Teaching awards go to engineering grad students

Making moves to balance the scales

All year the Office of Graduate Affairs in the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS), has been working hard to create for graduate students a richer social culture and support system similar to that which undergraduates already enjoy.

As a cap to this year's many efforts toward this end, the first spring dinner for the Wu and Upton fellows was held May 13.

A contrast to the splashy affair held each fall at Prospect House that welcomes the new fellows to campus, this spring dinner was casual and comfortable. The students themselves appeared self-assured and relaxed and were joking and laughing with friends and colleagues.

"One of our main purposes has been to create a closer community for our graduate students," said David Mendez, assistant dean for graduate affairs.

Also in attendance were William Russel, dean of the Graduate School and professor of chemical engineering, and SEAS Dean Maria Klawe.

Dean Klawe was spirited when speaking about the future of SEAS and the role graduate students will play in setting the agenda for changes and improvements in the coming years. She said that graduate students serve a specific and integral role in the health of SEAS.

"Graduate students are our research enterprise," she said, adding that "fabulous" graduate students are key to the "fabulous" research conducted by SEAS faculty.

"You have the opportunity to help make SEAS an even better place for everyone to learn and work," she said, encouraging graduate students to participate in the strategic planning process.

Dean Klawe assured everyone that the Princeton culture will remain a part of the SEAS philosophy.

"Whatever we do will be in the fabric of Princeton," she said.

James Buchholz

James Buchholz, a graduate student in the mechanical and aerospace engineering department, received a 2003 Excellence in Teaching Award from the Graduate School.

The awards, sponsored by the Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni, recognize graduate students who have been particularly successful and devoted in instructing undergraduates.

James came to Princeton in 2000 after earning bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering at the University of Alberta. Last fall, when he precepted for a course in thermodynamics, he could be found in the laboratory on weekends helping his students.

"A teaching assistant like James only comes along once in a great while," one of his professors said.

Hafize Erkan

Hafize Erkan, a graduate student in the Department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering, received the 2003 Friends of the International Center Excellence in Teaching Award, which honors an international graduate student.

Hafize received a bachelor's degree in engineering from Bogazici University in Turkey. Students said she was diligent, devoted, patient, and competent and that her precepts were "essential for survival." One professor described Hafize as "madly in love with her teaching."

Grad students prove to be top-rate authors

Two students under the advisement of David August, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, have received best paper awards at professional conferences.

Manish Vachharajani, a graduate student in the Department of Electrical Engineering, received the best student paper award at the 35th Annual International Symposium on Microarchitecture, held in Istanbul in November 2002. His paper is titled "Microarchitectural Exploration with Liberty."

Spyridon Triantafyllis, a graduate student in the Department of Computer Science, received the best paper award at the 2003 meeting of the International Symposium on Code Generation and Optimization, held in San Francisco in March 2003. His paper was titled "Compiler Optimization Space-exploration."