College of Engineering adds 10 to list of Keystone Research Faculty Scholars
Friday, Sept. 1, 2017
The Michelle Munson-Serban Simu Keystone Research Faculty Scholars at the College of Engineering, from left: Mohammad Shamand, Jungkwun Kim, Hongyu Wu, Behrooz Mirafzal, George Amariucai, Sungo Kim, Punit Prakash and Arslan Munir. Not pictured is Eugene Vasserman. | Download this photo.
MANHATTAN — With a strong belief in the importance of faculty research, the Kansas State University College of Engineering has announced the addition of 10 Keystone Research Faculty Scholars.
The award was established to recruit and retain top scholars in the early stages of their careers who are in high demand for faculty positions throughout the U.S.
Having previous records of outstanding research accomplishment, faculty members are nominated by their department head for these positions. Each Keystone Research Faculty Scholar receives a three-year appointment with a salary increase and discretionary funds to support travel, specialized equipment and additional graduate students to join his or her research team.
"The talent level these awards have enabled us to recruit and retain to our faculty roster is truly remarkable," said Darren Dawson, dean of the College of Engineering. "It is exciting to have donors who share the vision and support this top-level intellectual pursuit at Kansas State University."
Funded by a gift from Michelle Munson, 1996 Kansas State University graduate in electrical engineering, and her husband, Serban Simu, the following four faculty members have been added to the list of Michelle Munson-Serban Simu Keystone Research Faculty Scholars: George Amariucai, associate professor, and Arslan Munir, assistant professor, both in computer science; and Sungo Kim, associate professor, and Mohammad Shadmand, assistant professor, both in electrical and computer engineering.
Funded by an anonymous donor, the following six individuals have been named College of Engineering Keystone Research Faculty Scholars: Jessica Heier Stamm and Meng Zhang, both assistant professors of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering; and Hitesh Bindra, James Chen, Melanie Derby and Jeremy Roberts, all assistant professors of mechanical and nuclear engineering.
The first five recipients of the Munson-Serban Simu award, specified for faculty in the departments of electrical and computer engineering, and computer science, were named in spring 2017 and included Eugene Vasserman, associate professor of computer science; and Jungkwun Kim, assistant professor,Behrooz Mirafzal, associate professor, Punit Prakash, assistant professor, and Hongyu Wu, assistant professor, all in electrical and computer engineering.
