2023 College of Engineering Faculty Awards

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING OUTSTANDING TEACHING ASSISTANT

CHRISTOPHER BARROW
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Christopher Barrow has served a teaching assistant in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering since 2018. Barrow has worked as a teaching assistant for the First Year Engineering Program (FYE) in both Lexington and Paducah. During Fall 2022, his contributions far exceeded those of a typical teaching assistant as he led approximately 50% of the course instruction for the Paducah FYE courses, acting more as a co-teacher than an assistant. He has demonstrated a true passion for teaching and his students commend his ability to find new ways to teach challenging content. Barrow was also named the 2022-2023 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Outstanding TA.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING OUTSTANDING MASTER’S STUDENT

JARED SCHMAL
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Jared Schmal performed simulation work on characterizing reverberation rooms using acoustic finite element analysis and presented this work at the 2021 International Congress Exposition on Noise Control Engineering. He has developed a stationary quadcopter setup for performing acoustic visualization studies to better understand the noise propagation— work that will be invaluable to researchers in the area of unmanned aerial vehicle noise — and is currently writing two papers on his quadcopter research which will be presented at the International Congress Exposition on Noise Control Engineering 2023 in Japan. Schmal has also presented his research at two Vibro-Acoustics Consortium Meetings and designed an enclosure and muffler system for a luxury blimp. He was recently named the Department of Mechanical Engineering's Outstanding M.S. Student.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING OUTSTANDING PH.D. STUDENT

ROSEMARY E. ALDEN
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Rosemary Alden has established a truly outstanding publication record with 16 peer-reviewed publications, including six journal articles and several major international conference papers. She is building a strong citation record with 89 current citations of her work. Her research focuses on applying machine learning to smart grid technology and use optimization. Alden has received a substantial number of awards. She is an NSF Graduate Fellow and has won research awards over multiple years from the national IEEE Power and Energy Society. Alden is involved with a number of industry, state and national collaborators and works in Dan Ionel’s SPARK Lab. Additionally, she is involved in a number of STEM outreach activities on campus, including mentoring students in the University Scholars program.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING OUTSTANDING PH.D. STUDENT

ROLLIE GEORGE MILLS
Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering

Rollie Mills has made significant contributions to research as the lead researcher for the NSF RAPID grant investigating the development of an enzyme-functionalized membrane mask for enhanced aerosol particle capture and protection via SARS-CoV-2 protein deactivation on membrane surface. Mills collaborated across departments to publish a manuscript on this research. He has also published six other journal articles on his research related to pollutant separations and detoxifications and submitted two patents. He was the recipient of multiple North American Membrane Society conference awards, the 2022 Graduate Student Research Paper Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. He is a member of Launch Blue’s UAccel, the university technology commercialization focused program, and has been instrumental in mentoring undergraduate students.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH AWARD

JIANGBIAO HE
Assistant Professor, Endowed L. Stanley Pigman Faculty Fellow
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Dr. JiangBiao He has made remarkable research contributions since joining the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2019. His research focuses on power systems, with a specific emphasis on electric aircraft, ships, and vehicles. He has also contributed to monitoring of electrical systems and renewable energy systems. Dr. He has made significant contributions to these fields in a short amount of time, securing $3.15M directly and $14.45M in total through 17 grant awards as PI or co-PI. He has published 46 journal articles, 38 conference papers and issued six patents. Dr. He has been recognized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics (IEEE) with one award and two grants. His work has been cited approximately 1,730 times. He has also collaborated with multiple universities, national laboratories, and industry partners and has an active research group, which includes visiting scholars and both undergraduate and graduate students. Dr. He has balanced funding from industry and multiple federal agencies (NSF, DOD, DOE and NASA), and has developed a best-in-class electric propulsion drive for a NASA hybrid-electric aircraft. He has also served as an associate editor for four IEEE Transaction journals and is on the organizing committees of four different IEEE conferences.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH AWARD

KUNLEI LIU
Associate Professor; Associate Director for Research, CAER
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Dr. Kunlei Liu has established a uniquely strong research program focused on clean combustion and carbon capture over the last 17 years as faculty at the College of Engineering and a researcher at the Center for Applied Energy Research. He manages a large group of research staff and scientists that develop carbon sequestration technology for coal power plants and direct air capture. Dr. Liu’s research outcomes have broad technical and societal impact, given the national and global importance of managing the environmental impact of power production. His research operation is supported by grants, current active support totaling over $26 Million, and averaging over $8 million in new awards each year. Dr. Liu has mentored nine post-doctoral scholars over the last five years and supervises Ph.D. students in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. His scholarly output includes 156 peer-reviewed journal articles (cited 5,600 times) and 20 issued patents, with another 17 pending. One of his larger projects has been a full-scale instillation of a carbon sequestration system at the Brown Power Station in Harrodsburg, KY. This installation has demonstrated over 90% effectiveness at carbon capture under real conditions using Dr. Liu’s technology. In 2020, he was elected to the prestigious National Academy of Inventors.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH AWARD

