COLLEGE AWARDS
Faculty and Students Recognized at Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering Virtual Awards Ceremony Two faculty members and two students at the Department of Chemical Engineering received annual awards of the highest honor at the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering virtual awards ceremony on Thursday, May 14, 2020. Doctoral Dissertation Advisor/Mentor Award Peng Jiang, Ph.D., professor, was selected as a 2020 Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering Doctoral Dissertation Advisor/ Mentoring Awardee. “I am honored to be recognized by this award which I believe is one of the highest awards for a Ph.D. advisor,” Dr. Jiang said. “I deeply care about and do my best to help all my students, not only their academic development, but also many other aspects of their lives.” Jiang noted that one of his most important mentoring goals for his Ph.D. students is to train them how to independently conduct innovative research. The Doctoral Dissertation Advisor/ Mentoring Award recognizes excellence, innovation and effectiveness in doctoral student advising and mentoring. University of Florida Provost’s Excellence Award for Assistant Professors David Hibbitts, Ph.D., assistant professor, has received the University of Florida Provost’s Excellence Award for Assistant 16 UF | DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
Professors for 2020. The awards are focused on junior faculty and recognize excellence in research. Dr. Hibbitts’ research interests include the exploration of reaction mechanisms and structure-function relationships for the conversion of biomass- and fossil-derived feedstocks into fuels and chemicals through heterogeneous catalysts. Over the past few years, he has received over $1 million in research funds supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Attributes of a Gator Engineer Award Considered the greatest distinction of any student award given by the college, the Gator Engineering Attribute Awards are intended to provide an ideal guide for all members of the Gator Engineering community. They honor five undergraduate and five Ph.D. students who strongly model one of the five Gator Engineering Attributes: Creativity, Leadership, Integrity, Professional Excellence, and Service to the Global Community. Julie F. Jameson, a Ph.D. candidate, was awarded the Attributes of a Gator Engineer Award for Leadership. Jameson is a member of the Stoppel Lab, which is directed by Whitney Stoppel, Ph.D., an assistant professor. “Julie has demonstrated that she is an exceptional graduate student,” Dr. Stoppel said. “Her positive attitude, resiliency, and willingness to try new, difficult things speaks to her current and future successes as a leader in STEM.” Jameson served as the 2019-2020 Chair of the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering Graduate Student Council
(EGSC), where she helped organize and execute the college’s graduate student programing. She was voted by her peers to address prospective Ph.D. students during the spring 2020 Ph.D. recruiting weekend, where the best and the brightest students are encouraged to attend UF engineering Ph.D. programs in the fall. Jameson has also served in many mentoring roles through leadership in Tau Beta Pi’s GatorTrax program, the NSF MRET K-12 teacher training program, the college’s Summer Undergraduate Research at Florida (SURF) program, and many EGSC events. Through many avenues, she continues to contribute to advancing STEM diversity and inclusion efforts within the College, UF, and across the Gainesville community. Calen Leverant, a Ph.D. candidate, was awarded the Attributes of a Gator Engineer Award for Integrity. Leverant is advised by professor Peng Jiang, Ph.D. “Calen is honest, ethical, intellectually curious, hardworking, persistent, wellmannered, and has been an exceptional student and a role model in my research group,” Dr. Jiang said. Dr. Jiang credits Leverant for his contributions to innovative scientific research, including having coauthored many peer-reviewed papers and U.S. patent applications. Leverant has several professional honors including the best presentation award in Photonics at the NanoFlorida Conference. He has trained many junior graduate and undergraduate students in Dr. Jiang’s research group and has served as both the chair of the department’s student safety council, and as the research group’s safety manager.
