The Materials Division has three awards that are offered each year (starting in 2016) at the ASEE annual conference: (1) Materials Division Best Paper Award, (2) Michael Ashby Outstanding Materials Educator Award, and (3) New Materials Educator Award.
Materials Division Best Paper Award
The Materials Division Best Paper Award recognizes the best paper presented in a session sponsored by the Materials Division during the ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition and published in the Annual Conference & Exposition proceedings. The award is presented to the author(s) at the Annual Conference & Exposition in which the paper is presented. The award is based solely on written papers judged according to the following criteria:
- The extent to which the paper advances knowledge or creative practice in the field of Materials Engineering Education
- The utility of information to a wide range of Materials Engineering Educators
- Clarity of writing, originality, innovation, and documented results.
Selection Process
Nominations for this award will be based upon recommendations submitted by reviewers as part of the annual division peer-review process. The Award Selection Committee will select an award winner from the pool of nominated papers. The award winner will be automatically nominated for competition for the PIC II Best Paper Award.
Previous Winners (Papers Available at peer.asee.org)
- 2018: Susan P. Gentry, University of California, Davis; Tanya Faltens, Purdue University, West Lafayette (Network for Computational Nanotechnology); William Ashwin Wheeler University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Andre Schleife University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Measuring Student Learning of Crystal Structures Using Computer-based Visualizations”
- 2019: Breanne Przestrzelski, University of San Diego; Susan M. Lord, University of San Diego; Michelle M. Camacho, University of San Diego. “Trash Teachings: How a Materials Science Module Series about Waste can Empower Engineering Students to be More Sociotechnically Responsible”
- 2020: Laura Anne Gelles, Susan Lord, University of San Diego. “The Final Straw: Incorporating accessibility and sustainability considerations into material selection decisions”
- 2021: Jacob Kelter, Jonathan Daniel Emery, Uri Wilensky, Northwestern University. “A Multi-level Diffusion Unit: Connecting Submicro-and Macro-levels with Computational, Graphical and Mathematical Representations“
- 2022: Benjamin Thomas Afflerbach, Nafsaniath Fathema, Anne Lynn Gillian-Daniel, Wendy C. Crone, Dane Morgan, University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Authentic Undergraduate Research in Machine Learning with The Informatics Skunkworks: A Strategy for Scalable Apprenticeship Applied to Materials Informatics Research“
- 2023: Anuja Kamat, Wentworth Institute of Technology. “Origami in Materials Engineering”
Michael Ashby Outstanding Materials Educator Award
SPONSORED BY ANSYS & THE MATERIALS DIVISION OF ASEE
Purpose
The Michael Ashby Outstanding Materials Educator Award recognizes distinguished and exceptional contributions in materials science and engineering education. It is intended to honor an individual with demonstrated notable leadership in the materials education area.
Nomination Information
Nominations are not being solicited for 2024. Check back later for information about the future of the award. Past nomination requirements are included below for reference.
Nominations for the Michael Ashby Outstanding Materials Educator Award will be accepted through April 28, 2023. Nomination packages will be kept for 3 years and will automatically be considered again for future award cycles. The nomination should be submitted by email to the Awards Committee Chair Lessa Grunenfelder (grunenfe [at] usc.edu.). The nomination should include:
- Nominee Information: Full name, organization, mailing address, telephone number.
- Proposed Citation: The proposed citation should be less than 75 words, in which the nominator summarizes the achievements upon which the nomination is based, avoiding flowery descriptors.
- Nominator’s letter (two page maximum): The letter of nomination should delineate the nominee’s contributions to the field of materials science and engineering education.
- Additional support letters (two page maximum, each): No more than two accompanying letters of support that delineate the nominee’s contribution to materials education.
- Curriculum vitae of the nominee
Previous Winners:
- 2017: Amy Moll, Boise State University
- 2018: Stephen Krause, Arizona State University
- 2019: John A. Nychka, University of Alberta
- 2020: Kevin Jones, University of Florida
- 2021: Steven Yalisove, University of Michigan
- 2022: Elizabeth Holm, Carnegie Mellon University
- 2023: Martha Selby, Iowa State University
New Materials Educator Award
SPONSORED BY THE MATERIALS DIVISION OF ASEE
Purpose
The New Materials Educator Award recognizes exceptional achievements in materials science and engineering education made by early-career professionals. A new educator is generally defined to be someone in the first six years of a position (at the time of the nomination) in which teaching is a primary responsibility. However, the awards committee recognizes that there are a wide variety of career paths, and nominations will be considered for anyone who can reasonably be considered “new” to the role of educator.
Nomination Information
Nominations are not being solicited for 2024. Check back later for information about the future of the award. Past nomination requirements are included below for reference.
Nominations for the New Materials Educator Award will be accepted through April 28, 2023. Nomination packages will be kept for 3 years and will automatically be considered again for future award cycles. The nomination should be submitted by email to the Awards Committee Chair Lessa Grunenfelder (grunenfe [at] usc.edu.). The nomination should include:
- Nominee Information: Full name, organization, mailing address, telephone number.
- Proposed Citation: The proposed citation should be less than 75 words, in which the nominator summarizes the achievements upon which the nomination is based, avoiding flowery descriptors.
- Nominator’s letter (two page maximum): The letter of nomination should delineate the nominee’s contributions to the field of materials science and engineering education.
- Letter of Recommendation: A maximum of one letter of recommendation can accompany the nomination package (in addition to the nominator’s letter).
- Nominee’s statement (one page limit): A one page letter from the nominee describing their personal philosophy regarding materials education.
- Curriculum vitae of the nominee
Previous Winners:
- 2017: Patrick Shamberger, Texas A&M University
- 2018: Alison Polasik, The Ohio State University
- 2019: Susan Gentry, University of California, Davis
- 2020: Lessa Grunenfelder, University of Southern California
- 2021: Timothy Chambers, University of Michigan
- 2022: Robert Lowe, University of Dayton
- 2023: Bosco Yu, University of Victoria and McMaster University