ALEXANDRE MARTIN
Professor; Director, Kentucky Space Grant Consortium and NASA EPSCoR Programs
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Dr. Alexandre Martin is an expert in the field of hypersonics aerothermodynamics. During his 12 years at UK, he has secured 68 grants totaling over $15 million, This includes a recent NASA Space Technology Research Institute (STRI) grant with $3.6M of funding to reentry modeling work at UK. Dr. Martin’s research focuses on developing advanced computational models and materials to protect spacecraft during atmospheric reentry. He has facilitated multiple opportunities for both students and faculty to work with NASA and has graduated 7 Ph.D. and 11 thesis M.S. students, in addition to currently advising a group of 11 Ph.D. and 3 M.S. students. One of Dr. Martin's most notable achievements is the development of a unique numerical code (KATS) that simulates material response for spacecraft under extreme velocities and gas conditions. This code is recognized by NASA as a leading tool for such simulations. He has published 48 peer-reviewed journal articles and over 110 conference papers. Dr. Martin has also collaborated with senior undergraduate students to develop a reentry test module (KRUPS), which can be used to test materials and perform metrology through the atmosphere. This project has brought visibility to the reentry modeling research at UK and provided a platform for ongoing NASA testing of new materials.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE IN SERVICE AWARD

DOUGLASS KALIKA
Professor; Director of First-Year Engineering
Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering

Dr. Douglass Kalika has been described as selfless with both his time and energy. He has been a fixture in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering since 1990 and has served in a variety of administrative roles for 23 of his 33 years as a faculty member. Dr. Kalika has contributed extensively to the University, College, Department, and professional societies at large, including serving as a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Education and Accreditation Committee, an AIChE Fellow, a member of the AIChE Fellows Admissions Committee, an ABET evaluator and was recently appointed to the ABET Engineering Accreditation Commission. He has served as the Omega Chi Epsilon faculty advisor, Co-Chair of the University Chair's Academy and University Senate member. Dr. Kalika has served on around 50 Ph.D. committees for the College of Engineering, and as an accomplished musician, on 21 Ph.D. and Doctor of Musical Arts committees for the College of Fine Arts.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE IN SERVICE AWARD

JOHN F. MADDOX
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Dr. Jack Maddox has been a faculty member in Mechanical Engineering at the Paducah Extended Campus since 2015. As a Special Title Series faculty member, he has a heavy and broad teaching load of 70%, a research program including both local undergraduate students and graduate students advised in Lexington, and normal service expectations. Dr. Maddox has initiated and led numerous projects at Paducah, such as redesigning classrooms for more modern usage, updating teaching spaces, coordinating the implementation of new courses, advising the Society of Women Engineers student organization and directing the Paducah Innovation Center. He is the chair of a Ph.D. exam committee in Lexington and a faculty search committee in Paducah, volunteers for local Lego robotics challenges in Paducah and has held leadership roles for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics (IEEE). He is currently the southeast regional coordinator for a multi-state NSF effort to improve experiential learning opportunities for students in diverse communities.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING HENRY MASON LUTES AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION

ANASTASIA K. HAUSER
Lecturer
Department of Chemical and Mechanical Engineering

Dr. Anastasia Hauser is a dedicated and innovative educator who began her teaching career in the spring of 2020, amidst the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the shift to online learning made her adopt a more flexible teaching style, she still prides herself on encouraging students to test the bounds of what they believe is possible, while supporting them along the way. Dr. Hauser has utilized her industry design experience to modernize and improve the capstone design sequence in her department and is continually adapting her approach to teaching design based off the feedback of her students. Her capstone teaching experience also inspired her to enlist her peers in a multi-university, collaborative research project aimed at effectively teaching teamwork in the classroom. Her passion for mentoring her students on research projects prompted her to submit a proposal, along with a colleague, for an NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) grant, which was awarded in 2022. Beyond the classroom, Dr. Hauser serves students as the faculty advisor for the UK ChemE Car team and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) UK Student Chapter.