Rensselaer faculty members were honored with annual Institute awards recognizing their service and accomplishments at the 53rd Annual Faculty Recognition Dinner, which was held at the Heffner Alumni House May 10.

Shengbai Zhang, the Gail and Jeffery L. Kodosky ’70 Chair in Physics, Information Technology, and Entrepreneurship, and professor of physics, applied physics, and astronomy, received the William H. Wiley 1866 Distinguished Faculty Award. Established by Edward P. Hamilton ’07 in memory of William H. Wiley (Class of 1886), the award honors those who have won the respect of the faculty through excellence in teaching, productive research, and interest in the totality of the educational process.

Jie Lian, associate professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering, received the James M. Tien ’66 Early Career Award for Faculty, which honors productivity in both teaching and research, with outstanding achievement in one of those areas.

Aram Chung, assistant professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering, received the Class of 1951 Outstanding Teaching Development Grant, which was established by members of the Class of 1951 to honor faculty members for their accomplishments and outstanding performance in undergraduate teaching.

Minoru Tomozawa, professor of materials science and engineering, received the Jerome Fischbach ’38 Faculty Travel Award, funded by Jerome Fischbach ’38 to recognize contributions faculty members have made to the education and motivation of students.

It was also announced that Ryan Gilbert, associate professor of biomedical engineering, will receive the 2016 Trustees’ Outstanding Teacher Award, which was established in 1994 to recognize outstanding accomplishments in classroom instruction. The award will be presented at the fall meeting of the Board of Trustees.

In addition to the award winners, a number of faculty members were recognized for their years of service:

25 Years of Service

Ishwara Bhat
Gregor Kovacic
Zvi Rusak
Paul Schoch
Douglas Whittet

30 Years of Service

Steven Cramer
Peter Persans
Lois Peters
Wayne Roberge
Steven Roecker
Gary Saulnier

35 Years of Service

Lee Odell
David Spooner
Edward Woodhouse

40 Years of Service

Ashwani Kapila
Harry Roy
John Tichy
John Woods

45 Years of Service

Henry Scarton

50 Years of Service

Paul Stoler

55 Years of Service

Ronald Bailey

Also, it was announced that several members of the faculty are retiring this year: Philippe Baveye, Sudhangshu Bose, Charles Boylen, Linnda Caporael, Roger Grice, Linda Layne, Paul Stoler, Wolf von Maltzahn, and Mark Wentland.