Steven Shaw, professor of mechanical engineering; and Ning Xi, professor of electrical and computer engineering. Ten faculty members university-wide received this honor. The awards go to individuals who have demonstrated sustained scholarly excellence in research and/or creative activities, instruction, and outreach; have made widely-recognized contributions to their fields; have made significant contributions to MSU and its programs; and reflect the character and qualities of excellence valued at MSU.

Bruce Dale, professor of chemical engineering at MSU since 1996 and a former chairperson of the Department Of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, is an internationally recognized leader in the application of biotechnology principles to produce fuels, chemicals, and other industrial products from renewable plant resources. His pioneering research on the ammonia freeze-explosion process, a leading pretreatment method for lignocellulose, is now being commercialized by a major ethanol producer. Dale uses his expertise in life cycle analysis to understand the environmental impacts of these bioconversion systems. As a teacher and mentor, he is sensitive to the human element involved in the application of engineering science and encourages this sensitivity in his students.

As associate director of MSU’s Office of Bio-based Technologies, Dale works to marshal MSU resources in the plant sciences, chemistry, agricultural sciences and engineering fields and fosters connections with public and private sector initiatives, with the goal of transforming Michigan’s economy.

In 1996 the Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals awarded Dale the Charles D. Scott Award. He co-chaired a National Research Council report published in 2000 entitled “Biobased Industrial Products: Research and Commercialization Priorities.” He has authored more than 90 refereed journal papers, is an active consultant to industry, and holds 15 U.S. and international patents. In 2007, he was selected as editor in chief of the new journal Biofuels, Bioproducts & Biorefining.

Dale met with President Bush at the White House in Feb. 2007 as part of a group of experts on the subject of alternative fuels for transportation, then testified in April before the U.S. Senate. He was selected as the 2007 Sterling B. Hendricks Memorial Lecturer by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the USDA’s primary research agency, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the chemical science of agriculture.

Steven W. Shaw, professor of mechanical engineering and a faculty member at MSU for over 20 years, is recognized internationally for his research in nonlinear dynamics. His eclectic suite of contributions ranges from the extremely theoretical to the pragmatic. Valued by both the scholarly community and industry, his research has made fundamental and original contributions to the understanding of systems undergoing chaotic dynamics and nonlinear vibrations. His seminal works on dynamic vibration absorbers have been translated into contemporary practice in the automobile industry; this environmentally sensitive design protocol could be responsible for fuel savings of more than 20 million barrels of oil each year.

He is a Fellow in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and a recipient of the ASME Henry Hess Best Paper Award (1986). He also received the Society of Automotive Engineers Arch T. Colwell Merit Award (1997). He has delivered several keynote and invited lectures at international conferences, including the 2001 JSME Minisymposium on “Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos in Mechanical Systems” in Tokyo. He presented the inaugural Sethna Lecture for the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics at the University of Minnesota (1994), and was a Westinghouse Distinguished Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan (1990). He has served in editorial positions for a number of journals, including the Journal of Vibration and Acoustics, Journal of Applied Mechanics, and Journal of Sound and Vibration.

He is known for his excellent leadership of his department’s mechanical systems group and his mentorship of undergraduate and graduate students. In 2002, he received the Withrow Distinguished Senior Scholar/Researcher Award from the MSU College of Engineering. His current research focuses on exploiting nonlinear behavior in MEMS for sensor and signal processing applications, and the development of order-tuned vibration absorbers for variable displacement automotive engines.

Ning Xi is the John D. Ryder Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and director of the Robotics and Automation Laboratory at MSU. His pioneering work on Internet-based telerobotics has laid the foundation for integrating robotics with information technology. He was named an IEEE fellow in 2007 for his contributions to the field of nano-robotic manipulation and assembly. He received the SPIE Nano Engineering Award (2007) and the Best Paper Award of IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (2007). Past honors include best paper awards at the IEEE International Conference on Electro/Information Technology (2003), the Japan-USA Symposium on Flexible Automation (1998), and the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (1995). He was awarded the first Early Academic Career Award by the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society in 1999 and is a recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER Award.

His research interests include robotics, manufacturing automation, micro/nano systems, and intelligent control and systems. Since coming to MSU, he has attracted more than $7 million of external research funding. His major research contributions include the development of a nano robotic manipulation and assembly system that enables a human to visualize and manipulate nano-scale objects in real-time. The system has been successfully applied to manufacturing nano sensors and electronic devices, and to bio-medical investigation. His publications include more than 300 technical papers in reviewed archival professional journals and conference proceedings. He holds 8 patents.

He is a consummate educator, providing students with an education that extends beyond the curriculum. He has mentored 10 doctoral students who are enjoying successful careers in academia and industry, and he played a major role in establishing the College of Engineering’s manufacturing program.

The Teacher-Scholar Award is presented to faculty who early in their careers have earned the respect of students and colleagues for their devotion to and skill in teaching and who have shown scholarly promise. Carl Boehlert, assistant professor of chemical engineering and materials science; and Ramakrishna Mukkamala, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, received Teacher-Scholar Awards. Six Teacher-Scholar awards were given university-wide this year.

Carl Boehlert, associate professor of chemical engineering and materials science and a faculty member since 2005, has an international reputation for his work on titanium-based alloys for high-temperature aerospace materials and biomedical implants. He is widely published in top journals and has attracted high levels of support for his research. His work has been recognized by major peer professional groups. Honors include a National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2002); a Department of Energy Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering (PECASE) (2002); Summer Faculty Fellowships from the American Society for Engineering Education to conduct research at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio (2005, 2006, 2007); and the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers “Rossiter W. Raymond Memorial Award” (2003).

He is regarded by students as an enthusiastic, approachable, and dedicated teacher who creates a comfortable, positive learning environment. He relates coursework to real-life situations and involves undergraduates in research projects. He encourages students to develop their leadership skills through participation in the Materials Science and Engineering Society and community outreach activities. Boehlert received a 2007 College of Engineering Withrow Teaching Excellence Award, which is based primarily on student input.

Ramakrishna Mukkamala, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering since 2002, is internationally recognized for his recent innovations in cardiovascular monitoring by signal processing. He received an NSF CAREER Award in March 2007 for his project: "Integrated Research and Education in Cardiovascular Signal Processing for Automated and Less Invasive Monitoring of Central Hemodynamics." He earned a PhD in electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, having received the General Motors Scholarship Plan for undergraduate studies and the Whitaker Foundation Fellowship for graduate studies. He then spent two years conducting post-doctoral research at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Passionate about teaching, he emphasizes the understanding of major concepts, rather than rote memorization, and provides students with a means to apply the theory through real-world computer assignments. Students remark that his highly interactive lectures “provoke critical thought” and “develop the problem solvers and inventors of tomorrow”. He and his research team of students have garnered over a million dollars in funding from prestigious federal agencies, as well as being published by prominent journals and honored by international conferences.