Faculty, staff honored for excellence in teaching, mentoring, service

Each year Rice honors members of the Rice community who have served the students through outstanding teaching, dedication and service. Below are recipients of some of this year’s awards:

Illya Hicks

Presidential Award for Mentoring

The 2015 Presidential Award for Mentoring went to Illya Hicks, professor of computational and applied mathematics. The award is given to a Rice faculty member who demonstrate a strong commitment to mentoring graduate or undergraduate students.

Jun Lou and Caleb McDaniel

Charles Duncan Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement

Jun Lou, associate professor of materials science and nanoengineering, and Caleb McDaniel, assistant professor of history, shared the 2015 Duncan Award, which is presented by Rice deans upon the recommendation of senior faculty. It honors a tenure-track or tenured faculty member who has less than 10 years of experience.

Fabiola Lopez Duran

Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Award

Fabiola Lopez Duran, assistant professor of art history, received the 2015 Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Award. This award goes to a nontenured assistant professor who demonstrates outstanding commitment to education in the liberal arts or sciences, as determined by student evaluations.

Maryam Emami

Sarofim Teaching Award, School of Humanities

Maryam Emami, lecturer of French, received the 2015 Sarofim Teaching Award. This award is given to a lecturer in the School of Humanities who has shown exceptionally high qualities of professionalism and dedication to students.

Rich Baraniuk and Luay Nakhleh

(T + R)² Award, School of Engineering

Rich Baraniuk, the Victor E. Cameron Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Luay Nakhleh, associate professor of computer science and assistant professor of biochemistry and cell biology, are the inaugural recipients of the (T + R)² Award. T + R stands for teaching and research, and the award honors outstanding work in both areas based upon research-based teaching methods, student evaluation and comments, peer input, research funding, impact of journal publications and contributions to the field.