College of Engineering

2020 Outstanding Faculty Award Recipients and Faculty Awards

Each year, the UC Davis College of Engineering recognizes faculty members who have demonstrated excellence in teaching, research and community. Faculty members are nominated by their respective departments and are selected by the college’s faculty awards committee. These four professors will receive awards honoring their exceptional accomplishments during the virtual Celebration of Faculty Excellence on October 20, from 5-6 pm. All faculty members who received major awards and recognition from September 1, 2019 – August 31, 2020 will also be honored and the new faculty will be welcomed.

Faculty Winners 2020

Senior Faculty Research Award: Laura Marcu

Laura MarcuLaura Marcu is a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Her research targets unique applications that impact clinical management of critical human disease, with an emphasis on cardiovascular systems, oncology and regenerative medicine. Marcu’s research group is best known for researching and engineering fluorescence lifetime-based instrumentation and multimodal imaging systems that enable studies of the molecular, metabolic and morphologic changes in living systems ranging from biological cells and animal models to human patients. Marcu has more than 22 years of experience in biomedical optics, and is a noted leader in the development of optical instrumentation for tissue spectroscopy and imaging. She has published more than 190 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals including Optics Letters, Journal of Biomedical Optics, Atherosclerosis, Scientific Reports and the Annals of Biomedical Engineering. Marcu is an internationally-respected researcher as reflected in her election as a fellow to multiple prestigious professional organizations including the National Academy of Inventors, the Optical Society, International Society for Optics and Photonics, the Biomedical Engineering Society and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineers.

Mid-Career Faculty Research Award: Yayoi Takamura

Yayoi TakamuraYayoi Takamura is professor and chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Her research focuses on the growth of complex oxide thin films, heterostructures and nanostructures and the characterization of novel functional properties associated with their interfaces. She has developed a record of research, graduate student mentoring and educational accomplishments and continues to build visionary concepts that advance the field of magnetic and electrical properties of complex oxide heterostructures. Takamura is an outstanding contributor in the broad and active field of complex oxide materials, making deep, sustained and innovative contributions at the interface between materials science and condensed matter physics. Her colleagues cite her leadership in her field and say her efforts have contributed substantially to the visibility of UC Davis research throughout the U.S. and world.

Junior Faculty Research Award: David Doty

David DotyDavid Doty has been an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science since 2015. His research focuses on molecular systems that can be interpreted as doing computation. His goal is to understand the fundamental logical and physical limits to such computation, to discover how to program smart molecules that construct sophisticated nanoscale systems. Doty’s significant research contributions include publishing a 2019 paper in the journal Nature that shows the most advanced experimental demonstrations of molecular algorithms to date, publishing a 2018 paper in the journal Distributed Computing that proves certain problems cannot be solved quickly by chemical reactions, and publishing a 2018 paper in the Computational Methods in Systems Biology conference that applies the principles of thermodynamics to build molecular systems with correctness guarantees underwritten by the laws of physics themselves. Doty has published more than 60 articles in the areas of DNA nanotechnology, distributed computing and algorithmic information theory. Doty’s work on chemical reaction networks have inspired much subsequent work in the fields of theoretical chemistry and distributed computing. Colleagues applaud his efforts as a mentor to his students and his ability to offer helpful advice while being careful to let the students take the lead in their research.

Teaching Award: Hooman Rashtian

Hooman RashtianHooman Rashtian has been an assistant professor of teaching in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering since 2016. His main focus is on pedagogical and curricular innovation for teaching undergraduate courses in electrical engineering. Currently, he is working on developing new curriculum for teaching circuits, electronics and control theory, developing new instructional materials such as audio-visual units and online course materials. He is also designing project-based undergraduate courses. Rashtian has had great success in his first four years as a faculty member. He consistently receives the top teaching evaluation scores in the department and has received multiple teaching awards including the Academic Excellence in Education Award from the Associated Students of the University of California, Davis and the Professor of the Year Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers chapter at UC Davis. Rashtian also has a comprehensive understanding of the curriculum and a holistic view of engineering education. Since 2016, he has taught seven different courses and with each new course, he analyzes it from top to bottom and puts in a tremendous effort to thoroughly overhaul and update the course. The style of his teaching with an emphasis on hands-on learning shows that he cares deeply about his students’ learning and goes above and beyond. “Hooman not only impacted my academic career, but he also became somebody I look up to personally in life because of how much he believes in his students. I commend the department for having such a great professor,” said Rashtian’s student.

