Three Earn UC Irvine Campus Honors

CEE, CHEMS professors and BME undergraduate student recognized for teaching and research

Two professors and an undergraduate student from The Henry Samueli School of Engineering have been honored with UC Irvine campus awards.

Chemical engineering and materials science Professor Farghalli Mohamed, Ph.D., was named 2010 Outstanding Professor for the Samueli School after a vote of graduating seniors. Each year, UC Irvine’s graduating seniors vote for who they believe is the most outstanding professor in their school.  Mohamed teaches courses in the mechanics of materials, mechanical behavior and design principles, plasticity, dislocation, theory diffusion and phase transformations. The Outstanding Professor Award is both prestigious and unique because it is voted and presented by the graduating students of the winning professor. The honor is given to those who not only teach, but are the professors that are remembered as being inspiring, good-humored, encouraging and insightful.

Professor Sunny Jiang, Ph.D., from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering was awarded the 2010 Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Fostering Undergraduate Research for The Henry Samueli School of Engineering.   Jiang’s research group focuses on applied and environmental microbiology. Research projects in her lab include the investigation of seawater desalination biofouling, deep subsurface sludge disposal and energy regeneration, microbial water quality and microbial ecology of harmful algal blooms. Jiang is one of nine professors at UCI to win the honor.

Senior Arya Saidi was given the 2010 Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research. Saidi is researching the areas of thermal imaging and cardiovascular imaging. In the area of cardiovascular imaging, Saidi designed and implemented an intravascular probe that used fluorescence spectroscopy to detect vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque, as well as optical coherence tomography to designate the structural properties of the arterial wall. Saidi’s research in thermal infrared imaging involves monitoring the temperature of the human prostate during mechanical robotic surgery. Saidi is one of nine UCI undergraduate students to receive honors.