College of Engineering distributes annual awards recognizing research excellence

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Three Wayne State University faculty members were recently recognized with Research Excellence Awards from the College of Engineering. The honorees are:

Caisheng Wang, professor of electrical and computer engineering

Mohammad Alhawari, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering

Timothy Dittrich, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering

Wang has made significant contributions in the areas of renewable and alternative energy systems, power systems, power electronics, distributed generation, microgrid and smart grid, and electric vehicles. He has secured over $12 million in funding from various sources, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Great Lakes Protection Foundation. Wang has received the IEEE PES EDPG Prize Paper Award, an MSU Foundation Graduation Achievement Nomination Award, and an Honorary Citizenship Award from the city of Bozeman, Montana. He has over 100 peer-reviewed journal publications, has authored or co-authored two books, and has had his research cited more than 12,000 times.

Alhawari leads a world-class research and design program in systems-on-chip (SoC) that aims to address the challenges facing emerging technologies in various industries. He has accumulated more than $1.2 million in funding, including the prestigious 2023 NSF CAREER Award. Alhawari has authored or co-authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications of high impact factor, authored one book and co-authored three book chapters, and has four granted patents.

Dittrich has established research programs that focus on identifying U.S. sources for rare-earth elements. He has secured over $5.3 million in funding as principal investigator for nine grants. Notably, the REUSE center, funded by $3.1 million from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, exemplifies his research in environmental engineering, including radionuclide and rare earth element removal. Dittrich was selected as the Henry Krumb Invited Lecturer by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) in 2019, and received the 2018 Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award from the Oak Ridge Associated Universities.

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