Major Faculty Awards, Fellowships or Appointments, 2019-2020

Biological and Agricultural Engineering

  • Paul Singh, International Association for Engineering and Food Distinguished Service Award
  • Bryan Jenkins, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers James R. and Karen A. Gilley Academic Leadership Award
  • Isaya Kisekka, Irrigation Association Excellence in Education Award

Biomedical Engineering

  • Aijun Wang, UC Davis Chancellor's Fellow
  • Soichiro Yamada, 2020 UC Davis Chancellor's Award for Mentoring Undergraduate Research
  • Ramsey Badawi, UC Davis Innovator of the Year Award
  • Simon Cherry, UC Davis Innovator of the Year Award
  • Steve George, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society - Americas Chapter Senior Scientist Award

Civil and Environmental Engineering

  • Bruce Kutter, American Society of Civil Engineers 2020 H. Bolton Seed Medal
  • Alejandro Martinez, NSF CAREER Award
  • Michele Barbato, American Society of Civil Engineers Walter L. Huber Research Prize
  • Heather Bischel, American Society of Engineering Education Pacific Southwest Outstanding Early Career Teaching Award
  • Chris Cappa, UC Davis Graduate Advising and Mentoring Award
  • Colleen Bronner, UC Davis Chancellor's Fellowship for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
  • Jay Lund, Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water

Chemical Engineering

  • Robert Powell, 2020 Oliver Johnson Award for UC Leadership
  • Jennifer Sinclair Curtis, Campus Safety, Health and Environmental Management Association Campus Leaders Who Care Award
  • David Block, American Institute of Chemical Engineers Fellow
  • Ambarish Kulkarni, UC Davis Graduate Advising and Mentoring Award

Computer Science

  • Cindy Rubio González, Facebook Testing and Verification Award; Better Scientific Software Fellow
  • Ken Joy, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Visualization Academy Election
  • Kwan-Liu Ma, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Visualization Academy Election
  • Aditya Thakur,  2020 Facebook Probability and Programming Research Award

Electrical and Computer Engineering

  • Jeremy Munday , Optical Society of America Fellow; Defense Advanced Research Project Agency Director's Fellowship Award
  • Saif Islam, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Fellow
  • Shu Lin, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Leon Kirchmayer Graduate Teaching Award
  • Rajeevan Amirharajah, American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow
  • Jane Gu , UC Davis Chancellor's Fellow
  • Erkin Şeker, UC Davis Distinguished Graduate and Postdoctoral Mentoring Award
  • Chen-Nee Chuah, UC Davis ADVANCE Scholar Award
  • Josh Hihath, UC Davis Graduate Advising and Mentoring Award

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

  • Steve Robinson, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Associate Fellow
  • Cristina Davis, National Academy of Inventors Fellow; American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow
  • Ralph Aldredge, UC Davis Black Convocation Award; American Society of Mechanical Engineers Fellow
  • Steve Robinson, UC Davis Graduate Advising and Mentoring Award
  • Vinod Narayanan, American Society of Mechanical Engineers Fellow

Materials Science and Engineering

  • Sabyasachi Sen, 2020 Otto Schott Research Award
  • Subhash Risbud, American Ceramic Society W. David Kingery Award
  • Jeremy Mason, UC Davis Hellman Fellowship
  • Alex Navrotsky, American Ceramic Society Distinguished Life Member; European Materials Research Society 2020 Jan Czochralski Award

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