Dear faculty, staff, students and alumni,
 
First, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate those of you who recently graduated and wish you well in the future. Please keep in touch with us and let us know of your achievements so we can share them with others.
 
I am pleased to be sending you the latest issue of the Engineering Newsletter, which is focused on your efforts, accomplishments and awards over the past semester. The stand-out theme of this newsletter is that we have an absolutely top-notch group of faculty, students, alumni and staff in the George R. Brown School of Engineering. The list of awards you have received is very long and I know there might be some that we’ve missed. For any omissions, I apologize.
 
At the top of the list is Rebecca Richards-Kortum’s election to the National Academy of Engineering, the ultimate recognition of excellence in engineering. Rebecca was cited for her contributions to “research on the diagnosis and treatment of cancer in women, and for leadership in bioengineering education and global health initiatives.” She is the youngest faculty member at Rice to be elected to the NAE.
 
We had four faculty members win National Science Foundation CAREER Awards this year: Leonardo Dueñas-Osorio of civil and environmental engineering, Kartik Mohanram of electrical and computer engineering, Walid Taha of computer science and Wotao Yin of computational and applied mathematics. This is one of the most competitive grants awarded by the NSF and it recognizes the quality of young faculty’s research.
 
And there are the many scholarships and fellowships our students garnered this year, most notably, about 20 federally funded graduate fellowships. These awards affirm the quality of our students and programs and we are very proud of them all.
 
We also feature a team of seniors that won five out of six Best of Category awards in the Texas Space Grant Consortium competition. Read about how Team Phoenix from our bioengineering department bested 13 other teams from seven Texas universities with their entry.
 
As you begin your summers of research, internships, travel, or just relaxing, join me in looking back, though this newsletter, on the past semester. Read about progress in research, recognition of our faculty and students, and our alumni’s contributions to the School of Engineering. Be safe in whatever activities you undertake over the next few months, and I look forward to seeing you in the fall.
 
Sallie
 
Sallie Keller-McNulty
William and Stephanie Sick Dean of Engineering