Five outstanding faculty members in the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences were recently honored with Faculty Awards during the college's annual spring faculty retreat. The winners were recognized in four categories including a new award introduced this year, The James and Carol Wiggans Teaching Excellence Award.
James and Carol Wiggans Teaching Excellence Award
Jim and Carol Wiggans, both 1981 graduates of ¶¶Òõ̽̽, established this new award to recognize teaching innovation and excellence in the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences. The award celebrates the intersection of academic interests for the Wiggans with Carol’s studies at ¶¶Òõ̽̽ focusing on education and Jim graduating with a degree in Civil Engineering. In addition, Jim's father, Samuel C. Wiggans, was on the University faculty for nearly twenty years as a plant and soil science professor and department chair.
Department of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering Assistant Professor and Graduate Student Advisor David Jangraw is the inaugural winner of The Wiggans Teaching Excellence Award. Dr. Jangraw was recognized for his skill, enthusiasm, and dedication to students in both the classroom and his neuroengineering lab, the Glass Brain Lab.
Several students provided letters describing their experience working with Dr. Jangraw:
“Dr. Jangraw is the perfect recipient for the Wiggins Innovation in Teaching Award. He is a caring, compassionate, and intelligent professor. He shares his knowledge in an understandable and intriguing way with all his students. Dr. J truly wants to see his students succeed and learn. He is not the type of professor to give you the answers, but he will help you think critically and get there on your own with his guidance, which makes you feel 10x more successful than just the answer being given to you.â€
“As a student in his BME 3600 Core 3: Systems and Signals course and in his research lab, the Glass Bain Lab, I have had the privilege of experiencing firsthand his dedication to fostering a supportive learning environment and facilitating students’ growth.â€
“In the Glass Brain Lab, Dr. Jangraw fosters a culture of inclusivity and mentorship. It can be difficult at times for undergraduates to gain hands-on experience within research labs due to their skillset not being as developed as graduate students, however, Dr. Jangraw actively involves all students in meaningful projects and provides opportunities for hands-on experience within the different projects."
Professional Service Award:
The Professional Service Award is given to someone who has done outstanding service for the College or Community and was awarded to Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Krisan Geary. As the Coordinator, Geary coordinates both regional and statewide competitions. Her enthusiasm and dedication to the program was recognized by one parent who wrote:
“My family attended the MathCounts competition on Saturday because my son competed. It was my first time at this event. I wanted to say thank you for doing such a great job with it, not just this weekend but with the MathCounts initiative in general… I am witnessing first-hand what a huge positive impact this competition has on families and kids in Vermont. This is definitely what we mean when we talk about broader impacts in academic administration, and from that perspective, this is also a huge benefit for ¶¶Òõ̽̽. I’m really impressed with what you’ve accomplished and very appreciative as a parent and a community member."
Award for Excellence in Student Advising:
The Excellence in Student Advising Award is given to a CEMS faculty member or staff member chosen by the student leadership council for their outstanding commitment to and success in student advising. This year’s recipient Assistant Professor Dana Rowangould in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering was also awarded the prestigious University-wide 2024 Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award just last month. Both awards recognize Dr. Rowangould for excellence in displaying and enacting responsiveness, availability, concern, respect, and depth of knowledge in undergraduate academic advising.
One of her students wrote about Dr. Rowangould’s approach to advising students:
“I believe that Dana has a unique ability to blend academic expertise with genuine care for her students. I find her not merely an advisor but a mentor who invests time in understanding each student and their aspirations, challenges, and personal circumstances. In countless instances, Dana has provided invaluable guidance.â€
Another student wrote:
“Beyond academic achievements, Dana actively connects students with professionals in their areas of interest, facilitating networking opportunities and research collaborations with other institutions across the country. Being a part of her research group transcends credit completion; it involves engaging in meaningful, impactful, and real-world work."
Excellence in Research:
Two CEMS faculty members, Associate Professor Nick Cheney and Professor Jeff Frolik, were awarded Excellence in Research Awards this year, recognizing their achievements in research as measured by their external publications and presentations, citations, grants, awards, and other scholarship.
Department of Computer Science Associate Professor Nick Cheney is a recent National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award winner, and SIGEVO Impact Award winner. His students have won NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) fellowships. Since joining ¶¶Òõ̽̽ he has been Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-PI on projects with over $12M in external funds and has been involved in projects with over $48M in total funding as at least senior personnel.
One of Dr. Cheney’s nominators for the award wrote:
“It is important to recognize that Dr. Cheney’s research is highly collaborative, and he has worked effectively with many other researchers at ¶¶Òõ̽̽ in multiple disciplines. In this way, he makes significant contributions to the ¶¶Òõ̽̽ research community at large. He fulfills a major research need for data science expertise on (e.g., health, environmental) projects led by domain scientists across the university.â€
Also winning an Excellence in Research Award is Department of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering Professor Jeff Frolik, a 2-time Fulbright Scholar and co-founder of Packetized Energy who holds 19 patents 12 of which were in the past 4 years. Dr. Frolick has published 6 peer-reviewed journal publications (5 with mentored students) and 14 conference papers (9 with mentored students) in the past 4 years.
CEMS Dean Linda Schadler highlighted some of Dr. Frolik’s recent research:
"Importantly, Professor Frolik’s research has practical applications that benefit society. For example, his research and expertise is wireless sensing revolves around improving signals, determining channel loss using embedded non-linear transponders, and using compact repeaters. He is working to advance a passive sensing system, which consists of deployed microwave devices, a wireless interrogator, and signal processing algorithms, to a commercializable stage. This would help bring to market a means to remotely and cost-effectively monitor environments, without the need for (or the waste associated with) battery- or wired-based approaches."