PULLMAN, Wash. – Four Washington State University faculty members will receive the 2015-16 Sahlin awards at the Showcase Celebrating Excellence Recognition Banquet on March 25.
Showcase reservations are being accepted at http://showcase.wsu.edu/schedule/ through March 18.
Diane Cook, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, will receive the Sahlin Faculty Excellence Award for Research, Scholarship and Arts.
She is an expert in data mining and artificial intelligence and a pioneer in applying machine learning to technologies in health assessment and intervention for those with cognitive or physical limitations. She created one of the first, fully instrumented, smart home test sites and has equipped 100 smart apartments with networks of sensors in 10 countries.
Cook is ranked in the top 5 percent of her research peers at the same career stage. She is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and is a recipient of both Career Development and Research Initiation Awards from the National Science Foundation. She received the Anjan Bose Outstanding Researcher of the Year Award from WSU’s Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture.
Learn more about her at http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/~cook/.
Charles Munson, professor of finance and management science, will receive the Sahlin Faculty Excellence Award for Instruction.
He has received consistently high student teaching evaluation scores over his career and has created new courses – including a business modeling elective that has grown to exceed 100 students per year. He revamped the masters of business administration (MBA) program in Pullman, updated the College of Business Ph.D. program and helped create and revise the university’s learning goals for the baccalaureate.
Munson is co-author of the market’s top-selling operations management textbook. He is a founding advisory board member of the WSU Teaching Academy and a recipient of the College of Business Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award (twice) and MBA Professor of the Year (twice).
Learn more about him at https://business.wsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2015/10/Munson-Vita-October-2015.pdf.
Carol Black, WSU Extension specialist in entomology, will receive the Sahlin Faculty Excellence Award for Outreach and Engagement.
As director of the WSU Urban Integrated Pest Management and Pesticide Safety Education Program, she provides training for the safe, environmentally sound, effective use of commercial pesticides. She delivers science-based education to people who use pesticides in their profession and are regulated by the state.
Black works with extension agents, health officials, chemical suppliers, government regulators, pest managers and safety equipment vendors. She has consulted with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture to enhance pesticide safety. Her work has contributed to policies and guidelines of the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s approaches to risk mitigation.
Learn more about her at http://cahnrsdb.wsu.edu/newdirectory/individualDisplay.aspx?personID=108.
John Roll, WSU Spokane senior vice chancellor for academic affairs and research, will receive the Sahlin Faculty Excellence Award for Leadership.
He helped develop the Health Sciences STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) Education Research Center and the WSU Spokane research cores. He recruited five outstanding faculty members in community health and is working to integrate them into scholarly activities throughout WSU.
Roll serves on the Executive Committee of Spokane STEM, Spokane Regional Health District Community Health Assessment Board, Better Health Together Leadership Council and Spokane Teaching Health Center Board of Directors. He is an inaugural member of the Western Academic Leadership Academy sponsored by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.
Learn more about him at http://directory.nursing.wsu.edu/default.aspx?id=274.
The Celebrating Excellence Recognition Banquet is part of Showcase, WSU’s annual celebration of faculty, staff and student achievement. Showcase also includes the Distinguished Faculty Address (March 24), the Academic Showcase display of faculty, staff and student work (March 25) and other events. See https://showcase.wsu.edu/schedule/.