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College Shines at Chancellor’s Honors


The Tickle College of Engineering fared well at the 2018 Chancellor’s Honors banquet Tuesday night, with faculty and students alike taking home several awards.

The 2018 Chancellor’s Honors banquet was held Tuesday night, with Tickle College of Engineering faculty and students taking some of the top honors.

Amany Alshibli, a chemical engineering major, and Cullen Johnson, of industrial engineering, were each named Torchbearers, the highest honor a student can earn at UT. Only nine students across the university as a whole were chosen for the award this year.

Alshibli, a Haslam Scholar and Grand Challenge Scholar, pursued research in cardiac regenerative medicine at the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine, tutors students and assists with science programs at Pond Gap Elementary School, and organized the Einstein Science Club at Annoor Academy.

Johnson revamped the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship’s men’s Bible study—Brother to Brother—which provides leadership and service opportunities to male students, served on the college’s student advisory board, and served internships at top companies including Norfolk Southern and Under Armour.

Assistant professor and Southern Company Faculty Fellow in nuclear engineering Jamie Coble was the recipient of the Angie Warren Perkins Award. Named for the first dean of women at UT, it honors outstanding leadership in campus governance or administration at the level of department head, director, or below.

Coble’s research involves many graduate students and is aimed at supporting the safety, security, and economics of nuclear power systems. She serves as a faculty advisor to the university’s student chapter of Women in Nuclear and is responsible for helping develop a PhD-level course on applications of artificial intelligence and optimization in nuclear power systems, as well as updating the undergraduate course on nuclear system dynamics and controls.

Kevin Tomsovic was recognized with a Research and Creative Achievement honor, which is bestowed to senior faculty in recognition of excellence in research, scholarship, and creative achievement.

Tomsovic, director of CURENT and the CTI Professor in the Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was honored for helping revive the university’s power program, resulting in several new hires, a significant expansion of research activities, and UT’s recognition as one of the top power system and power electronics programs in the country, as well as for his efforts in the creation of CURENT.

Cong Trinh was honored with a Research and Creative Achievement — Professional Promise award, which goes to faculty members who are early in their careers for excellence in research, scholarship, and creative achievement.

Trinh, the Ferguson Fellow and associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, has secured more than $4 million in funding for his research, which focuses on understanding complex cellular systems and developing novel tools to harness them for biotechnological applications, and has earned both CAREER and DARPA awards for his efforts.

The university also honors one group each year with a Success in Multidisciplinary Research award, given for cross-college collaborations. This year’s winner was Water for Agriculture, which included four member of civil and environmental engineering: Associate department head of Undergraduate Studies and professor John Schwartz; assistant professor Jon Hathaway; and research assistant professor Chris Wilson.

The team partnered the Tickle College of Engineering with the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources to study changes in climate, land use, and demand affect the quantity, quality, and availability of water for agriculture and forestry using modeling and field-testing.

Several students also took home awards for their efforts.

Extraordinary Professional Promise Awards:

  • Reza Yazdanpanah Abdolmalaki
  • Rekesh Mikail Ali
  • Madelynn M. Allison
  • Amany Alshibli
  • Zachariah L. Arwood
  • Shaghayegh Aslanzadeh
  • Chelsey Ann Brummer
  • Nelly M. Cantillo Cuello
  • Jared C. Clements
  • Taner Cokyasar
  • Katelyn S. Curley
  • Seyyed Ali Davari
  • David A. DeSimone
  • Yongjie Ding
  • Danika M. Dorris
  • Xuesong Fan
  • Rui Feng
  • Farnaz Foroughian
  • Bingye Han
  • Mohammad Aminul Haque
  • Abigail H. Harr
  • Ava Hedayatipour
  • Shahram Hatefi Hesari
  • Morgan Christen Jenkins
  • Ryan C. Johnson
  • Andrew L. Kaminsky
  • Zhenye (Allen) Kang
  • Chanho Lee
  • Hang Li
  • Gerald (J. T.) Liso
  • Jose Manuel Luna Garcia
  • Ran Ma
  • Jeremy Lee Melton
  • Brian J. Mendoza
  • Ali Mohsin
  • Christopher Patrick Muir
  • Christopher Andrew Neal
  • Ali Yousefzadi Nobakht
  • Rania Oueslati
  • Raul Irvin Palomares
  • Farhan Quaiyum
  • Mohammad Ehsan Raoufat
  • Sydney Katherine Reeder
  • Jeremiah Scott Roberts
  • Samira Shamsir
  • Aashish Sharma
  • Mst Shamim Ara Shawkat
  • Jordan E. Shurmer
  • Jian Sun
  • Farshid Tamjid
  • Taylor Anne Woodward
  • Fan Zhang
  • Brenna K. Zimmerman

Extraordinary Academic Achievement:

  • Amany Alshibli
  • Chandler Jackson Bauder
  • Emily Ann Beckman
  • Grant Bruer
  • Michele Nicole Christy
  • Matthew Ryan Davis
  • Ethan Jedidiah Deakins
  • Danika M. Dorris
  • Christopher J. Haseler
  • Katherine L. Krouse
  • David Michael Marsh
  • Jacob Andrew McCoy
  • Christopher Patrick Muir
  • Andy Dillon Skipper

Top Collegiate Scholar Awards:

  • Grant Richard Bruer
  • David Michael Marsh
  • Luke Johnston Mills
  • Jonathan Trent Mitchell
  • Austin Daniel Mullen
  • Phuc Tran Hoang Pham
  • Sophie Elizabeth Wardick

Scholar Athlete Awards:

  • Michele Nicole Christy