The following faculty and staff were honored on June 10 at the collegewide end of year meeting:
CENG Outstanding Staff Award
Dave Laiho, Biomedical Engineering
Dave Laiho has been the sole electro-mechanical technician in BMED since 2007, shortly after the department was founded, literally building the department into what it is today.
Eighteen years ago, he helped install and calibrate the equipment, and over the years he has maintained that equipment on a daily basis. In addition to the traditional engineering equipment, Laiho has become an expert on the biomedical side of the department, dealing with cells, media, tissues and other biohazards and biologic materials. He is like an engineering tech and a biology tech all rolled into one, routinely working with specialized equipment, from scanning electron microscopes to tissue processors. Laiho also runs all of the department 3D printing capabilities, working with students and student assistants on their solid models, print materials and overall designs. He is the department safety representative, leading efforts in the department to enhance hazardous waste and overall safety program, most recently helping to streamline faculty research safety training. BMED would not be what it is today without the hard work and dedication of Laiho.
CENG Outstanding Teaching Award
Puneet Agarwal, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
Puneet Agarwal’s commitment to offering relevant and current course content and projects, real-world applications and practical experiences honors our Learn by Doing philosophy. He is truly helping to shape the future of the industrial engineering program through his teaching efforts and students who leave his class Day One Ready.
He skillfully introduces real-world data challenges encouraging students to learn coding, algorithms, coding libraries, cloud computing, machine learning and artificial intelligence. His approachable demeanor and good rapport with students further enhance the learning experience and his teaching has had transformative impacts on student capabilities and confidence. One former student said Agarwal’s teaching had a direct and meaningful impact on their career development, equipping them with practical coding and data visualization skills that was later applied in a successful internship interview with a major defense contractor. By fostering a collaborative, research-informed learning environment, Agarwal has significantly enhanced student engagement, academic achievement and career readiness, extending the influence of his teaching well beyond the classroom.
CENG Change Agent Award
Katie Jennings, Engineering Student Services
Katie Jennings has played a transformative role in improving student success and equity in the College of Engineering.
Jennings has been a central leader in Cal Poly’s quarter-to-semester conversion, developing curriculum tools, transitional flowcharts and training resources that directly address systemic barriers to graduation. As MEP Coordinator, Jennings oversees programs that support historically marginalized students, including leading MEP STAR, advising SHPE and NSBE and building industry connections. She also helped revise AP/DQ policies through a student-centered lens and launched workshops and support structures to aid students facing academic challenges. Her work consistently centers equity, access and long-term student success. Many of her accomplishments have resulted from direct collaboration, whether through strategic planning, staff development or cross-campus initiatives. Her leadership on the semester transition will shape the academic experience of every undergraduate engineering student, ensuring a smoother shift through accurate, student-friendly resources. The templates she developed have been adopted university-wide as the standard. Through her leadership of the MEP program, Jennings has fostered community, mentorship and opportunity for hundreds of students, particularly those who are first-generation, low-income or from historically underrepresented backgrounds in STEM. The revised academic policy efforts she helped spearhead will continue to advance equity in retention and graduation outcomes.
CENG Inclusive Excellence Award
Rob Carter, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
Rob Carter works tirelessly for inclusive excellence in our college.
Carter involves his current students in hosting multiple hands-on activities (like metal-casting) for high school and middle school outreach visits, often focusing on underserved populations. This summer he will host an EPIC program that involves local industry, something he does each summer, and he annually hosts a Summer Educators conference for the CITEA (Industrial/Tech Educators) group. Carter serves on our College Faculty Personnel Policy Committee and is helping to craft equitable policies for faculty and students. He also served on an IME Continuous Improvement Committee on studying gender inclusion in our manufacturing labs and on the Technician Hiring Committee where he is always a voice for inclusion. His volunteer service does not take away from his efforts teaching casting and electronics manufacturing, mentoring and guiding the student foundry club that competes yearly in Cast in Steel Competition and serving as the CENG Faculty Safety Coordinator.
CENG Professional Growth Advocate Award
Mohamed Awwad, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
Mohamed Awwad is a model for, and true believer in, professional growth for all. While he himself has taken classes towards an additional advanced MBA degree (CSU Long Beach) as well as multiple trainings from NSF, CTLT, NETI, ASEE, and more, he has doubled down on a highly successful effort in his classes of engaging undergraduates in research efforts that result in published conference papers and presentations.
