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Dr. Alocilja receives 2019 William J. Beal Outstanding Faculty Award

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Evangelyn Alocilja

College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
College of Engineering 

Evangelyn Alocilja is a nationally and internationally recognized expert on nanobiosensor technologies for disease-causing pathogens. Her research combines engineering with the biological sciences to develop biosensors to keep food systems safe and the environment clean. The stated purpose of her lab is to save lives, protect the nation and sustain the economy by diagnosing infectious and antimicrobial resistant diseases early, rapidly, inexpensively and through point-of-care nanoparticle-based biosensors. 

Since 1993, Alocilja has generated more than $5 million in external funding. With research that translates into innovations that benefit society, Alocilja holds 10 U.S. patents, with several more pending or under review. In 2012, she was named an MSU Innovator of the Year and, in 2015, she was inducted into the National Academy of Inventors. In 2017, she was a finalist for the national 2017 Manufacturing Innovator Leadership Award. 

Alocilja has published more than 125 peer-reviewed journal articles, written 15 books and book chapters and has given more than 200 invited and technical presentations. Her work has been cited nearly 5,000 times. 

Alocilja is an excellent teacher and mentor. She has developed eight undergraduate and graduate courses, all of which either define the discipline of biosystems engineering and/or define the concentration of biomedical engineering within biosystems engineers.

She was instrumental in formulating the bio-systems engineering program and was lead faculty in creating the biomedical engineering concentration. She consistently receives high SIRS ratings and has received the College of Engineering’s Withrow Teaching Excellence Award three times (2005, 2011 and 2015) and the American Society of Engineering Education Award for Excellence in Teaching Materials and Methods in Biological and Agricultural Engineering in 2003. She has graduated almost 30 master’s and doctoral students and is currently advising six. 

In 2016, she received MSU’s Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentor of the Year Award. 

Alocilja has established global alliances with institutions and scientists in Southeast Asia (Philippines, Indonesia and Japan), South Asia (India, Nepal and Sri Lanka) and Latin America (Mexico, Peru and Colombia). She is the founder of the Global Alliance for Rapid Diagnostics with membership in 20 countries.

For her commitment to advancing knowledge and transforming lives through research, teaching and professional and international service, Evangelyn Alocilja is a richly deserving recipient of the Michigan State University William J. Beal Outstanding Faculty Award.

 

For details, https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2019/2019-william-j-beal-outstanding-faculty-awards/