Engineering Professors to Receive SAE Award for Education

WARRENDALE, Pa., March 9, 2007 - Ten mechanical engineering professors have been selected to receive SAE International’s Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award.  They will be presented their awards during the SAE 2007 World Congress in Detroit, April 16-19. 

This award, established in 1953, recognizes outstanding engineering educators and offers them the opportunity to meet and exchange views with practicing engineers in their fields.  The award honors the late Ralph R. Teetor, 1936 SAE International President, who believed that engineering educators are the most effective link between engineering students and their future careers.

This award is funded by the SAE Foundation.  In addition to supporting the awards, recognition and scholarship programs of SAE International, the SAE Foundation develops and funds programs and incentives that foster student interest in engineering, scientific and technical education.

Jason Blough
Blough is an assistant professor in the mechanical engineering department at Michigan Technological University.  He is the student advisor for the university's SAE Student Chapter and SAE Clean Snowmobile Enterprise Team.  Blough's team competes in the SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge, a competition that calls for students to reengineer an existing snowmobile with low emission and noise production.  Previously, Blough worked at Michigan Tech's Keweenaw Research Center and at General Motors' Milford Proving Grounds. 

Blough has authored 73 publications, including 24 peer reviewed journal articles and 49 conference papers. A member of SAE International, Blough was honored with the SAE Arch T. Colwell Merit Award in 1997.  He is also a member of the Society for Experimental Mechanics. 

Blough received his bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from Michigan Technological University, and his doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Cincinnati.  He resides in Chassell, Mich. 

David Bevly
Bevly is an assistant professor in the mechanical engineering department at Auburn University.  He directs the university’s GPS and Vehicle Dynamics Laboratory.  His work has been published in a number of journals, including ones from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. 

Bevly has received two Young Investigator Proposals from the Office of Naval Research and the Army Research Office.  Auburn University has also recognized Bevly with the Alumni Engineering Council Outstanding Faculty Award and Alumni Engineering Council Junior Faculty Research Award. 

In addition to his membership with SAE International, Bevly is also a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems and the Institute of Navigation. 

Bevly earned his bachelor's from Texas A&M University, his master's from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his doctorate from Stanford University, all in mechanical engineering.  He resides in Auburn, Ala. 

Brooks Byam
Byam is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU).  Previously, he has held positions at Michigan State University, DaimlerChrysler Corporation, Jeep and Truck Engineering, Daewoo Motor Company and NASA Langley Research Center. 

Byam has authored 12 documents related to undergraduate education, including two papers on Formula SAE.  He has been honored by SAE International with six awards, including the most recent Edward N. Cole Distinguished Younger Member Award in 2005.  This year, he was nominated by SVSU for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education's Professor of the Year Award.  He is a member of SAE International and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. 

Byam earned his bachelor's in physics from Alma College; his master's in aeronautics from George Washington University's Joint Institute for the Advancement of Flight Sciences at the NASA Langley Research Center; and his doctorate in mechanical engineering from Michigan State University.  He resides in Saginaw, Mich.

Laila Guessous
Guessous is an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Oakland University, where she also directs the Automotive Research and Industrial Mentorship Research Program for Undergraduates.  The program is funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Defense.  During the past two summers, she participated in a summer faculty internship program with DaimlerChrysler Corporation.  Prior to joining Oakland, Guessous was an engineering consultant for the Research Triangle Institute.  

Guessous has received a number of awards for her service, teaching and research, including a 2003 Oakland University John D. and Dortha J. Withrow Teaching Excellence Award.  As a graduate student at the University of Michigan, she was the recipient of a three-year National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship.  She is a member of SAE International, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Society for Engineering Education, and the Society of Women Engineers.

Guessous received her bachelor's in mechanical engineering with a minor in mathematics from North Carolina State University, and her master's and doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan.  She resides in Bloomfield, Mich.

Cmdr. Leonard Hamilton
Hamilton, a U.S. Navy Commander, is associate chair and assistant professor of the mechanical engineering department at the U.S. Naval Academy.  He also serves as officer of the academy's 80-member SAE student chapter and as faculty mentor for the Formula SAE team.  Designated a Naval aviator in 1986, Hamilton has flown combat missions for Desert Storm, and has flown more than 50 types of aircraft as a Navy test pilot. 

