The Materials Science Division of the Army Research Office has selected Prof. Henry Sodano's proposal titled "Photoresponsive Polymers for Autonomous Structural Materials with Controlled Toughening and Healing" to be awarded $640,000 (11/2011 - 10/2015).  Congratulations Prof. Sodano!

DARPA Microsystems Technology Office has selected Dr. Saeed Moghaddam's proposal entitled "Thermohydraulic and Material Characterization of Nanostructured Wicks" to receive $0.8M in research funding. Congratulations, Dr. Moghaddam! 

Dr. Matt Williams, a recent graduate of IMG, has been selected by the UF College of Engineering as the 2011-2012 recipient of the Attribute of Gator Engineering Graduate Student Award for Integrity. As a recipient of this award, Matt is recognized for being "honest, ethical, willing to work for achievements (persistent, hard-working, determined), and impelled toward right action." Congratulations, Matt!

Shuo Cheng has been selected by the UF College of Engineering as the 2011-2012 recipient of the Attribute of Gator Engineering Graduate Student Award for Professional Excellence.  He was selected based the criteria of being "technically competent, skilled in management and planning, problem-solving, and scientifically insightful."  Shuo will be recognized by Dean Abernathy in an awards ceremony in August.

IMG undergraduates Ann Dietrich (Cattafesta), Carlos Pulido (Cattafesta), and Kevin Rosenberg (Sheplak) were recognized at tonight's Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 2011 Awards Dinner for participation in the University Scholars Program.  Ann Dietrich was also awarded a Boeing Scholarship and was recognized for presenting a top-3 research poster at a contest today.  Congratulations to all of these students!

Congratulations to Tiffany Reagan, a senior IMG undergraduate student, who has today been named a 2011 winner of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.  Tiffany has been with IMG since April of 2010 and has been an integral contributor to the development of a MEMS piezoelectric microphone for aeroacoustic applications and other research within Dr. Mark Sheplak's group.  She will choose between University of Florida and California Institute of Technology for her graduate work.  Congratulations, Tiffany!

Today Matt Williams was announced as a recipient of the MAE department's "Outstanding Graduate Researcher Award" for 2011.  Below is the announcement sent out by the department chair, Dr. Balachandar:

Dear Faculty, students and staff:

The following are the department awards for 2011 and they will be
distributed at the Awards Banquet on April 8th. I want to thank the
Awards Committee for their evaluation of the nominations:

Faculty Awards:
Teacher of the Year: Carl Crane
Researcher of the Year: Ghatu Subhash

Staff Awards:
Staff of the Year: Jennifer Brown

Outstanding Graduate Researcher Awards:
SMDM: Brandon Krick AND Shawn English
DSC: Shubendu Bhasin
TSFD: Matthew Williams

Best dissertation award (2010):
SMDM: Nathan Branch
DSC:  Nitin Sharma
TSFD: Manoj Parmar

Best TAs:
Tim Elmore and Ira Hill (both worked in the Controls lab)

Xiaoyu Cheng's paper will receive an honorable mention in Student Paper Competition of the 2011 IEEE AP-S International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation to be held in Spokane, WA. Xiaoyu will be presented a stipend at the ceremony and his paper will be listed in the Technical Program Booklet as an honorable mention in the Competition.

Dr. David Arnold has been named the recipient of the 2011 Pramod P. Khargonekar Junior Faculty Award for Excellence. This recognition is awarded each year at the conclusion of the tenure process to the tenure candidate who best reflects the following leadership attributes exhibited by Dr. Khargonekar, former Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Florida: excellence in scholarship and teaching, outstanding mentorship of students, impact in her/his research field and exceptional potential for growth.

Dr. Arnold will be recognized at the Spring 2011 commencement ceremony.