Four faculty members honored with Penn State Engineering Alumni Society Awards

4/04/2016

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Four faculty members within the Department of Chemical Engineering have been honored with 2016 Penn State Engineering Alumni Society (PSEAS) Awards.

PSEAS Awards are given annually and recognize outstanding teaching, research, and advising contributions within the College of Engineering. Honorees are selected by their peers and members of the PSEAS Board of Directors.

2016 award winners in the department include: Enrique Gomez, Outstanding Research Award; Michael Janik, Premier Teaching Award; Costas Maranas, Premier Research Award; and Andrew Zydney, Lawrence J. Perez Memorial Student Advocate Award.

Enrique Gomez – Outstanding Research Award

Enrique Gomez, associate professor of chemical engineering, has been named the recipient of the 2016 PSEAS Outstanding Research Award.

The award recognizes engineering researchers who have made accomplishments in advancing the frontiers of research knowledge, and those who have brought esteemed recognition to themselves, the college, and Penn State.

A Penn State faculty member since 2009, Gomez focuses his research on polymers, organic electronics, organic solar cells, and electron microscopy of soft materials.

He is a member of the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Physical Society, and the Materials Research Society.

His previous awards and honors include: the Penn State Graduate School’s Rustum and Della Roy Innovation in Materials Research Award (2015) and the National Science Foundation’s CAREER Award (2012).

Michael Janik – Premier Teaching Award

Michael Janik, professor of chemical engineering and John J. and Jean M. Brennan Clean Energy Early Career Professor in the College Engineering, has been named the recipient of the 2016 PSEAS Premier Teaching Award.

The award recognizes an individual whose contributions to engineering education and the art of teaching are of exceptional quality. Recipients must be full-time faculty members in the College of Engineering and previous recipients of the PSEAS Outstanding Teaching Award.

A Penn State faculty member since 2006, Janik specializes in: electrocatalysis, heterogeneous catalysis and polymers, and enzymes for energy applications.

He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the North American Catalysis Society, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

He is a 2012 recipient of the PSEAS Outstanding Teaching Award.

Costas Maranas – Premier Research Award

Costas Maranas, Donald B. Broughton Professor of Chemical Engineering, has been named the recipient of the 2016 PSEAS Premier Research Award.

The award recognizes an individual whose contributions to scientific knowledge through research are exemplary and internationally acclaimed. Recipients must be full-time faculty members in the College of Engineering and a previous recipient of the PSEAS Outstanding Research Award.

Maranas has been a Penn State faculty member since 1995. His research interests include: reconstruction analysis and redesign of metabolic networks, computational protein enzyme and antibody design, synthetic biology and metabolic engineering, and optimization theory and algorithms.

He is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and a member of the Society for Biological Engineering, the Biophysical Society, and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

He is a 2012 recipient of the PSEAS Outstanding Research Award.

Andrew Zydney – Lawrence J. Perez Memorial Student Advocate Award

Andrew Zydney, Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering, has been named the recipient of the 2016 Lawrence J. Perez Memorial Student Advocate Award.

The award recognizes a College of Engineering faculty member who contributes to the welfare of students and enriches the college by his or her willingness to devote significant time and effort to assist students with academic and/or personal problems.

A faculty member since 2002, Zydney focuses his research in the areas of artificial organs, bioseparations, and membrane processes.

He is a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He also serves as a member of the American Chemical Society, the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs, the American Society for Engineering Education, and the North American Membrane Society. Zydney also serves as Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Membrane Science.

His previous awards and honors include the PSEAS Outstanding Teaching Award (2015) and the ASEE Mid-Atlantic Section Distinguished Teacher Award.

Zydney’s receipt of the Lawrence J. Perez Memorial Student Advocate Award marks the third consecutive year the award has been given to a chemical engineering faculty member. He joins fellow honorees Ali Borhan (2014) and Wayne Curtis (2015).

All PSEAS award winners will be formally recognized and presented with their awards during a reception on April 27 at the Nittany Lion Inn.