Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Achievements

ENGINEERING

William H. Sanders, a professor and the head of the department of electrical and computer engineering, received the 2016 IEEE Technical Field Award, Innovation in Societal Infrastructure, for his revolutionary work concerning the cybersecurity of the power grid. The award recognizes Sanders’ fundamental research in this area and its impact within industry and cites him for his “assessment-driven design of trustworthy cyber infrastructures for societal-scale systems.”

The IEEE is the world’s largest professional association advancing innovation and technological excellence for the benefit of humanity, according toits website.

Harrison Kim, a professor of industrial and enterprise systems engineering, and his research team were awarded the John Deere Supplier Innovation Award for their Design for Environment and Sustainability project. Looking to find ways to incorporate sustainability into their product design and manufacturing, Deere initiated the collaborative research effort with Kim six years ago.

Alexandra Kolla, a professor of computer science, recently received a prestigious young faculty National Science Foundation’s CAREER award to better understand the limitations of approximation algorithms for solving combinatorial optimization problems. Also known as NP-hard, these types of problems are nearly impossible to solve quickly. The CAREER program offers the NSF’s most prestigious awards to support teachers and scholars who effectively integrate research and education, according to its website.  

PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Alison Davis Wood, a producer for the Big Ten Network, won an Emmy Award from the Mid-America Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Wood was honored in the category writer-program feature (non-news) for the Big Ten Network documentary “Carlos Montezuma: Changing is Not Vanishing.” The film tells the story of the university’s first Native American alumnus, who later became one of the first to earn a medical degree.

The documentary also garnered two other nominations:

It was nominated in the documentary-historical category (Timothy Hartin, Wood, Kaitlin Southworth, Kevin Southworth, Jamie Singson, Warren Hood, Robin Kaler, Mike Waddell and E. Todd Wilson). Hartin and Evan Miller were nominated for the documentary in the editor-program category.

Nominations are made by other members of the academy. Members from another region select the final nominations.

Awards were presented Oct. 3 in St. Louis.

U. OF I. EXTENSION

Three projects by the U. of I. Extension Illinois Master Gardener program received honors at the 2015 International Search for Excellence Awards on Sept. 23 at the International Master Gardener Conference in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The awards recognize Master Gardener programs throughout the U.S. and Canada that demonstrate outstanding contributions to their communities.

Macon County Master Gardeners received a first-place award in the workshop category for its Secrets of Great Tomatoes program. The yearlong program teaches methods of growing great-tasting tomatoes and involves lectures, sales of heirloom tomato plants and a workshop on building tomato cages. It culminates in a public tasting of at least 40 cultivars.

Lake County Master Gardeners won a second-place award in the demo garden category for its Rain Garden Living Lab. The half-acre rain garden in Libertyville features native plants and promotes the use of rain gardens in helping homeowners manage run-off.

McLean County Master Gardeners won a second-place award in the innovative project category for Sarah’s Garden at the David Davis State Historic Site, Bloomington. Recreated to a design dating to 1872, the quarter-acre flower garden includes seven original plants and 70 documented heirlooms. Sarah’s Garden is used in youth horticulture programs and is prominently featured in several public events.

Details about each of the winning projects are available on the Imagine Blog for Illinois Master Gardeners.

Now in its 40th year, the U. of I. Extension Illinois Master Gardener program strives to improve quality of life through sound management practices of natural resources, creating aesthetically pleasing environments and contributing to a safe, abundant food supply through fruit and vegetable production.

 

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