The Michigan State University College of Engineering recognizes 19 faculty and staff members with awards for their excellence in service and distinguished contributions.
Honorees will be presented their awards during the 2024 Engineering Awards event to be held later this year. Of the 19 award recipients, two faculty members have been named the college’s Senior and Junior Scholars. These awards recognize faculty members who have demonstrated excellence in scholarship.
The 2024 Engineering Awards recipients named Senior and Junior Scholars and details about their honors:
Withrow Distinguished Senior Scholar
- Richard Lunt, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Johansen-Crosby Professor
Richard Lunt joined the Chemical Engineering and Materials Science department in 2011 and is known as a star in the field of materials for energy applications.
Holding the Johansen-Crosby Endowed Professorship, Richard is an award-winning teacher, researcher, and innovator.
According to his peers, he has unrivaled creativity and dedication to solving the world’s clean energy challenges. Richard’s research expands the possibilities of seamless deployment of energy harvesting systems, efficient light emitting systems and expansion potential of excitonic electronic device functionality.
“He has not only become internationally recognized, but has become quite literally the face of MSU,” a colleague wrote in a nomination letter. “I have personally seen Richard in many roles: an exceptional leader, researcher, inventor, and entrepreneur. What is striking to me is the pace, breadth, and impact of Richard’s innovations.”
In February 2024, Lunt was named a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors.
Withrow Distinguished Junior Scholar Award
Jeffrey Nanzer joined the Electrical and Computer Engineering department in 2016 and held the Dennis P. Nyquist Assistant Professorship from 2016 to 2021.
The associate professor is a recognized scholar in the fields of distributed phased arrays, millimeter-wave imaging, remote sensing, antennas and arrays, and millimeter-wave photonics.
Over the last seven years, Jeffrey has had an immense impact on the department’s academic programs. He’s been awarded five U.S. patents and has two pending.
He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses with exemplary Student Instructional Rating System feedback from students.
“He represents the very best among junior faculty and has established a highly visible and strong research program in his field in a relatively short amount of time,” a colleague wrote in a nomination letter. “He has made significant contributions in his areas of expertise and is on track to achieving national and international recognition.”
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Written by Eric Lacy, lacyeric@msu.edu. See more at the Engineering Media and Public Relations page.