Moradi Named UAB's Grand Challenge Project Manager
Mechanical engineering professor and EITD director Lee Moradi is the project manager for UAB's Grand Challenge initiative.Lee Moradi, Ph.D., is no stranger to dreaming big.
When he came to UAB in 1996, he came with an idea: to build an engineering organization that was among the best in the United States. In the past 22 years, that dream of Moradi’s came true with the creation and success of Engineering and Innovative Technology Development. EITD has become one of the nation’s leading developers in cold stowage hardware for use in microgravity and exploration, and its GLACIER refrigeration system, MERLIN thermal carrier and Polar minus-80 degrees Celsius freezer are used aboard the International Space Station.
Moradi, mechanical engineering professor and EITD director, said its success is due entirely to the employees and managers who are committed to the project. The UAB team “is the best I have seen in my 40-year career,” he said.
The EITD is just one big idea on campus that grew into reality, and now, UAB wants to give others the opportunity to realize their dreams.
Through UAB’s Grand Challenge initiative, any student, faculty or staff member university-wide can submit a proposal to fix a large, complex and multi-faceted issue — one that requires a combination of technologies, treatments, approaches and policies that a large institution such as UAB can provide to find a solution that will positively impact a large number of people.
Read more in the UAB Reporter.
Faculty Honors and Awards Demonstrate Sustained Commitment to Excellence
This spring, several School of Engineering faculty members received professional honors. Recipients included Timothy Wick, Ph.D., and Joel Berry, Ph.D., who each received awards from the UAB Office of the Provost, as well as Amber Genau, who received the TMS Young Leaders International Scholar Award.
“No school achieves greatness without faculty members who are committed to excellence,” says School of Engineering Dean Iwan Alexander, Ph.D. “I congratulate these three faculty members who have demonstrated strong commitments to leadership, innovation and team-building in our classrooms and laboratories.”
Each of the Provost’s Awards comes with a cash prize of $1,000. They will be formally presented on Friday, April 13 at 9 A.M. in Bartow Arena.
Sicking Receives Motorsports Safety Award
The SAFER Barrier has been saving lives for more than a decade at NASCAR and IndyCar circuits across the United States, as well as in the European circuit. On April 11, SAE International honored the team that created the Steel Foam Energy Reduction Barriers with the 2017 SAE John Melvin Motorsports Safety Award, which includes Dean Sicking, Ph.D.,
Sicking, a leading figure in highway safety research for more than 30 years, has led a research team at the UAB School of Engineering since 2012.
“It is an honor to receive this national award recognizing safety innovations in racing,” said Sicking, professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. “Dr. Melvin is a longtime mentor of mine starting when I was a graduate student. His leadership and expertise in occupant kinematics and injury causation influenced the next 30 years of careers.”
BME Undergrad Named University Innovation Fellow
Alex Plazas, left, is pictured with University Innovation Fellows Haifa Al Harrasi, Joshua Lim, and Callista Cox.Alex Plazas, a sophomore in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, is one of four UAB students named University Innovation Fellows by Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design. The students traveled to Silicon Valley in March for the University Innovation Fellows’ fifth annual meetup after completing six weeks of online training.
“As a biomedical engineering student, I anticipate my career’s focusing heavily on innovation,” said Plazas, a native of Columbus, Georgia. “As a University Innovation Fellow, I’m able to innovate in a different mindset and impose real change that will impact UAB’s campus for years to come.”
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