Each spring, the College of Engineering recognizes the outstanding accomplishments of our graduate students and postdoctoral staff through several prestigious awards. Graduate students also select an outstanding faculty member who has gone above and beyond to serve the graduate stduents in their discipline.

The Award for Outstanding Research goes to students who have demonstrated excellence and leadership in research through publications, participation in professional organizations, and wilingness to mentor others. This year's Outstanding Reserach Award went to Debapriya Pinaki Mohanty, for his research work in palm leaf materials with Dr. Chandrasekar.  Cited as a highlight of his accomplishments, Mohanty had recently been invited to speak at the Physics Society meeting on his work.

The Outstanding Faculty Mentor of Engineering Graduate Students is given to faculty by students in each School of Engineering in recognition of the exceptional mentoring qualities he or she demonstrates. Professor Zachary Hass was honored by our industrial engineering students this year for his commitment to excellence.

The Award for Outstanding Service Scholarship is presented to engineering graduate students who have provided outstanding service to the graduate student community, the School, the College, and /or the University. Duy A. Duong-Tran was honored this year for his service. Duy has served the School in a handful of ways:

• Duy has volunteered for the IE Prospective Student Visit events (for the past four years) as an IE representative and shared his broad knowledge as a PhD student, fellowship recipient, and engineer to recruit outstanding students to IE. 

• He has served with excellence as a teaching assistant, notably receiving the Magoon Teaching Excellence award in 2019. 

• Duy has been an active member of the IE Graduate Student Organization (IEGSO), including as an officer (the Health and Wellness Chair) in the 2019-2020 AY. 

• Duy assisted with the summer study abroad course, IE49000 – System Dynamics Modelling for Engineers, during the 2018 Maymester in order to ensure the smooth operation of the experience and ensure the faculty had appropriate support.

The Magoon Awards for Excellence in Teaching are given to outstanding teaching assistants in memory of Estus H. and Vashti L.Magoon who have influenced the lives of manyengineering educators early in their careers through this award. John Biechele-Speziale, for teaching IE 33200 Computing in Industrial Engineering, Christopher Kosiba, for teaching IE 34300 Engineering Economics and IE 43100 Industrial Engineering Design, and Cansu Agrali Oner for teaching IE 34300 Engineering Economics and were honored from the School of Industrial Engineering.

Assistant Head of Industrial Engineering, Patrick Brunese states, “The efforts of graduate students and post-docs are all-too-often hidden, but are integral to the functioning of both the research and teaching enterprises at the University. It is always a pleasure to honor those who have excelled in the various functions that graduate students support. The banquet held by the College is a great event. It allows us to spend some time reflecting on what makes being a graduate student unique and special.”

Related articles:

https://engineering.purdue.edu/IE/news/2021/agrali-deans-teaching-fellow