Awards and honors

UNC Charlotte’s rocket team, comprised of engineering students, won the prestigious “Vehicle Design Award” at the NASA University Student Launch competition recently held at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Tooele County, Utah.
The 49er team was one of 31 university teams from across the country to enter the competition. Twenty-two of the teams made it to Utah, and of those 17 made it to the launch pad.

 Craig Ogle, the Charles H. Stone Professor of Chemistry, is the 2014 recipient of the First Citizens Bank Scholars Medal. The prestigious award, presented by First Citizens Bank and UNC Charlotte, honors faculty scholarship and intellectual inquiry.

Na Lu, an assistant professor in the Engineering Technology and Construction Management Department of the Lee College of Engineering, has won a $400,000 National Science Foundation CAREER award to further her research to develop cost-effective thermoelectric materials for high-temperature power generation through waste-heat harvesting.

UNC Charlotte is the first nonprofit recipient of the Belk Innovation in Diversity Award, presented by the Charlotte Chamber and Belk Inc. The University was acknowledged at the chamber’s annual meeting Tuesday, Dec. 3.
The Belk Innovation in Diversity Award recognizes “outstanding leadership and practice by driving business and community results through innovative diversity and inclusion in the workplace, economy and beyond.”

As part of the recent campus celebration of International Education Week, the Mu chapter of Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars held its 26th annual meeting and member induction ceremony. Forty new faculty, staff and student members were inducted, and the World Affairs Council of Charlotte received a 2013 honorary membership.

New members were recognized for their excellence in international research, international study and for contributions to the internationalization of UNC Charlotte and the larger Charlotte community. 

Director of Classroom Support Steve Clark has been called a one-of-a-kind thinker and an innovator in his job at UNC Charlotte. He can add recipient of the Governor’s Award for Excellence to his resume.

Jean-Claude Thill, the Knight Foundation Distinguished Professor of Public Policy in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, was named a 2013 Fellow of the Regional Science Association International (RSAI) at the organization’s 60th annual North American Meetings of the RSAI in Atlanta, Ga. He is the sole U.S. regional scientist to be recognized this year, along with scholars from Japan, Sweden and Italy. Worldwide, RSAI has a cadre of 70 fellows.

In recognition of his efforts to promote diversity, chemistry professor Daniel Rabinovich will be recognized this week by the American Chemistry Society’s Committee on Minority Affairs.

John Allemeier, associate professor of composition in the Department of Music, and associate professor of English Aimee Parkison are among 15 artists across the state who received a 2013-14 North Carolina Arts Council Artist Fellowship Award in the categories of songwriting, composing and writing.
Fellowships are awarded to artists to support creative development and the creation of new work. Recipients were selected by panels comprised of artists and arts professionals with expertise in each discipline. 

Carla Bendezu, a computer science major in the College of Computing and Informatics, was recognized for her leadership and commitment to underrepresented students in area schools. For her work, she received the Outstanding Corps Student from STARS (Students in Technology, Academia, Research and Service).