Romel D. Gomez

Dr. Romel D. Gomez, associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is a recognized leader in magnetics and magnetic storage research. Faculty describe him as an innovative educator who has developed introductory and high-level courses for our curriculum and created hardware demonstrations and hands-on projects to give students real-world experience. Students cite his enthusiastic, energetic, and helpful teaching style and his ability to motivate them with challenging topics.

Dr. Gomez introduced four new courses in the undergraduate and graduate curricula, including the physics and engineering of magnetic recording technology and an introduction to quantum physics for modern electrical engineering. His mentorship of undergraduate students exposes them to systems and devices at the nanometer and atomic length scales.

Dr. Gomez directs a research team of several Ph.D. students and postdoctoral associates in the areas of magnetic systems, surface physics, nanodevices and biomolecular sensing. He received the George Corcoran Award from the electrical and computer engineering department and the National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2000.

Sheryl Ehrman

Dr. Sheryl Ehrman is a recognized researcher in aerosol science and technology, and the related topic of air pollution. Her teaching ranges from the senior technical elective in this field to our most basic introductory engineering course; colleagues and students alike cite her passion for teaching, and especially her powerful motivational abilities, across this wide array. She has served as her department's graduate program director, working to recruit and retain great students, and is deeply engaged in supervising undergraduate research projects and outreach activities that target women and minorities.

Thomas Murphy

Dr. Thomas Murphy is recognized by his colleagues as a rising leader in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and in the Clark School. He has taught a variety of material in introductory-, mid- and graduate-level courses, with an emphasis on circuit theory and optical communications systems, his areas of research. In addition to his teaching duties, he mentors undergraduates in the MERIT and ASPIRE programs as well as high school students at Eleanor Roosevelt High School. Colleagues are impressed by his creativity as a challenging yet fair teacher. His students recognize Dr. Murphy’s passion for education, his versatility as an instructor and the supportive environment he creates in the classroom. One student remarked that his teaching techniques make difficult material more approachable. A colleague classified students' evaluations of Dr. Murphy's teaching as "stratospheric."

Peter Sunderland

Dr. Peter Sunderland, assistant professor in the Department of Fire Protection Engineering, is the recipient of the 2008 E. Robert Kent Outstanding Teaching Award for Junior Faculty. Colleagues remark that Sunderland relishes teaching—a fact underscored by the exceptional ratings he receives from students in his courses and by his appointment in the fall of 2008 as a member of the Clark School's Keystone Academy of Distinguished Professors, an unusual distinction for an assistant professor. Students remark that he does all that he can to help them master difficult subjects, making himself available to them any time outside of class. Sunderland is a mentor in the Clark School's Inventis and ESTEEM programs, and served on the Graduate Student Affairs Committee for the mechanical engineering department. When Sunderland took time to lead recruiting efforts for the fire protection engineering department, the result was the largest incoming freshman class in nearly 25 years. One of his graduate student advisees calls him the advisor every graduate student dreams of having, giving valuable advice on course selection, instilling a good work ethic, and being attentive and welcoming.

Min Wu

Dr. Min Wu, associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is the recipient of the 2009 E. Robert Kent Outstanding Teaching Award for Junior Faculty. In addition to being recognized internationally for her research, Prof. Wu is cited by her colleagues as an excellent teacher who brings great creativity to her courses, especially in using the latest technologies to make topics such as multimedia signal processing and data security come alive. Major employers hand-select students from a capstone design class she helped to develop, because they know her students will be well prepared to handle today's technical challenges. Her interactive lab tour, titled "Multimedia in a Nutshell," excites prospective students and helps attract more young people to the field of engineering. Professors here and at institutions worldwide utilize multimedia presentations she developed. Her undergraduate and graduate students cite Dr. Wu's warm and personal attention to their interests and concerns, and hope to imitate her mentoring techniques in their own corporate and academic careers. Dr. Wu is a leader in the "Women in ECE" program. She has won the prestigious IEEE Mac Van Valkenburg Early Career Teaching Award and the George Corcoran Award for outstanding contributions to engineering education and teaching.

Ashwani Gupta

Professor Ashwani K. Gupta, mechanical engineering, won this award in 2006 for his outstanding contributions in improving the combustion process, thus enhancing efficiencies and reducing pollution from a wide variety of fuels.

Rama Chellappa

Professor Rama Chellappa, electrical and computer engineering, won this award in 2007 in recognition of his innovative research in pattern recognition and signal processing, which has included advances in human gait and face recognition and the development of intelligent surveillance applications.

K. J. Ray Liu

Professor K. J. Ray Liu, electrical and computer engineering, is the recipient of the 2008 Clark School Faculty Outstanding Research Award. Dr. Liu is recognized for his pioneering work in the research areas of information forensics and security, wireless communications, and bioinformatics. He is the only Clark School faculty member who has received both the Outstanding Faculty Research Award and the Poole and Kent Outstanding Teaching Award for Senior Faculty.

Meet the 2004 Recipients

Physical Science

Assistant professor Benjamin Shapiro (Aerospace Engineering, Institute for Systems Research), Elisabeth Smela (Mechanical Engineering), Pamela Ann Abshire (Electrical and Computer Engineering, ISR), and Denis Wirtz of Johns Hopkins (shown clockwise in photo) have developed a new technology that will enable selective pathogen detection by exploiting the signaling machinery of living cells.

Cell-level pathogen detection will function by monitoring the response of cells when exposed to a specific external pathogen. Developed by University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University researchers, this technology combines bioengineering with micro-engineered hardware, creating an improved system for pathogen detection. This technology has applications in homeland security, pathogen detection and pharmaceutical screening. A U.S. patent application is pending.

Information Science

Post-doctoral researcher Weifeng Su (ISR), professor K.J. Ray Liu (ECE, ISR), and alum Zoltan Safar (ECE, ISR) (shown top to bottom in photo) have developed three space-frequency code design methods that can guarantee reliable data transmissions at high data rates in broadband wireless communications.

This is the first coding scheme to guarantee both full rate and full diversity in such communications. No other technology demonstrates the same functionality. This technology has potential applications in the design of the next generation of broadband wireless communication systems.

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Meet the 2005 Recipients

Physical Science

The Physical Science winners developed a patent-pending technology that for the first time can produce hydrogen from hydrocarbon fuels without the high levels of carbon monoxide that traditionally occur in this type of process. The majority of commercial hydrogen is produced from hydrocarbon fuels.

The team included Clark School Assistant Professor Gregory S. Jackson (not pictured), mechanical engineering, UM Prof. Bryan W. Eichhorn (far right) and graduate student Shenghu Zhou (far left).

Life Science

The team that garnered the top prize in the life science category has produced new, patent-pending biomaterials for tissue engineering that avoid problems with premature degradation associated with previous materials developed for growing new cells within the body.

Team members included Clark School Assistant Professor John P. Fisher (far left) and students Parth Modi (second from left) and Jennifer Lynn Moreau (far right), all chemical and biomolecular engineering, accompanied UM alum Sachiko Kaihara (not pictured).

Information Science

Clark School Assistant Professor Maria I. Klapa (not pictured) and graduate assistant Harin Kanani (left), both of the chemical and biomolecular engineering department, won in this category for a patent-pending metabolomics technology that enables highly accurate and simultaneous measurement of hundreds of metabolites (e.g. glucose, amino acids) in biological systems, for uses such as early disease diagnosis, personalized nutrition and medicine, functional genomics, and safe use of genetically modified food.

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