Munir Award for Best Doctoral Dissertation

The College established this annual award in 1999 to honor the student who has submitted the best doctoral dissertation and to publicize some of the outstanding research conducted in the College.  In 2002, as a result of generous donations, the award was named the Zuhair A. Munir Award for the Best Doctoral Dissertation. This award honors former Dean of the College, Zuhair Munir, who led the College from 2000 to 2002 and acted as its Associate Dean for Graduate Studies for 20 years. 

Awarding History

1999

Winner: Kenneth Harris, Ph.D.
Dissertation title: "Analysis and Control of Chemical Processes Using Functional Expansions"
Major Professor: Ahmet Palazoglu
Department: Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

2000 (2 winners)

Winner: Laxman Sahasrabuddhe
Dissertation title:"Multicasting and Fault Management in IP-over-WDM Networks"
Major Professor: Biswanath Mukherjee
Department: Computer Science

Winner: Borivoje Nikolic
Dissertation title: "Algorithmic and Circuit Techniques in Digital Viterbi Detector for Magnetic Recording Channel"
Major Professor: Vojin Oklobdzija
Department: Electrical and Computer Engineering

2001

Winner: Anne Vandooren, Ph.D.
Dissertation title: "Advanced Characterization of Double-gate/gate-all-around SOI Devices and Circuits"
Major Professor: Jean-Pierre Colinge
Department: Electrical and Computer Engineering

2002

Winner: Eric Carl Landahl, Ph.D.
Dissertation title: "A Compact Compton Scattering X-Ray Source for Cancer Detection, Diagnosis and Treatment."
Major Professor: Neville Luhmann
Department: Applied Science

2003

Winner: James Chan, Ph.D.
Dissertation title: "Confocal Laser Spectroscopy of Glasses Modified by Ultrashort Laser Pulses for Waveguide Fabrication"
Major Professor: Subhash Risbud
Department: Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

2004

Winner: Keyao Zhu
Dissertation title: "Design and Analysis of Traffic-Groomable Optical WDM Networks"
Major Professor: Biswanath Mukherjee
Department: Computer Science

2005 

Winner: Corey P. Neu
Dissertation title: "An MRI-Based Technique for Determining Three-Dimensional Deformations in Articular Cartilage Explants"
Major Professor: Maury L. Hull
Department: Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering

2006
Winner: Dr. Juan Carlos Fierro-Gonzalez
Dissertation Title: "Supported Gold Complexes and Clusters: Synthesis, Characterization, and Catalytic Properties"
Major Professor: Bruce Gates
Department: Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

2007
Winner: Dr. Chao Gui
Dissertation Title: "Routing Performance and Power Conservation in Ad Hoc and Sensor Networks"
Major Professor: Prasant Mohapatra
Department: Computer Science