Awards and honors

Recent Charlotte graduates Haley Pace and Martha Thomas, remarkable student-athletes for the 49ers’ softball and women’s soccer teams, respectively, have been named Conference USA Scholar Athlete Award winners for their sports. Pace is a repeat honoree.

 The C-USA Scholar Athlete of the Year Awards are presented to the top student-athletes in each conference-sponsored sport, determined by a vote of the league’s 14 faculty athletic representatives. The award is based on academic achievement (GPA), athletic achievement and service.

Heather Coffey from the Cato College of Education’s Department of Middle, Secondary and K-12 Education is this year’s recipient of the Bonnie E. Cone Early-Career Professorship of Teaching.

UNC Charlotte is one of five exemplary colleges and universities nationwide to receive the Excellence in Assessment designation.

This distinction recognizes the University’s “commitment to the comprehensive assessment of student learning outcomes as a means to drive internal improvement and advance student success at the institution level.”

Consuelo Salas is the 2018 recipient of the J. Murrey Atkins Library Faculty Engagement Award. An assistant professor with the University Writing Program and the Department of English, Salas will be honored during a library social and award ceremony, scheduled for 4 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 6, in the Halton Reading Room.

The Atkins Library Faculty Engagement Award is presented to a UNC Charlotte faculty member who has engaged in innovative or exceptional work with library collections, programs and services. It comes with a $2,500 allocation for professional development.  

Scott Smith, chair of the Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science Department, received the Outstanding Lifetime Service Award from the North American Manufacturing Research Institution of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (NAMRI/SME) at the 46th annual North American Manufacturing Research Conference (NAMRC) held in College Station, Texas.

The award honors distinguished members for their long-term dedication and contributions to NAMRI/SME.

Manuel Pérez-Quiñones, associate dean of the College of Computing and Informatics (CCI), recently received the Nico Habermann Award, presented at the Computer Research Association conference.

Tumininu (Tumi) Lawanson recently was named a Young Clean Energy Innovator of the Year by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) at its Intersolar North American ceremony in San Francisco, California.

“Personally, I count it as a privilege and an honor to be recognized as one of two Young Clean Energy Innovators of 2018 by IREC,” said Lawanson. “I am especially grateful for the support of my research advisor, Dr. Valentina Cecchi, and the strong collaborative research environment provided at EPIC and the University.”

Physician and UNC Charlotte graduate candidate Saugat Karki was selected recently for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) prestigious Public Health Informatics Fellowship Program (PHIFP).

Rajan Puri, a doctoral student in mathematics, recently received the David Merchant International Student Award for Achievement from the Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars. The award honors one international student who demonstrates exceptional accomplishments in the areas of scholarship and service.

Akin Ogundiran, professor and chair of the Africana Studies Department, has been inducted as a Visiting Fellow of Magdalene College, University of Cambridge. This honor recognizes his preeminent status as a researcher and scholar of emergent societies and social complexity in Yorubaland, Atlantic Africa and the African Diaspora during the past 700 years.