Hamilton has co-authored four publications and has been honored with a number of awards for his service in the Navy and for his contributions to the field engineering education.  In addition to holding three medals, Hamilton most recently received the U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1951 Award for Teaching Excellence and the William P. Clements Teaching Excellence Award.  He is a member of SAE International, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. 

Hamilton received his bachelor's in mechanical engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, his master's in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland, and his doctorate from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.  He earned his certification as an engineering test pilot from the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.  He resides in Annapolis, Md.

Kevin Lynch
Lynch is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Northwestern University, where he co-directs the Laboratory for Intelligent Mechanical Systems.  Before joining Northwestern, he taught at the University of Tsukuba, Japan, and worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow with the National Science Foundation and the Science and Technology Agency of Japan. 

Lynch is a co-author of Principles of Robot Motion, published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press in 2005, and editor of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Transactions on Robotics.  He has received Northwestern's Engineering and Applied Science Teacher of the Year Award, the National Science Foundation's CAREER Award, and the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society's Early Academic Career Award. 

Lynch earned his bachelor's in electrical engineering from Princeton University and his doctorate in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University.   He resides in Chicago.

Geoffrey McCullough
McCullough is a senior lecturer in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Queen’s University Belfast in the U.K. He is also an assistant faculty advisor for the university's Formula SAE team, resulting in the publication of three SAE papers.  McCullough's research, which is funded by the U.K. government and automotive industry, focuses on the reduction of toxic emissions from diesel and gasoline automotive engines. 

McCullough has published 40 technical papers, 20 of which have run in peer-reviewed journals.  In 2003, he was honored with an ExxonMobile Engineering Teaching Fellowship from the Royal Academy of Engineering.  He is a member of SAE International and the Higher Education Academy, and is a chartered member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. 

McCullough received his undergraduate and doctorate degrees in mechanical engineering from Queen's University Belfast.  He resides in Saintfield, County Down, Northern Ireland. 

Chris Paredis
Paredis is an assistant professor in the G.W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.  Previously, he was a research scientist in the Institute for Complex Engineered Systems at Carnegie Mellon University.

Paredis has published more than 70 refereed conference and journal articles.  He is a recipient of the Robert E. Fulton Engineering Information Management Best Paper Award (2004), the Literati Award for Excellence (2001), and a Fellowship from the Belgian American Educational Foundation. 

Paredis is a member of SAE International, the American Society for Engineering Education, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for which he vice-chairs the Computers and Information in Engineering Division.  He is also a member of the Sigma Xi international honor society of scientific and engineering research.

Paredis holds his bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium; his business degree from the University of Liège in Belgium; and his master's and doctorate degrees in electrical and computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. 

Rajesh Rajamani
Rajamani is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota.  Previously, he worked as a research engineer at United Technologies Research Center and at the University of California at Berkeley. 

In addition to authoring more than 50 journal publications and more than 40 conference papers, Rajamani is the author of Vehicle Dynamics and Control, a book co-published by SAE International and Springer Verlag.  He has received numerous awards for his roles as a researcher and educator, including the Best Paper of the Year Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation.  He is a member of SAE International, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and IEEE.

Rajamani earned his bachelor's in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras; his master's in mechanical engineering; and his doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley.  He resides in Saint Paul, Minn.

Corina Sandu
Sandu is an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, where she directs the Advanced Vehicle Dynamics Laboratory. 

In addition to teaching courses, Sandu takes on the roles of advisor and supervisor for doctorate, graduate and undergraduate students.  She also leads the student exchange program between the automotive engineering department at Technical University in Darmstadt, Germany, and the Center for Vehicle Systems and Safety at Virginia Tech. 

 

Previously, Sandu worked at the Power Modules and Control Elements Company and Bucharest Polytechnic Institute in Romania, and Michigan Technological University. 

Sandu has published 11 journal papers, 22 conference proceedings papers, and numerous technical reports, garnering three awards, including the PE Publishing Award from the Journal of Multi-Body Dynamics (2003).  She is a member of SAE International, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the International Society for Terrain-Vehicle Systems. 

Sandu earned her undergraduate degree in engineering from Bucharest Polytechnic Institute, and her master's and doctorate degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Iowa.  She resides in Blacksburg, Va.