FACULTY AWARDS

Four College Faculty Earn University Awards of Distinction

Four faculty members have won Awards of Distinction, the highest faculty honors at the UA. These individuals have made a difference on local, national and global scales.

who has worked closely with youth and Indigenous communities, particularly around the use of solar power –received the University Distinguished Outreach Faculty Award.

Associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering Wolfgang Fink earned the University Faculty Service Award, recognizing his academic leadership and “astonishing commitment to STEM education.”

Assistant professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering Alex Craig earned the Early Career Scholar Award

Three Faculty Members Win NSF CAREER Awards

for his contributions to teaching, creative activity and service.

Assistant professor of biomedical engineering Judith Su received the Early Career Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award for significant involvement in expanding the impact of research to the public good through innovation and commercialization.

“We are proud of our faculty and appreciate the work and effort that goes behind these award nominations,” said Kathleen Melde, the college’s associate dean of faculty affairs and inclusion.

Three UA College of Engineering professors have received the National Science Foundation’s CAREER Award, the organization’s most prestigious honor for early-career faculty.

Adam Printz, chemical & environmental engineering

Adam Printz is an expert in perovskite-based photovoltaics, a form of solar power generation that uses ultrathin materials printed onto flexible plastic substrates. The technology is promising, but not yet commercially viable because it exhibits chemical and mechanical instabilities. Printz is investigating the role of molecular strain in causing these instabilities and seeking ways to mitigate them.

Judith Su, biomedical engineering & optical sciences & engineering

Judith Su is the inventor of FLOWER, an optical sensing platform that can detect ultrasmall quantities of “anything worth sensing,” including disease particles and toxic chemicals. Now, she is developing a bloodhound-like optical nose to detect volatile organic compounds. VOCs are compounds with high vapor pressure at room temperature that emit odors.

Nima Toosizadeh, biomedical engineering & medicine

Nima Toosizadeh is developing a more practical way to diagnose frailty, or patients’ reduced ability to tolerate stress. Existing diagnostic methods include a lengthy questionnaire and set of physical tasks, which can be impractical in clinical settings. In Toosizadeh’s method, a patient is equipped with sensors to measure motor, heart and brain functions, then tasked with bending and straightening an arm for less than a minute.

National Academy of Inventors Names Moe Momayez a Senior Member

Moe Momayez, professor of mining and geological engineering, has been named a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors. Senior members, 334 of whom have been named worldwide since the “rising-star” program began in 2018, are considered “NAI fellows of the future.”

Momayez develops sustainable mining practices, such as improved methods for the storage and use of mine tailings.

With a focus on miner health and safety, characterization of geomaterials, energy and process efficiency, and renewable energy, he has dedicated his career to creating technologies that advance mine safety and productivity.

Momayez has three issued U.S. patents and two pending patent applications. He has worked with Tech Launch Arizona to license inventions for multiple startups.

“As a researcher, you use your knowledge, experience, and imagination to work on novel approaches to complex issues, design groundbreaking new technologies and products, and improve people’s lives,” Momayez said. “Our job as inventors is to never stop trying to improve the world we live in.”

Moe Momayez