SEAS
Awards
The
S. Reid Warren, Jr. Award for Teaching
is
presented annually by the undergraduate student body and the Engineering
Alumni Society in recognition of outstanding service in stimulating
and guiding the intellectual and professional development of undergraduate
students in SEAS. This year's recipient is Dr. Nader Engheta,
professor of electrical engineering. He received the B.S. degree
in EE from the University of Tehran in 1978, the M.S. degree in
EE and the Ph.D. degree in EE, both from Caltech in 1979 and 1982,
respectively. He joined Penn's engineering faculty in 1987. He
is also a member of the David Mahoney Institute of Neurological
Sciences at Penn. Dr. Engheta has received numerous awards and
distinctions for his scholarly research and teaching, such as
an IEEE Third Millennium Medal, a Guggenheim Award in 1999, the
NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award in 1989, the Fulbright
Naples Chair Award in 1998, the UPS Foundation Distinguished Educator
term chair for 1999- 2000, the Lindback Award, and the W. M. Keck
Foundation's 1995 Engineering Teaching Excellence Award. Dr. Engheta
was a previous winner of the Warren Award in 1993. He is a Fellow
of the IEEE and the Optical Society of America.
His
research interests and activities include electromagnetic waves
and fields phenomena, biologically inspired polarimetric imaging
and sensing, EM materials and high-frequency metamaterials, wave
interaction with unconventional complex media and complex surfaces,
antennas for wireless applications, fractional operators and fractional
paradigm in electro-magnetics, optics, microwave, waveguides,
scattering, diffraction and related areas.
The
Ford Motor Company Award for Faculty Advising
recognizes
dedication to helping students realize their educational, career
and personal goals. This year's recipient is Dr. James P. Ostrowski,
assistant professor of mechanical engineering and applied mechanics
(MEAM). Dr. Ostrowski also has a secondary appointment in Computer
and Information Science and is a member of the GRASP (General
Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception) Lab. He began his
teaching career at Penn in 1996 after receiving his Ph.D. from
California Institute of Technology in 1995 and his B.S. from Brown
University in 1990. His general research interests lie in the
area of nonlinear dynamics and control, with applications to robotics,
locomotion, and visual servoing. He is currently working on robotic
locomotion, control and motion planning methods for multiple robots,
and vision-based control techniques for mobile and dynamic robotic
systems. Dr. Ostrowski is an associate editor for the IEEE Transactions
on Robotics and Automation and received an NSF Career Award
in 1999 for his work on modular mobile robots.
In
nominating Dr. Ostrowski, a student said, "besides advising about
classes, he helped me find and apply for a great summer research
program
he is the perfect advisor, if there is a problem
he will do all he can to help me solve it
"