For the first time since being instituted in 1972, a national award recognizing achievements in university engineering instruction is being presented to a Mississippi faculty member.
Noel N. Schulz, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Mississippi State University, is the 2002 C. Holmes MacDonald Outstanding Young Electrical Engineering Teacher.
The award is presented annually by Eta Kappa Nu, the international honor society for electrical engineers. EKN includes more than 200 chapters spread throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.
"To be singled out for this award among a high caliber of nominees denotes a remarkable record of scholarship and the highest standards of classroom teaching and service," said A. Wayne Bennett, dean of MSU's James Worth Bagley College of Engineering. "It is among the most prestigious awards presented to young professionals in the electrical engineering field."
Since joining the MSU faculty last year, Schulz also has been honored with the National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development Award and the Walter Fee Outstanding Young Power Engineer Award of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Prior to coming to Mississippi, she was selected for the American Society of Engineering Education's Dow Outstanding New Faculty Member Award.
In announcing Schulz's selection for the EKN honor, organization officials cited several accomplishments, including:
--Teaching evaluations that place her among the highest-ranked faculty members in the MSU engineering college;
--A research record that includes projects funded by electric utilities and manufacturers for electric utilities;
--Contributions to professional organizations, including service as an officer of two major recognition committees or subcommittees;
--Community service that includes tutoring local first- and fifth-graders in mathematics and serving as assistant leader for a local Cub Scout group.
Schulz holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Virginia Tech University in her hometown of Blacksburg, Va. Her doctorate was completed at the University of Minnesota.
