Chemical Engineers Receive UW Graduate School Awards

May 5, 2008 -Each year, UW's Graduate Council awards three Ph.D. Outstanding Dissertation Awards in three groups of disciplines.  Nominees with Ph.D. degrees in engineering compete in the following category: physical, earth, and computational sciences including dissertations in atmospheric science, chemistry, computer science, geology, geophysics, mathematics, computer science, physics, soil science, statistics, and all other engineering disciplines.

This year the Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation Award was presented to Peisheng Xu, Jiamgxi, China, physical, chemical and petroleum engineering, for his thesis entitled "Functional Polymer for Drug and Gene Delivery," with UW mentor Youqing Shen.

Since 2004, the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, in the College of Engineering and Applied Science, has earned the following Outstanding Dissertation Awards:

2007: Peisheng Xu (ChE) Advisor: Dr, Youqing Shen
2006: Shijie Ding (ChE) Advisor: Shen
2004: Sugata Tan (ChE) Advisor: Dr. Maciej Radosz
2004: Xudong Hu (ChE) Advisor: Radosz

In addition, the following chemical engineering students were awarded an Outstanding Thesis Award from the Graduate School:

2005, Kiren Annapragada (M.S. in ChE) Advisor: Dr. M.P. Sharma)
2004, Garikipati Jannardhan (M.S. in ChE) Advisor: Radosz

The Graduate Council uses the following criteria to evaluate the nominees:

• The contribution the dissertation has made or will make in expanding the theoretical and/or applied knowledge base of the discipline and/or methodology employed by researchers in the discipline.
• The unique capabilities of the student's effort leading to the distinction of the dissertation. For example, this might include the student's ability to use the English language succinctly and with precision, or his/her mastery of a particular methodology which contributed to the nature of the research, etc.
• Publications submitted, accepted, in press, or published which are derived from the dissertation (please enclose reprints, galley proofs, or manuscript for each publication).
• Presentations based on the dissertation, made by the nominee to meetings of scientific or professional societies (please enclose a copy of each abstract).
• Impact of the research on the State of Wyoming, the University, the nation, the world.
• Present employment status of the nominee.
• Awards from scientific or professional societies based upon presentations made by the nominee where the presentation was drawn from the nominee's dissertation research, competitive fellowships received by the nominee where the award was based to some measure upon his/her dissertation research, or competitive (e.g., NIH, NSF, etc.) post-doctoral awards received by the nominee.

Congratulations to each of these outstanding students!