CNAS Blog

College of Natural & Applied Sciences Weblog

CNAS NEWS – May 11, 2020

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CONGRATULATIONS, CNAS FACULTY!!!

For the ninth straight year CNAS celebrates outstanding faculty and staff. This year our celebration is virtual for now but we will be together soon! The award winners were nominated by departmental personnel committees, department heads, or students. The nominations were then reviewed by a faculty committee for the faculty/staff awards and by a student committee for the student-nominated award. I am proud to announce the following award winners for 2020! The award winners will receive a certificate in August and a small monetary award in June. More information about the award winners will be posted soon.

Winners of the CNAS Excellence Award for Staff

Linda Allen – Administrative Assistant Chemistry

Marc Owen – Assistant Director, Ozarks Environmental and Water Resources Institute (OEWRI)

CNAS Faculty Excellence in Service Award

Michelle Bowe – Biology

Melanie Carden-Jessen – Geography, Geology and Planning

Dave Cornelison – Physics, Astronomy and Materials Science

Matt Pierson – Civil Engineering/Geography, Geology and Planning

Lloyd Smith – Computer Science

CNAS Faculty Excellence in Research Award

Paul Durham – Biology

Kyoungtae Kim – Biology

Quinton Phelps – Biology

CNAS Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award

Laszlo Kovacs – Biology

Chris Lupfer – Biology

Gary Meints – Chemistry

Judy Meyer – Geography, Geology and Planning

David Perkins – Geography, Geology and Planning

Fan Zhou – Mathematics (No photo currently available)

CNAS Student Nominated Awards for Faculty/Staff Excellence

Ten faculty were nominated by students for this award and the nominees included: Melanie Carden-Jessen (GGP), Dr. Liza Cobos (HL), Dr. Paul Durham (BIO), Dr. Nick Gerasimchuk (CHM), Dr. Shelby Kilmer (MTH), Dr. Day Ligon (BIO), Dr. Matt McKay (GGP), Dr. Gary Meints (CHM), Dr. Matt Pierson (EGR/GGP) and Dr. Ryan Udan (BIO). In the words of the students, these faculty/staff truly understand the power of knowledge and they are always willing to help. They provide a learning environment where every student has the potential to succeed. One student also said that the nominee was the most effective teacher that he had ever had! And everyone used the word “passion” in their nomination. Although each person on the list is a winner the students ranked the following four highest and will receive the award for excellence this year.

Melanie Carden-Jessen – GGP

Shelby Kilmer – MTH

Day Ligon – BIO

Ryan Udan – BIO

Atwood Research and Teaching Award

The Atwood Research and Teaching Award was endowed by Dr. Jerry Atwood a 1964 graduate of MSU and now an internationally known chemist. He started his career at University of Alabama in 1967 but was the department head at University of Missouri-Columbia from 1994 to 2016. In addition, he was appointed a Curators Professor starting in 1999. The award winner receives a certificate and $2,500 to be spent over the next year on students, research supplies, summer salary or travel.

The 2019 recipient of the Atwood Research and Teaching Award is Dr. Kevin Mickus from the Department of Geography, Geology and Planning.

Congratulations to those who received awards from the Graduate College during IDF!

  • 2020 Thesis Advisor Award – Dr. Ridwan Sakidja (PAMS)
  • 2020 Graduate Mentor Award – Dr. Kyoungtae Kim (BIO)
  • 3-Minute Thesis Award Winner – Yusuf Kafayat (BIO)

Congratulations to Gary Meints for receiving the Excellence in Advising Award from Missouri State and a 2020 Award from the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA).

Several faculty in CNAS reached milestones in years of service. Please help me congratulate each of the following –

10 years:

David Cornelison (PAMS)

Matthew Pierson (EGR)

15 years:

Douglas Gouzie (GGP)

Stephanie Hein (HL)

Kyoungtae Kim (BIO)

Hui Liu (CSC)

20 years:

Kartik Ghosh (PAMS)

Gay Ragan (MTH)

Jamil Saquer (CSC)

25 years:

Brian Greene (BIO)

Yingcai Su (MTH)

30 years:

Richard Belshoff (MTH)

Kurt Killion (MTH)

Reza Sedaghat-Herati (CHM)

Kishor Shah (MTH)

Xingping Sun (MTH)

Faculty and Staff – If I have missed an award, I apologize. Please send it to me and I will include it in a future listing. Tammy

Calendar

May 9-14 Final Exam period
May 14-15 Board of Governors Meeting
May 18 Final grades must be submitted via faculty grade entry by 2 PM
June 8-July 29 Summer Session
July 15 Graduate Assistantship new appointments for Fall 2020 due
July 30-31 Summer session final exam period
August 3 Summer grades are due
August 17 Fall 2020 semester classes begin today

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