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Faculty and Student Recognitions

Recognitions, September 15

The middle of September brings exciting honors and funding awards for UT staff and students: Emeritus Professor Receives Engineering Asset Management Lifetime Achievement Award; Dongarra Professor of Computer Science and Computer Science Graduate Student Earn Best Paper Award; Baker Center Names New Director of Policy Partnerships; Two Engineering Faculty Have Projects Among Finalists of R&D 100 Awards; Veterinary College Welcomes New Librarian; UT Welcomes New Class of Academy for Global Scholars


Upadhyaya Receives Engineering Asset Management Lifetime Achievement Award

UT'sProfessor Emeritus Belle Upadhyaya received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society of Engineering Asset Management (ISEAM) during the 15th World Congress on Engineering Asset Management. A Fellow of ISEAM, Upadhyaya has published over 380 articles in scientific journals and conference proceedings, chapters in handbooks, is the author or co-author of over 150 research reports, and the co-author of a book titled Dynamics and Control of Nuclear Reactors, published by Elsevier-Academic Press.


Plasma Modeling Research Earns EECS Professor and Student a Best Paper Award

Dongarra Professor of Computer Science Michela Taufer and EECS Computer Science graduate student Nigel Tan have been awarded a Best Track Paper Award at the 2021 International Conference on Computational Science (ICCS). Co-authored with Robert F. Bird and Guangye Chen of Los Alamos National Laboratory, their paper is entitled “Optimize Memory Usage in Vector Particle-In-Cell (VPIC) to Break the 10 Trillion Particle Barrier in Plasma Simulations.” This research involves improvements to computer memory that enable more complex computer simulations of plasma- matter so superheated that the electrons are ripped away from the atoms, forming an ionized gas.


Baker Center Names Bill Lyons Director of Policy Partnerships

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy announced that Bill Lyons will join the center’s staff as the inaugural director of policy partnerships. A professor emeritus of political science at UT, Lyons will begin in his new role September 20. In his new role, Lyons will drive the university’s policy engagement on issues of local importance, connecting policymakers and community leaders with campus experts and resources. Lyons will also serve as a mentor to undergraduate students in the Baker Scholars program and students in UT’s Master of Public Policy and Administration program.


Two Faculty Members Have Projects Among Finalists of R&D 100 Awards

A pair of teams involving faculty from the Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science were recently announced as finalists in the R&D 100 awards. The first project selected to move on to the finals is “GridDamper,” a project between UT, Electric Power Research Institute, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair for Power Grids and CURENT Deputy Director Yilu Liu and Assistant Professor Lin Zhu are members of the GridDamper research team. The second project selected was “Flux: Next-Generation Workload Management Software Framework,” whose team includes Michela Taufer, Dongarra Professor in the Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.


Veterinary College Welcomes New Librarian

Jeanine Williamson has been appointed the new Veterinary Medicine Liaison Librarian at Pendergrass Library; the library is located in the College of Veterinary Medicine on the UT Institute of Agriculture campus. She has served in an interim role at Pendergrass during the last year following Ann Viera’s retirement. As liaison, Jeanine is responsible for outreach to the veterinary college and has skills in supporting citation management programs such as EndNote and database searching in PubMed, CAB Abstracts, etc.


UT Welcomes New Class of Academy for Global Scholars

The Academy for Global Scholars (AGS), a program for first-year students that provides them with a unique opportunity for global engagement and individual growth, welcomed its second class of 17 scholars. Participants join AGS by invitation and engage as a cohort in a summer workshop, service activities, general education courses, and a study abroad experience. Last year’s cohort successfully completed a service-learning trip to Costa Rica in May 2021.