The end of the semester brings additional honors and funding awards for UT faculty and students: Nuclear Engineering Tops University Program Scholars List; UTIA Appoints New Head of Department of Plant Sciences; Engineering Alumnus Wins Prestigious 2022 AIChE Award; Haslam Professor Among 50 Best Undergraduate Business Professors; Engineering Graduate Student Places Third in Geosyntec Paper Competition.
UT Again Tops Nuclear Engineering University Program Scholars List
The Nuclear Engineering University Program (NEUP), part of the Department of Energy (DOE), recently announced more than $5 million in undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships, with UT students receiving a total of 12 awards, top among 32 colleges and universities. The recipients are students pursuing nuclear engineering degrees and other nuclear science and engineering programs relevant to nuclear energy, with only 61 scholarships awarded nationwide.
UTIA Appoints Gary Bates Head of Department of Plant Sciences
The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture has appointed Gary Bates, professor and interim head of the Department of Plant Sciences, as the department’s permanent leader. Bates has served in the interim position since 2020. Bates joined UTIA in 1993 as an Extension forage specialist, where he has worked to help producers across the state improve the sustainability of their forage operations. A native of Greenwell Springs, Louisiana, Bates holds both bachelor and master’s degrees from Louisiana State University, and a Ph.D. in crop and soil science from the University of Georgia. While at UTIA, he has secured 16 grants and authored or co-authored more than 85 research and Extension publications.
Harold Conner Wins Prestigious 2022 AIChE Award
Harold T. Conner, PhD, former director of the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant and a senior advisor to the UCOR President and CEO, has won the prestigious 2022 Management Division Award presented by the American Institute for Chemical Engineers (AIChE). He is the second UCOR senior manager to receive the award. It was presented to UCOR President and Chief Executive Officer Ken Rueter in 2016. The annual award recognizes an outstanding individual who has made a substantial contribution to the management and leadership of engineers involved in the field of chemical engineering.
Noble Among 50 Best Undergraduate Business Professors
Stephanie M. Noble, Proffitt’s Professor of Marketing and William B. Stokely Faculty Research Fellow in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business, has been named to Poets&Quants For Undergrads’ list of 50 Best Undergrad Professors for 2021. She was selected from a group of more than a thousand business professors who received nominations from students and faculty across the country.
Sun Wins Third in Geosyntec Paper Competition
Graduate research assistant Yanchen Sun recently received third place in the 2022 Geosyntec Groundwater Student Paper Competition for his research titled, “Soluble Mn(III) Mediates Degradation of Adsorbed Bisphenol A (BPA).” Sun is a PhD candidate in the department, working with UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair in Microbiology Frank Loeffler.