Faculty Spotlights

Cunningham Honored with Professional Service Award

At the recent joint annual meeting of the Arizona/New Mexico chapters of the Wildlife Society and Fisheries Society, Department of Applied Sciences and Mathematics faculty member Stan Cunningham was honored with a Professional Service Award from the Arizona Chapter of the Wildlife Society. The award recognizes outstanding accomplishments in wildlife management by a professional.

Cunningham was honored with the award for his 20 years of service at the Arizona Game and Fish Department and was nominated for the award by former ASU Polytechnic students. These alumni now work in the natural resources field. During the award ceremony, they credited Cunningham for informing students that the Arizona Game and Fish Department often sought ASU science majors for employment because these students had experiences important to the agency.


Shovkovy Named Outstanding Referee

Igor Shovkovy, assistant professor of physics, was honored as one of the 144 Outstanding Referees of the Physical Review and Physical Review Letters journals, as chosen by the journal editors for 2011.

Initiated in 2008 by the American Physical Society, the Outstanding Referee program expresses appreciation for the essential work that anonymous peer reviewers do for these scientific journals. Each year a small percentage of the 45,000 active referees are selected and honored with the Outstanding Referee designation. Selections are made based on the number, quality and timeliness of referee reports as collected in a database over the last 23 years.

Further details on the program and a full listing of the referees are available at http://publish.aps.org/OutstandingReferees. 


Sugar to Present on Prosthetic Devices at Conference

Thomas Sugar, associate professor in engineering, will introduce a new generation of powered prosthetic devices in a keynote presentation on "Walking with Springs" at the Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) conference. The conference is part of the larger annual SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) and Health Monitoring conference at the Town and Country Resort and Convention Center in San Diego, California March 6-10, 2011.

Sugar’s device is being developed at ASU’s Human and Machine Integration Lab, and uses a robotic tendon to store and release energy during the gait cycle.


Nelson receives EDSF Educator of the Year Award

Howard Nelson, assistant clinical professor in graphic information technology, has been selected to receive the EDSF Educator of the Year Award for his impact on the lives of many students, faculty and administrators during his 15 years in education, seven of which have been at ASU Polytechnic.  

Nelson joins an elite group of national educators who have been recognized over the last eight years, including colleagues from ASU Poly, California Polytechnic State University, Clemson, Perdue, and Rochester Institute of Technology.

EDSF (Electronic Document Systems Foundation) is the the only foundation dedicated to enhancing the value and relevance of document and graphic communications worldwide. The foundation is a catalyst for education and research initiatives and helps to increase awareness of the emerging trends and issues that influence the industry. It also awards industry sponsored scholarships to students in need.

EDSF will host its annual Industry Leaders’ Reception, March 23, in Washington, D.C., where Nelson will be recognized.