Graduate Program
Graduate Student Awards and Honors
Personal Excellence Awards:
Penn State Chemical Engineering Graduate Program
Objective
The objective of the Personal Excellence Awards is to encourage and reward graduate students and post docs for outstanding work and commitment to research and teaching.
Student and post-docs in the departmentshould feel that the work they do as a part of their graduate program is both expected to be excellent and valued.
The creation of this program provides significant monetary awards designed to be prestigious and given only for truly outstanding accomplishments.
The awards are aimed at various levels of study and are available for both research and teaching accomplishments.
Program
Four personal excellence award candidates will be identified per year. Out of these four, two will receive $3,000 cash awards.
The four cases will be presented to the faculty, with the final two selected by faculty vote. The two awards are named:
The Larry Duda Personal Excellence Awards for Outstanding Graduate Student performance in Chemical Engineering, sponsored by Arkema, Inc.
They come with a citation of excellence, which will be publicly displaced in Fenske. Award winners will be announced before the first seminar of every academic year.
Becoming a personal excellence award candidate: There are four ways to become a personal excellence award candidate each year:
- The candidacy exam
- The graduate student research symposium
- Annual "best paper" competition
- Excellence in teaching
1. The candidacy exam
Each fall when second year students take the candidacy exam, the chair of the exams that semester will identify the best performance, and this person will become a personal excellence award candidate. The chair will submit the students written document, the evaluation form that has been signed by the committee, the letter from the advisor, and a memo explaining why the student was selected. All other committee members will asked if they wish to submit a supporting letter.
The student does not need to do anything to apply to become a candidate, except to take the candidacy exam during their third semester of study. Criteria for excellence in the candidacy exam: Mastery of research area, ability to identify plan of research and the outcomes of successfully completing the plan, ability to convey thoughts to others in writing and orally, advisors assessment of performance.
2. The graduate student research symposium
Each Fall, the department will host a graduate student research symposium. The best presentation at this symposium will define the second personal excellence award candidate. In order to be eligible, the student must have passed the candidacy exam. The student does not need to do anything special to apply. The abstract and CV available to industrial visitors will be used in the assessment of presentations, so must be provided.
The candidate will be selected by a three person committee comprised of faculty and industrial visitors. Criteria for excellence in the graduate student research symposium: Originality of research and advancements enabled in the students area of research, clarity with which the results are presented and placed within the general context of their scientific area.
3. Annual "best paper" competition
Each summer, applications will be solicited for the annual Chemical Engineering best paper competition. This competition is open to students who have passed the comprehensive exam and post-doctoral scholars. Applications should be turned in to the department office [room 158] by the first Friday in July. The application procedure is initiated by the student or post doc. The application package includes the manuscript to be considered, a supporting letter from the student’s advisor, and a CV. The manuscript must have been published within the 12 months prior to the deadline or have been accepted for publication [letter of acceptance required].
The student or postdoc should request the letter from their advisor, which will be submitted directly to the dept. The letter must address to what extent the student contributed to the interpretation in and the writing of the submitted manuscript. Submissions will be judged by a committee of faculty. Criteria for excellence in the best paper competition: Originality of research and advancements enabled in the students area of research, clarity with which the results are presented and placed within the general context of their scientific area.
4. Excellence in teaching
At the end of each academic year, the faculty will be asked for nominations of truly outstanding teaching assistants. The nomination letter must specifically address the contributions of the TA. These contributions must be beyond the normal responsibilities of the TA position. A clear case for excellence must be presented. Criteria for excellence in teaching: interaction with students, desire for and demonstration of involvement with teaching beyond the minimal requirements [grading, office hours, maintaining website & gradesheet, etc.], originality in defining the TA position, resourcefulness and dependability.
The information above is also available in the Ch E graduate student personal excellence awards.pdf