As the campus IISE club advisor, Awwad has guided dozens of students this year and last in travel to IISE National Conference, as well as the IE Research Conference, the Operations Management Conference and the Engineering Management Conference. He has 37 penned publications with undergraduate and graduate students since 2019, and he has had multiple award-winning teams at conferences each year since 2020. As an active BEACoN mentor and SURP advisor, he encourages a steady stream of undergraduate researchers. He has built an incredible environment in which students can expect to be challenged with undergraduate research and given the opportunity to travel and present at a national conference. By connecting students with alumni, involving them in industry-collaborative classroom projects and encouraging participation in national conferences, he broadens access to experiences many students might otherwise miss. His guidance doesn’t stop at graduation; he builds long-term connections that prepare students for success.
Don and Paula Heye Safety Award
Mike Hillman, Mechanical Engineering
The following faculty were honored for their university awards:
University Awards
Distinguished Scholarship Award: Kristin O’Halloran Cardinal, Biomedical Engineering
Distinguished Teaching Award: Kira Abercromby, Aerospace Engineering
Provost’s Faculty Excellence Award: Phoenix Fang, Computer Science & Software Engineering and Computer Engineering
Faculty Sustainability Champion Award: Tryg Lundquist, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Provost’s Leadership Award for Partnership in Philanthropy: Liz Thompson, Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering
Outstanding Faculty Advisor: Jennifer Mott Peuker, Mechanical Engineering
Promotions
The following were recognized for their promotions:
Tenure & Promotion to Associate Professor
Mohamed Awwad, Industrial and Mechanical Engineering
Dongfeng Fang, Computer Science & Software Engineering and Computer Engineering
Mohsen Beyramali Kivy, Materials Engineering
Jennifer Mott, Mechanical Engineering
Siyuan Xing, Mechanical Engineering
Tenure
Hans Mayer, Mechanical Engineering
Majid Poshtan, Electrical Engineering
Promotion to Professor
Andrew Danowitz, Computer Engineering
Bruce DeBruhl, Computer Science & Software Engineering and Computer Engineering
Thomas Katona, Biomedical Engineering
Rebekah Oulton, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Maria Pantoja, Computer Science & Software Engineering and Computer Engineering
Steffen Peuker, Mechanical Engineering
Xuan Wang, Industrial and Mechanical Engineering
Grants and Awards
The following faculty were recognized for their internal grants and awards:
Internal Grants and Awards: Teacher-Scholar Mini Grant 25-26
Aditya Chivate, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
Javier Gonzalez Sanchez, Computer Science & Software Engineering and Computer Engineering; Rafael Guerra-Silva, Industrial Technology & Packaging
Leily Majidi, Mechanical Engineering; Seamus Jones, Materials Engineering
Mohammad Sadek, BioResource and Agricultural Engineering; Fahim Khan, Computer Science & Software Engineering and Computer Engineering
Long Wang, Civil & Environmental Engineering
Zhiyuan Wei, Industrial and Mechanical Engineering
Shanju Zhang, Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry; Seamus Jones, Materials Engineering
Siavash Farzan, Electrical Engineering; Sean Hurley, Agribusiness
Internal Grants and Awards: Research, Scholarly & Creative Activities Grant 25-6
Brendon Anderson, Mechanical Engineering
Britta Berg-Johansen, Biomedical Engineering
Amuthan Ramabathiran, Aerospace Engineering
Internal Grants and Awards: CSU STEM-NET 24-25
Anurag Pande, Civil & Environmental Engineering
Internal Grants and Awards: Lockheed Martin Endowed Professorship
Mohammad Ghamari
Ben Hawkins
Kun Hua
Externally Funded Grants
Anurag Pande, Presidio Trust
Ashraf Rahim, Hani Alzraiee, Mineta Transportation Institute
Alan Zhang, NASA
Bill Ahlgren, Xuan Wang, DOD
Dianne DeTurris, NSF
John Bellardo, Bruce DeBruhl, AFRL
Nazli Yesiller, Jim Hanson, Derek Manheim, CA Dept of Conservation
Rick Emberley, John Chen, Leily Majidi, LLNL
Thale Smith, Xuan Wang, Elthary Elghandour, David Marshall, Cole Saucier, AFRL
Britta Berg-Johansen, iian Black, Kristen Cardinal, Karla Carichner, Chris Heylman, BJ Klingenberg, Franz Kurfess, Jean Lee, Rich Murray, John Oliver, Peter Schuster, Thale Smith, Jim Widmann, Michael Whitt, Industry Sponsored Student Projects (ISSPs)
