CAMPUS CURRENT
FAC U LT Y N E WS
Faculty Appointed to Professorships TWO FACULTY MEMBERS were named
to endowed faculty chairs, among the highest recognition accorded to a faculty member. Mathemagician Art Benjamin is the inaugural holder of the Smallwood Family Chair, an endowed professorship established to recognize and support the work of an outstanding faculty member in engineering, mathematics or computer science. An important addition to the $150 million Campaign for Harvey Mudd College, the Smallwood Family Chair was established by Scott R. and Carol Ann Smallwood P17. Their gift recognizes and supports the work of an outstanding Harvey Mudd faculty member, distinguished in his/her field and in his/her service to the College through teaching, research and service to the broader community.
Even Better Undergrad Research “Many institutions aspire to emulate Harvey Mudd’s long tradition of high-quality, collaborative student–faculty research, a tradition of which we are immensely proud,” says Kerry Karukstis, co-author of a helpful new journal edition on effective practices for undergraduate
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HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE
Benjamin, an expert in algorithms, combinatorics, game theory and operations research, is recognized nationally for his ability to perform rapid mental calculations. He has lectured and performed for audiences around the world and has published several books on how to make math both fun and easy, including Proofs That Really Count. In recognition of her outstanding leadership and engineering expertise, Elizabeth Orwin ’95 has been named James Howard Kindelberger Professor of Engineering at Harvey Mudd College. Orwin chairs the Department of Engineering and also directs the Engman Fellowship Program in Bioengineering, which trains students in biomedical engineering research and device design. She specializes in biomedical engi-
research and increased STEM student academic and career success. “Enhancing and Expanding Undergraduate Research: A Systems Approach” documents selected educational institutions’ pathways to accomplishing growth in undergraduate research. The journal is based on findings from a study of national initiatives of the Council on Undergraduate Research and appears in the spring 2015 issue of New Directions for Higher Education. In addition to sharing Harvey Mudd’s model of success, Karukstis also disseminates strategies learned from other schools and consortia. “There are always ways for us to enhance student learning and faculty professional development through undergraduate research experiences,” she says.
neering and has worked in industry on the research and development of a novel protein matrix for woundhealing applications. Orwin teaches Introduction to Engineering Design (E4) and Introduction to Engineering Systems (E59), as well as several tech electives, and has developed courses and programming in biomedical engineering. The Kindelberger endowment is devoted in perpetuity to the support of top-ranking engineering faculty to ensure that Harvey Mudd students are educated and prepared for future technological leadership. The first holder of this professorship was Emeritus Professor Jack L. Alford, one of the originators of Harvey Mudd’s Clinic Program.
NCWIT Awards Assistant Professor of Computer Science Colleen Lewis received the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) 2015 Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award for a junior faculty member. The annual award recognizes outstanding mentorship, high-quality research opportunities, recruitment of women and minority students and efforts to encourage and advance undergraduates in computing-related fields. Lewis undertook her first mentorship experience as a graduate student, hiring and working side by side with undergraduate researchers on a project funded by the National Science Foundation. Now in her third year as assistant professor at Harvey Mudd, she has mentored about
50 undergraduates, most of them women. Nineteen of her research students have co-authored published papers with her. An additional 10 have presented conference posters. Several faculty members received the 2015 NCWIT Engagement Excellence Award, sponsored by Google. Current CS professors Zachary Dodds, Geoff Kuenning and Ran Libeskind-Hadas earned the award for materials developed for the Introduction to Computer Science course. They were lauded for curricular materials that not only demonstrate excellence in computer science content and pedagogy but also utilize research-based engagement practices to make computer science relevant and meaningful for students.