January 3, 2024

Purdue ECE staff honored with annual Staff Excellence Awards

These awards recognize, encourage, and promote exceptional staff contributions to the School.

The Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University recently announced the winners of the 2023 Staff Excellence Awards. These awards recognize, encourage, and promote exceptional staff contributions to the School.

The winners are as follows:

  • Matt Golden: ECE Professional and Management Customer Service Award
  • Kyra Roberts: ECE Staff Award of Excellence
  • Mary Ann Satterfield: ECE Support and Service Customer Service Award
Dan Jiao, Matt Golden, and Milind Kulkarni pose for a photograph at the staff recognition luncheon. Matt is holding a plaque while Dan and Milind present a large check.
Dan Jiao (left) and Milind Kulkarni (right) present Matt Golden (middle) with an award check and plaque.

Matt Golden, Graduate Programs Director, has been part of the ECE graduate office for more than 20 years. He was nominated by co-workers Elishaba VanWinkle and Lynn Hegewald.

“Matt is always available to meet with students, either in person, by phone, or online,” they wrote in their nomination letter. “He is an exceptional listener and never appears rushed, even if there is a line of students waiting to be seen and his email inbox is filling up!”

Common situations Matt assists students with include understanding degree requirements, deciding which graduate degree path is right for them, and resolving conflicts or difficulties they may encounter during their time at Purdue.

Dan Jiao, Kyra Roberts, and Milind Kulkarni pose for a photograph at the staff recognition luncheon. Kyra is holding a plaque while Dan and Milind present a large check.
Dan Jiao (left) and Milind Kulkarni (right) present Kyra Roberts (middle) with an award check and plaque.

Kyra Roberts, is ECE’s Business Manager. She was nominated by professor and former department head Dimitrios Peroulis and Prof. Saurabh Bagchi.

“I have had a steady stream of interactions with Kyra in my role as the Director of a Center and an Institute and as the Director of ECE’s Corporate Partners Program,” said Bagchi. “She has contributed substantively to the effectiveness of my roles, and has made me, ECE, and Purdue overall sine in the eyes of demanding external stakeholders.”

Dan Jaio, Mary Ann Satterfield, and Milind Kulkarni pose for a photograph at the staff recognition luncheon. Mary Ann is holding a plaque while Dan and Milind present a large check.
Dan Jiao (left) and Milind Kulkarni (right) present Mary Ann Satterfield (middle) with an award check and plaque.

Shreyas Sundaram, Marie Gordon Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and other faculty from the Autonomous and Connected Systems faculty search committee, nominated Mary Ann Satterfield for the ECE Support and Service Customer Service Award.

“From the very beginning, (Mary Ann) took charge of aggregating the applicatiuons as they came in and providing the application files to the search committee so that we could more easily go through them,” said Sundaram.

He notes that coordinated all 38 Zoom interviews and 12 on-campus interviews that were involved in the hiring process.

Nominees were evaluated based on the merits and strengths of the following contributions:

  1. Consistent dedication, cooperation, and a demonstration of positive behaviors.
  2. Outstanding achievement or contribution through creative solutions; demonstrate significant, effective and efficient operations.
  3. Sustained excellence in overall job performance (relative to skills, initiative, and position).
  4. Learning new skills and taking on new responsibility.
  5. Contributing to the culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion.