KNOXVILLE, Tenn.–The University of Tennessee College of Engineering held its Faculty and Staff Awards Dinner on Thursday, April 12, 2012, at the Hilton Knoxville. The event included a reception, dinner, and awards program.

The Nathan W. Dougherty Award, the college’s most prestigious honor, was presented by COE Wayne Davis (left) to Anthony (Tony) R. Buhl (right), an alumnus who guided the US power industry’s response to Three Mile Island and continues to be a leader in the industry today.

The Dougherty Award, established in 1957, honors engineers whose accomplishments have enhanced the profession and alumni whose activities have brought acclaim to the university. Buhl is in the company of other award recipients such as IBM’s Mark Dean, who helped invent the first computer keyboard, and Howard Chambers, a vice president at Boeing.

Buhl graduated in 1967 from UT, where earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees. He is co-founder and CEO of EnergX, LLC, based in Oak Ridge, which provides solutions in hazardous and radioactive waste management, environmental services, and energy technology to the Department of Energy (DOE) and electric utilities.

Buhl has served as a senior executive at both the DOE and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). He was in the control room throughout the recovery from the accident at the Three Mile Island power plant in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, in 1979. During the next five years, Buhl managed the power industry’s response to the accident. He also supported the recovery efforts and safety evaluations in Russia following the Chernobyl accident.

Buhl served as the industry spokesman with the NRC to resolve severe accident issues. In all, he has visited thirty-nine countries in relation to nuclear safety issues. In 1985, he was elected a fellow of the American Nuclear Society for his contributions and expertise in safety, risk assessment and risk management.

College-wide faculty and staff awards presented at the event included:

Outstanding Support Staff Awards (2 recipients): Amy Brewer, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Randy Bond, Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Outstanding Faculty Advisor: Hairong Qi, Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Moses E. and Mayme Brooks Distinguished Professor Award: John Schwart, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Leon and Nancy Cole Superior Teaching Award: Lee Han, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Charles Edward Ferris Faculty Award: Edwin Burdette, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

College of Engineering 2012 Teaching Fellow Award: Ronald Pevey, Department of Nuclear Engineering

2012 Research Fellows:
Joshua Fu, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Baoshan Huang, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Richard Komistek, Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering
Michael Langston, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Peter Liaw, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Ivan Maldonado, Department of Nuclear Engineering
George Pharr, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Philip Rack, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Leon Tolbert, Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Lawrence Townsend, Department of Nuclear Engineering

Awards were presented by COE Dean Wayne Davis, Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs Masood Parang and Associate Dean for Research and Technology William Dunne.

For more information, contact Kim Cowart, Director, Office of Engineering Communications, at (865) 974-0686/kcowart@utk.edu.