Awards honor Cornell Engineering faculty for teaching, advising

Cornell Engineering honored the transformative impact of its faculty at the 2025 Fall Faculty Reception, held Sept. 24 in the Statler Ballroom, recognizing this year's Teaching and Advising Award winners for their outstanding commitment to student success.

"The college Teaching Awards recognize outstanding instructors across many aspects including lecturing, developing novel curriculum, implementing teaching innovations and exceptional mentoring of students," said Alan Zehnder, senior associate dean for undergraduate programs, who presented the awards.

This year's Teaching Award recipients included junior and senior faculty, first-time winners and those with multiple awards. The winners were:

• Z. Jane Wang, professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, was recognized for her ability to connect fundamental ideas to real-world applications and for creating a supportive learning environment.
• Karl Lewis, assistant professor in the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, was nominated for his excellence in substantially redeveloping and teaching two upper-level undergraduate mechanobiology courses.
• Haiyan Deng, senior lecturer in Systems Engineering, was recognized for her commitment to student learning, interdisciplinary teaching excellence, and the development of practical analytical skills among future engineers.
• Kenji Yasuda, assistant professor in the School of Applied and Engineering Physics, has demonstrated exceptional teaching ability, consistently earning some of the highest teaching evaluations in applied and engineering physics.
• Ziv Scully, assistant professor in the School of Operations Research and Information Engineering, joined the college just two years ago, and in that time taught four distinct courses, showing care and understanding of their students.
• Nate Cira, assistant professor in the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, was nominated for distinguishing himself as one of the school's most dedicated and highly regarded teachers and mentors.
• Julia Dshemuchadse, assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, was honored for her innovative and engaging teaching approaches, and efforts to bring compelling learning opportunities to her students.
• Allison Hutchison, senior lecturer in the Engineering Communications Program, was lauded for her impact through teaching, creation of a new course on digital professionalism, work behind the scenes to analyze data on writing self-efficacy and her open door to students.
• Carl Bernard, senior lecturer in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was recognized for teaching two courses while garnering high evaluation scores which reflect the clarity of his lectures, his energy and the way he ties concepts to real engineering practice.
• Allison Godwin, the Dr. G. Stephen Irwin '67, '68 Professor of Engineering Education Research in the R.F. Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has quickly established herself as a master teacher, completely redesigning a chemical engineering intro course around food, to great reviews from the students.
• John Callister, senior lecturer in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, has taught almost the whole mechanical engineering curriculum as well as courses in operations research and in entrepreneurship. Alumni cite the impact of the course on how they ran and structured their own startups.
• Francesca Parise, assistant professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was recognized for her lecture delivery style, enthusiasm, student engagement and for developing active learning approaches.
• Riley Culberg, assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, was recognized for his outstanding ability to connect and communicate with students.
• David Hysell, the Thomas R Briggs Professor in Engineering in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, was honored for his leadership of the new climate and geosystems engineering major.
• Richard Robinson, professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, was recognized for being an early adopter of the flipped classroom and active learning in a core undergraduate course and has carried that over to a new required graduate course.
• Frans Schalekamp, senior lecturer in the School of Operations Research and Information Engineering, was celebrated for excellent instruction in teaching a wide range of key courses for students across the college, including linear algebra, probability and statistics, and intro to engineering.
• H. Grace Xing, the William L. Quackenbush Professor of Engineering in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was honored for resurrecting and redesigning a sequence on nanofabrication.
• Fabien Royer, assistant professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, was recognized for quickly excelling as a teacher in the required undergraduate mechanics of materials course.

The Teaching Awards were made possible by the generous support of donors, including Robert '55 and Vanne '57 Cowie; James and Mary Tien; Dorothy and Fred Chau, M.S. '74; Sonny Yau '72; Douglas Whitney '61; Kenneth A. Goldman '71; Mr. and Mrs. Richard F. Tucker; John Swanson '61 in honor of his mother, Dorothy G. Swanson; Michael Tien '72; Daniel M. Lazar '29; Fiona Ip Li '78 and Donald Li '75; Ralph S. Watts '72; and Dennis G. Shepherd.

The Canaan Family Award for Excellence in Academic Advising, given in honor of the late K. Bingham Cady, a longtime professor of nuclear engineering and leader in the Cornell Engineering community, recognizes faculty members who excel in academic advising. This year's recipients were:

• Christopher Batten, professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was honored for his support for the Cornell Custom Silicon Systems students and his passion for both chip design and hands-on student learning.
• Elizabeth Farrell Helbling, assistant professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was recognized for her commitment to student members of the Combat Robotics team.
• Hadas Ritz, the Geoffrey S.M. Hedrick Senior Endowed Professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, was honored for her outstanding advising in multiple dimensions, including project teams, senior design, engaged learning, working with transfer students and varsity athletes.

The James McCormick Family Advising Award recognizes outstanding advisors of first-year undergraduate students, with the award nominations coming from the students themselves. This year's winners were:

• Julia Dshemuchadse, assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, was recognized for her effective and personalized advice, and the respectful nature of her communications with students.
• Mark Wilde, associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was honored for exceptional dedication to creating dynamic, engaging experiences for students that go above and beyond expectations.

The Albert R. George Endowed Faculty Award for Student Project Teams Mentorship was established in 2022 with a gift from Doug Deane. This year's winner was:

• Francis Vanek, senior lecturer in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and in Engineering Management, for exceptional work with the Engineers for a Sustainable World team.