Crumpton

Industrial engineering associate professor Lesia Crumpton has received the National Society of Black Engineers' Janice A. Lumpkin Educator of the Year Award.

Presentation was made at the society's Golden Torch Awards ceremony, the premier recognition program for African-American engineers, scientists, and technologists.

Mississippi State President Malcolm Portera nominated Crumpton for the honor. A specialist in ergonomics-a science dealing with suiting people to their work and living environments-she directs MSU's Ergonomics and Human Factors Engineering Laboratory. She also heads a National Science Foundation-funded Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Ergonomics, a partnership between Mississippi State and Texas A&M University.

Crumpton routinely involves her undergraduate and graduate students in her research efforts. Several have won regional and national awards for their work, the latest being Sabrina Williams of Prentiss. Williams also is receiving a 1999 Golden Torch Award for her achievements as a doctoral student in industrial engineering.

In 1995, Crumpton received a $200,000 Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation to support her research in workplace designs for the disabled. She also holds a research grant from the U.S. Department of Education to explore the use of virtual reality in designing for persons with disabilities.

In 1997, Career Communications Group, publisher of U.S. Black Engineer and Information Technology magazines, named her Black Engineer of the Year in Education.

Crumpton holds bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees from Texas A&M, where she was the first African-American woman to earn a doctorate in engineering.