Faculty awards and honors

Awards and honors earned by faculty and staff of the College of Engineering and Knowlton School of Architecture from August 2018 through January 2019.

Rizwan Ahmad, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, was awarded a two-year, $409,000 National Institutes of Health R21 grant for his project, “Prospective Slice Tracking for Cardiac MRI.”

Gulsah Akar, associate professor of city and regional planning, received a $94,000 Ohio Department of Transportation research grant to review existing levels of bicycle service and safety index tools and propose a model that can be customized for an Ohio specific application.

Rita Alevriadou, professor of biomedical engineering, received a $1.8 million National Institutes of Health R01 grant for her research on how blood flow influences plaque buildup in arteries.

Bharat Bhushan, Ohio Eminent Scholar and Howard D. Winbigler Professor of mechanical engineering, received the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Distinguished Speaker Award. He also recently published his newest book, Biomimetics: Bioinspired Hierarchical-Structured Surfaces for Green Science and Technology, which is the first of its kind on biologically-inspired structured surfaces.                                                                 

Nicholas Brunelli, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, was named to the 2018 Class of Influential Researchers by the American Chemical Society’s Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research journal editors.

Marcello Canova, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, has been promoted to associate director for research and education at The Ohio State University Center for Automotive Research. 

Vanessa Chen, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, received a five-year, $500,000 Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation for her research in real-time machine learning and cybersecurity. 

Hanna Cho, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, was awarded $200,000 from the National Science Foundation Partnership for Innovation to commercialize an atomic force microscopy tool for enhanced materials characterization.

John Clay, professor of practice of chemical and biomolecular engineering, was selected for Ohio State’s University Institute for Teaching and Learning’s  Faculty FIT: Foundation, Impact, Transformation mentoring program.

Ran Dai, NetJets assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, received a three-year Early Career Faculty for Space Technology Research Grant for nearly $600,000 from NASA to investigate precision planetary landing.

Tamal Dey, a computer science and engineering professor, was named a 2018 Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery. He also received a $300,000 TRIPODS+X grant from the National Science Foundation for his research on improving template microstructures via topological data analysis.

Heshem El Gamal, chair and professor of electrical and computer engineering, was given the title of Fellow by the National Academy of Inventors.

Daniel Gallego-Perez, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, won the National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator Award. He will use the $2.3 million in total funding to build on earlier studies that demonstrated how tissue nanotransfection can convert skin cells into blood vessels and nerve cells. 

Samir Ghadiali, chair and professor of biomedical engineering, received a $312,000 grant from the Department of Defense to conduct a study of ventilation-induced lung injury during hemorrhagic shock. 

Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska, associate dean for research and professor, received the International Association of Institutes of Navigation’s prestigious Harrison Award for her research, education and service contributions.

Derek Hansford, associate professor of biomedical engineering, was awarded a three-year $160,000 National Science Foundation grant to develop an optical up-conversion device using nonlinear electrooptical polymer microfabrication.

Patrick Herak, senior lecturer of engineering education, is co-investigator on a three-year $450,000 National Science Foundation grant to implement engineering design activities in high school science classrooms. Ohio State will receive $121,957 of the grant award.

John Horack, Neil Armstrong Chair in Aerospace Policy, was appointed senior associate dean of the College of Engineering beginning January 2019. He was also added to the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum’s Wall of Honor in recognition of his contribution to the nation’s aviation and space exploration heritage.

Katherine Jenkins, assistant professor of landscape architecture, and Parker Sutton, landscape architecture lecturer, have been awarded a joint MacDowell Colony Residency during spring 2019.

Jung-Hyun Kim, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, received a $2.5 million award from the Department of Energy for his work in advanced vehicle technologies.

Jennifer Leight, a biomedical engineering assistant professor, was awarded The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center Intramural Research program grant to develop a platform for the culture of human tumor tissue and measurement of cell function.

Jay Martin, professor of food, agricultural and biological engineering, received $5 million from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture for a study to monitor and manage more than a dozen elevated phosphorus fields in the Maumee River watershed.

DK Panda, professor of computer science and engineering, is a co-principal investigator on a National Science Foundation award to deploy a new supercomputer that will among the most powerful in the world. He will lead a team of researchers in optimizing the supercomputer’s software and networking. Ohio State will receive $2.5 million in funding over five years.

P. (Saday) Sadayappan, professor of computer science and engineering, was named 2018 Faculty Mentor of the Year by The Ohio State University Office of Postdoctoral Affairs. 

Jonathan Song, assistant professor, received a $187,000 grant from the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research for his brain metastases research.

Maryn Weimer, senior associate director of the Center for Automotive Research, was named mobility director for the center and Ohio State College of Engineering.

David B. Williams, Monte Ahuja Dean’s Chair and dean of the college, was named an MAS Fellow of the Microanalysis Society and an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. 

Barbara Wyslouzil, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, was elected a lifetime Fellow of the American Association of Aerosol Research for significant contributions to the discipline of aerosol science and service to the association.

Ruike Zhao, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, was one of four recipients of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Applied Mechanics Division 2018 Haythornthwaite Foundation Research Initiation Grant for her research on the development of magnetic-responsive soft materials.