CEA Names 2006 Outstanding Students, Faculty and Staff

PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State University College of Engineering and Architecture announced the names of its outstanding students, faculty and staff members at its annual convocation ceremony last week.

Two professors, five students and three staff members received the honors. Award winners include the following individuals:

Michael Wolcott, Lousiana-Pacific Professor of Wood Materials and Engineering, received the Anjan Bose Outstanding Researcher Award.

Wolcott, on the WSU faculty since 1996, is an international leader in the area of wood-based composite research, where his work has led to the development of advanced materials to better withstand aging processes, reduce manufacturing costs and pollution, and provide better performance. He has received more than $17 million in funding from numerous federal agencies, including the Office of Naval Research, the Department of Energy, the USDA and the Federal Highway Administration.

He holds patents for a low-density cellular wood plastic composite and its formation process, for a portable bridge system, and for a method of forming paper and board products from a reed plant. Wolcott has been actively engaged with industry to commercialize his research and has participated in projects for more than 45 companies. He has also received numerous national awards for research excellence, including the prestigious Society of Wood Science and Technology’s George Marra Award (in 1991 and 1995), and he has been an invited keynote lecturer at renowned international conferences. He has 43 refereed publications in print or accepted in national and international journals and books and his work is highly cited.

Wolcott is the first winner of the Anjan Bose Outstanding Researcher Award, which was created by the Advisory Board for the College of Engineering and Architecture along with friends and alumni to honor Anjan Bose for his service to the college as dean. To acknowledge Bose’s support of faculty scholarship and to honor his internationally renowned reputation for research, the award will annually recognize and reward the top faculty researcher in the college.

Russell V. Westphal, associate professor and area coordinator, School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at WSU Tri-Cities, received the Outstanding Teaching Faculty award.

Westphal teaches a broad range of courses within the mechanical engineering major, including statics, fluid dynamics, heat transfer, thermodynamics and mechatronics, and his students range from sophomores to graduate students. He has a background in a wide range of disciplines and has contributed to 67 articles and publications.

Westphal is unusual in that he often doesn’t require his students to take exams, wrote his nominators. He argues that the workplace doesn’t require its employees to complete problems for a boss in 50 minutes without communicating or using resources, so he provides students with the option of doing a project rather than take an exam. Once students have fundamental skills in a senior-level course, he also allows them to choose the direction of the course. For instance, in his thermal systems course, the class chose to learn about the combustion process and jet engines.

He has risen to the challenge of teaching distan courses through the Washington Higher Education Telecommunication Systems (WHETS). Because of the nature of the WHETS classes, for instance, Westphal arranged ‘office hours’ by providing students with his home phone number and invited them to call collect, so they wouldn’t have to pay for long distance charges. “While most teachers find it very difficult to be effective using WHETS, he is able to teach classes that students find exceptional,” wrote one nominator.

Westphal has advised the student chapter of ASME on the Tri-Cities campus for the past 12 years, and he is also a faculty advisor for senior projects.

“Dr. Westphal is a brilliant professor with an ability to convey to students the knowledge and information that is difficult to understand and in most cases unintuitive. He has managed to do so while constantly improving the teaching effectiveness over WHETS,” wrote his nominators.

Westphal graduated with a WSU bachelor degree in mechanical engineering in 1978. He said that his teaching is inspired by his undergraduate experiences with his WSU professors who included Dick Crain, Jack Kimbrell, Jack Smetana, Gus Plumb, Clayton Crowe, David Stock and Tom Burton.

Brian Walkenhauer of Yakima, received the Outstanding Sophomore award. Walkenhauer is studying civil engineering, where he has a perfect 4.0 GPA. He has received many honors and scholarships for his academic success, including receiving WSU’s Dean’s Merit Scholarship and a Crimson Regents Scholarship. He is secretary of the WSU student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers, where he has served as co-caption of the ASCE Concrete Canoe team. Through the group, he has participated in service to the community, ranging from picking up litter to giving presentation on civil engineering to elementary school children. Last summer, he worked as a summer intern at Gray & Osborne, Inc. His career goal is to become a principal in an engineering firm. 

Sean Michael Collison received the Outstanding Junior award. Originally from Veradale, Collison is majoring in computer engineering, with a minor in math. He has received numerous scholarships, including a WSU Regents Scholarship and Dean’s Merit Scholarship. He is active in the WSU Robotics Club, where he is club treasurer. He is also a member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He has worked for Student Computing Services as a Windows administrator, where he maintains Windows servers and the Active Directory. He worked with WSU Active Directory Enterprise administrators to set standards and helped to set up print billing systems for the Graduate and Professional Study Center and the College of Education. In his spare time, he enjoys water skiing and downhill skiing. 

The Outstanding Senior award went to Jessica Jahn. Originally from Davenport, Jahn is majoring in biological systems engineering. A McNair Achievement Program Scholar, Jahn completed a summer-long research project in hydrology that was later published. She has worked as a tutor for the college and as a staff person for the college’s Bridge program. She has also been a tutor and mentor in the Multicultural Center. She is president of the student chapter of the Society of Women Engineers and has also been involved with the Coalition of Women’s Students, the Association of Pacific and Asian Women, and the American Society of Civil Engineers. Jahn aspires to be a professor and medical doctor where she wants to “improve the lives of people through clinically inspired research.’’

Hoki Lee received the Outstanding Teaching Assistant award. A native of Suwon, South Korea, Lee was a teaching assistant for fundamentals of thermodynamics for the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. He is currently assisting with ME 404, Heat Transfer and is working toward his doctorate degree in mechanical engineering. While Lee demonstrated an excellent knowledge of thermodynamics, the students also found his organization and presentation of the materials to be outstanding, wrote his nominator. He did an excellent job of interacting with the students and is a dedicated and effective teaching assistant.

The Staff Excellence awards recipients were Mary Anne Brown, academic coordinator, School of Architecture and Construction Management, and Judy Croskey, principle assistant, School of Architecture and Construction Management.

Brown coordinates academic activities for approximately 450 architecture and construction management students in Pullman and Spokane. She also manages recruitment activities, such as Summer Alive and the WSU Previews as well as conducting student visits and meeting with prospective students and their parents.

“Mary Anne brings to the School a remarkable work ethic and dedication to our students and programs,’’ wrote her nominators. “Her attitude is always positive and she truly wants to work for the continued improvement of the School…. She inspires others through the excellence in her daily activities.’’

Croskey is the main contact for the School of Architecture and Construction Management and serves as assistant for the director. She manages travel for the school and supervises student assistants. Daily, she works with students to answer questions, interacts with faculty, coordinates the director’s schedule and answers phone calls.

“The remarkable diversity of her responsibilities is something that energizes Judy. It seems that the more she has to do, the better she becomes and she always rises to the demand of each day,’’ wrote her nominators. “Essentially the word ‘no’ is not in Judy’s vocabulary.’’

Giac Pham, Information Technology Systems specialist, School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, received the Employee of the Year Award.

Pham sets up and maintains more than 200 computers in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. He also provides technical support and answers questions from faculty, staff and students. He solves network problems and cleans computers of viruses.

“Giac is a perfect example of customer relations in our college,’’ wrote his nominators. “He is reliable, knowledgeable and professional. He is seldom recognized for his efforts because he is mostly in the background making our computers work…. It’s time that he is recognized for his efforts.’’

Michael Wolcott

Russell Westphal