Mechanical Engineering Honors Prof. James Wallace & Faculty

Mechanical Engineering faculty were honored at the Faculty Recognition Event and Dinner on Friday, May 12 at the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center Maryland Club Room. Special recognition was bestowed on Professor Jim Wallace by the department for his outstanding academic career, Kirwan Undergraduate Education Award, and CASE Professor of the Year Award.

Promotions: Presented by Prof. Avram Bar-Cohen

Associate Professor Bongtae Han to Full Professor

Faculty Recognition: Presented by Prof. Balakumar Balachandran

Professor R. Radermacher, ASHRAE Exceptional Service Award

Professor A. Mosleh, Nicole Jurie Kim Eminent Professorship

Assoc. Professor H. Bruck, SEM A.J. Durelli Innovative Research Award and Fulbright Scholar

Asst. Professor Miao Yu, ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award

Professor A. Bar-Cohen, University of Maryland Distinguished Professor

Visiting Assoc. Prof. Y. Shabana, Fulbright Scholar

2005 Fellows: Presented by Prof. Shapour Azarm

Associate Professor David Bigio, Society of Plastics Engineers

Professor Bongtae Han, Society of Experimental Mechanics

Associate Prof. Jungho Kim, American Society of Mechanical Engineers

Best Paper Awards : Presented by Prof. Peter Sandborn

Prof. D. Barker, IPC Printed Circuits Expo, APEX and Designer's Summit

2006 as "Best U.S. Paper for 2006" and Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology best paper published in the Journal of the IEST in 2005

Prof. B. Han, Analysis and Simulation, 1st Samsung Technical Conf.

Prof. B. Han & M. Pecht, Best Paper Award of 2004, IEEE Transactions on Components and Packaging Technologies.

Prof. P. Sandborn, International Society of Logistics for the 2004 SOLE Proceedings Paper Award (Best Paper from the 39th Annual International Society of Logistics, International Conference, September 2004).

University Appointments: Presented by Prof. Ashwani Gupta

Prof. U. Piomelli, Outgoing Director of Graduate Studies

Prof. B. Balachandran, Incoming Director of Graduate Studies and Outgoing Division Leader of Mechanics and Materials

Prof. A. Dasgupta, Incoming Division Leader of Mechanics and Materials

Prof. S. Azarm, Outgoing Chair of APT Committee

Prof. D. Barker, Incoming Chair of APT Committee

In addition to the chair, Wallace was also honored by a series of special limericks, written and performed by Peter S. Bernard:

Gathered here Jim are your colleagues, students, and friends,

Marking your life in the department as it ends,

As a measure of your glory,

I'm supposed to tell your story,

So we can judge what Maryland got for its funds.

How to sum up 30 odd years of Jim Wallace?

And to do so succinctly and without malice,

It may appear to be absurd,

But it can be done in one word,

Vorticity, with which he is synonymous.

In quadrants Jim started his career,

Hunting for sweeps and bursts here and there,

With Helmut and Bob,

Beer and Post doc job,

He found what causes the near wall shear.

His repute as a turbulent fluid flow prober,

Spread over time nearly the whole wide world over,

His teeny hot wires,

Strung on prongs inspire,

Even leading to usurpers like xxx-xx-ber.

At the U he's been a scholar and teacher,

Administrator and seminar sleeper,

A calm voice of reason,

You can't help believin',

And without whom the place will now be bleaker.

To his credit his friends have stuck around a bit,

For example there's me and Vukoslavcevic,

But better use of his charm,

His persuasion and elan,

Was to snag a trophy bride like Barb'ra Pequet.

Jim's second home you know is Lyon,

The center of the French gastronomes,

But their pate is richer,

Than is good for his ticker,

So he's dining of late on corn pone.

As the big breeze in his tunnel has slowed,

The last eddy swirled, cascaded and blowed,

To gemstone's delight,

He leapt to their plight,

And steered their lost ship away from the shoals.

In front of Martin Hall there's a marble slab,

Covered with names of famous profs from our labs,

I'ts clear from my poem,

Carve Jim on that stone,

He's earned it and for that the department's glad.

Published May 15, 2006