Below are the faculty award winners of the College of Engineering as selected by the College Faculty Honors and Awards Committee.

2007 Neil Wandmacher Teaching Award

Awarded by the College of Engineering to a member of the College Faculty in recognition of outstanding teaching performance.

Dr. George A. Sorial was appointed as an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the University of Cincinnati (UC) in autumn 2000, after serving as a Research Faculty in the department since 1990. He was promoted to full Professor on September 2005. Dr. Sorial has been recognized by both students and colleagues as an excellent teacher, mentor, and advisor. He has previously won the 2003 College of Engineering Research Award for Young Faculty. Since joining UC, Dr. Sorial has developed an excellent record in teaching that is well above the acceptable norm in CEE and the College of Engineering (CoE). Dr. Sorial is the backbone of the Environmental Engineering and Science program. He has developed two new courses in advanced topics in environmental chemistry and analytical methods, which has brought both breath and depth to our environmental graduate education. With the emerging use of the wireless laptop technology in the classroom in CoE at UC, Dr. Sorial is one of those professors who have effectively integrated the use of computer methods for environmental chemistry and instrumentation. Dr. Sorial has been in the forefront of developing computer-based modules for interactive teaching and class projects for the courses he teaches. These courses have become a catalyst for attracting more students to the program, and also helped train the graduate students adequately for the present job market. He is committed to his students and to improving the learning environment within the classroom as is clearly evidenced by him receiving the Engineering Tribunal's Honor Roll Professor Award. Dr. Sorial managed to obtain twice a mentor award for his participation in the research apprenticeship program of UC and USEPA. He is also a member of several MS and PhD committees. Dr. Sorial is considered as the environmental chemistry "guru" at CEE, and numerous graduate students seek his advice, which he willingly provides, even though he is not on their research committee.

2007 Neil Wandmacher Teaching Award for Young Faculty

Awarded by the College of Engineering to a faculty member with less than 10 years service in recognition of outstanding teaching performance.

Dr. Gian Rassati, CEE

Dr. Gian Rassati was born in Udine, Italy, in 1972. He lived and attended all grades of school in the small mountain town of Tarvisio at the very northeastern corner of Italy. He received a BS/MS degree in civil engineering at the University of Trieste in Italy in 1997. He received a PhD degree in structural engineering at the University of Treiste, in cooperation with the Georgia Institute of Technology, in 2001. While working on his PhD he spent about one year in Atlanta at Georgia Tech, collaborating on a research project. He held a post-doctoral associate position at the University of Minnesota from 2001 to summer 2002. He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Cincinnati since autumn 2002 and was hired as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in autumn 2004. He was Professor of the Year for the Engineering Tribunal in 2005, and in the same year, was awarded the College of Engineering Dean's Award for Innovation in Teaching and the Engineers and Scientists of Cincinnati Professional Accomplishment Award for an Engineer in Academia. His research interests, focused on experimental and analytical studies in earthquake engineering, encompass steel, steel-concrete composite structures, and in particular connections in moment-resisting frames, coupled core wall systems, and structural optimization. At the University of Cincinnati he has taught structural analysis classes to both undergraduate and graduate students. He is co-advisor for the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) student chapter and the advisor for the Structural Engineering Experience club: both groups participate in local and national competitions. His professional memberships include the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Institute of Steel Construction, the Research Council on Structural Connections, and the Structural Engineering Institute. He is a member of the ASCE technical committee on composite construction, and chairs the sub-committee on New Directions and Trends for Research. He is a member of the Scientific Committee of the European Center of Research and Graduate Studies in Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology and of the European Center for Training and Research in Earthquake Engineering. He is Co-Chair of the Organizing Committee for the International Composite Construction Conference VI, which is the most important international symposium on composite structures. He is also a member of several CEE Departmental committees. He has 13 peer-reviewed publications (counting submitted, accepted and published), 8 peer-reviewed conference proceedings, and 18 other publications. He is a registered professional engineer in Italy.

2007 College of Engineering Research Award

Awarded by the College of Engineering to a member of the College Faculty in recognition of scholarly works and distinguished scientific research.

Dr. Paul L. Bishop, CEE

Dr. Paul L. Bishop is Associate Vice President for Research and is a Herman Schneider Professor of Environmental Engineering at the University of Cincinnati. He also has a secondary appointment as Professor of Environmental Health in the College of Medicine. He joined the University of Cincinnati in 1988 after 16 years as Professor and Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of New Hampshire. Dr. Bishop received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from Northeastern University and his M.S. and Ph.D. from Purdue University in environmental engineering. He has previously served as department head at the U C, and was the Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research for six years. He has directed over $15 million of environmental research and is the author or co-author of five textbooks and over 390 technical publications. He is also an associate editor of several international research journals. He is a Past President of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP), is a Registered Professional Engineer, a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and is a Diplomate of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers (AAEE). Currently, he is Chair of the U.S.A. National Committee of the International Water Association (IWA), is a member of the IWA Strategic Council and Governing Board, and recently completed his second term on the Board of Trustees of AAEE. He is also the Director of the NIH-funded University of Cincinnati Superfund Basic Research Program. Dr. Bishop's research interests include biological treatment of hazardous wastes using biofilms, contaminated soil bioremediation, development of environmental microsensors, solidification/stabilization of hazardous wastes, and pollution prevention technologies. He is the inventor of a number of environmental microelectrodes that he is currently using to study biofilm development and pathogen survival in drinking water distribution pipes, and is a co-holder of four patents. In 2005, he was awarded the Frontiers in Research Award by AEESP and in 2006 received the Outstanding Service Award from IWA. Dr. Bishop has mentored 25 PhD recipients, of whom 12 now hold tenured faculty positions, and 66 Masters graduates.

2007 College of Engineering Research Award for Young Faculty

Awarded by the College of Engineering to a faculty member with less than 10 years service in recognition of scholarly work with distinguished scientific research.

Dr. Daniel B. Oerther, CEE

Daniel B. Oerther, PhD, PE, BCEE, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He also holds the title of Master Engineering Educator within the College, and he enjoys appointments as an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and a Faculty Affiliate in the Center for Environmental Studies. Dr. Oerther is a multi-disciplinary researcher. His primary interests are in the emerging area of Environmental Biotechnology and Sustainable Development where he is internationally recognized for his research in biological unit operations for water quality control (e.g., sewage treatment, groundwater bioremediation, and drinking water disinfection), the development of sensors targeting microorganisms (in both environmental and clinical settings), and research into the challenges of water quantity and quality in global urban environments. Since joining the University of Cincinnati in autumn 2000, Dan has been PI or Co-PI on 20+ research projects worth more than $5 million. He has published 50+ journal articles and 150+ conference papers. Graduates of his research team have gone on to positions as tenure-track faculty members, medical students, engineering practitioners, and government employees. Dr. Oerther is a recipient of the Wandmacher Teaching Award for Young Faculty from the College of Engineering, a CAREER award from NSF, a Fulbright award from the US Department of State, and in 2007 he was awarded the President's Excellence award by Dr. Nancy Zimpher.

2007 College of Engineering Master Educator Award

The Master Engineering Educator Award is conferred upon faculty whose exemplary teaching merits honor and distinction.
John Franco
Urmila Ghia
Ernest Hall
Milind Jog
Ian Papautsky
George Sorial

2007 College of Engineering Distinguished Engineering Research Award

The Distinguished Engineering Research Award is conferred upon faculty whose research achievements merit honor and distinction.
Paul Bishop
Punit Boolchand
Arthur Helmicki
Christy Holland
Sam Huang
Anant Kukreti
Jay Lee
Mark Schulz