Honors and awards
October 2011
Gransberg receives Distinguished Design-Build Leadership Award
Douglas Gransberg, professor in civil, construction and environmental engineering, was named the 2011 recipient of the Distinguished Design-Build Leadership Award. Recipients for the award are chosen based on various criteria that are specific to each of the five categories: owner, industry professional, legislator, full-time faculty and student.
Shechtman wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Dan Shechtman of Iowa State University, the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory and Israel's Technion won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The foundation announced The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences picked Shechtman "for the discovery of quasicrystals." That 1982 discovery of crystalline materials whose atoms didn't line up periodically like every crystal studied during 70 years of modern crystallography is regarded as a revolutionary find that changed ideas about matter and its atomic arrangement.
Hispanic engineering magazine tabs Vela as top young engineer
Javier Vela, assistant professor and associate of the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory, has been named to Hispanic Engineer & Information Technology magazine's "40 under 40" list of top young engineers. Vela directs a research lab that focuses on photactive nano-materials. Researchers seek to develop viable ways to convert solar energy into other energy forms.
Simonson named to jury for international voice competition
Donald Simonson, professor and chair of the voice faculty in the music department, has been invited to serve as the American representative on the jury at the Concours de Genève International Voice Competition in November in Geneva, Switzerland. Simonson currently is in the second year of a two-year term as president of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, the world's largest association of voice training professionals.
Goché wins craft merit award
Peter Goché, a lecturer in architecture at Iowa State University, received the 2011 AIA Iowa Excellence in Craft Merit Award from the Iowa chapter of the American Institute of Architects at its fall convention Sept. 29 in Des Moines. The award celebrates Iowa craftspeople and/or companies that demonstrate particular skill and inventiveness in the execution and incorporation of their craft into the built environment.
Arts and events
This academic year marks the 10th anniversary of therapy dogs visiting Parks Library to help students de-stress during prep week.
