Researcher of the Year - 2022-2023
Stephen Gent, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and director of the North Central Regional Sun Grant Center, was named the college’s outstanding researcher at the university’s Celebration of Faculty Excellence Awards Feb. 21.
Gent’s research team has secured funding from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. departments of energy, commerce, transportation, defense and agriculture as well as private industry. Gent has advised dozens of students in his research lab whose core focus is the development and implementation of high-fidelity simulations to realize products and processes in engineered and biological systems.
His research portfolio includes high energy particle physics, tissue engineering, renewable energy, implantable medical devices, water treatment facilities and agricultural systems. Gent’s team has published more than 75 peer-reviewed manuscripts and one textbook.
Young Career Investigator of the Year - 2020
Graduate and undergraduate students have the opportunity to explore the virtually limitless applications of 3D printing, thanks to the work of assistant professor Todd Letcher. For developing additive manufacturing as a research area in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Letcher received the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering’s Young Investigator Award.
Letcher, who came to SDSU in 2012 after completing his doctorate at The Ohio State University, where his research focused on materials characterization and the mechanical behavior of materials related to fatigue. After a one-year stint as a postdoctoral researcher for the Materials Evaluation and Testing Laboratory, Letcher was a lecturer for a year before becoming an assistant professor in fall 2014. He was recently promoted to associate professor and granted tenure.
He purchased his first 3D printer in early 2014 through support from the university’s Scholarly Excellence Fund. That purchase has blossomed into an entire laboratory filled with 3D printers and an adjoining room in which his students can fabricate their own filament.
Though he explored 3D printing for biomedical applications, Letcher’s research now focuses largely on in-space applications. Two years ago, a team of graduate and undergraduate student built a 3D printer that stands 10 feet tall and operates on a 14-by-21-foot base as part of NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. The goal was to design and build shelters for astronauts on Mars.
Through a NASA grant, another senior design team developed and tested innovative materials to use for 3D printing at the International Space Station. The team published a paper in the September 2019 Journal of Composites Science about using basalt, which can be mined on Mars, as one of the components in the feedstock for in-space manufacturing applications.
Prior Researchers of the Year
- 2022-2023: Stephen Gent
- 2021-2022: Anamika Prasad
- 2020-2021: Xijiin GE
- 2019-2020: Christopher Saunders
- 2018-2019: Reinaldo Tonkoski
- 2017-2018: Suzette Burckhard
- 2016-2017: Nadim Wehbe
- 2015-2016: Qiquan Qiao
- 2014-2015: Chris Schmit
- 2013-2014: Qi Hua Fan
- 2012-2013: Francis Ting
- 2011-2012: Delvin DeBoer
- 2010-2011: Nadim Wehbe
- 2009-2010: David Galipeau
- 2008-2009: Fred Delfanian
- 2007-2008: Kasiviswanathan (Muthu) Muthukumarappan
Prior Young Investigators of the Year
- 2022-2023: [to be announced]
- 2021-2022: Yue Zhou
- 2020-2021: Todd Letcher
- 2019-2020: Rouzbeh Ghabchi
- 2018-2019: Mostafa Tazarv
- 2017-2018: Chris Saunders
- 2016-2017: Cedric Neumann
- 2015-2016: Stephen Gent
- 2014-2015: Xijin Ge
- 2013-2014: Mahdi Farrokh Baroughi
- 2012-2013: Qiquan Qiao
Prior Grantswinship Award Winners
2023
- Rouzbeh
- Mostafa Tazarv
- Xinwen Fu
- Kwanghee Won
- Xiaojun Xian
- Gregory DeRynck
- Gregory Vavra
- Hossein Rekabdarkolee Moradi
- Saikat Basu
- Jeffery Doom
- Stephen Gent
- Todd Letcher
- Guanghui Hua
2022
- Aritra Banerjee
- Rouzbeh Ghabchi
- Guanghui Hua
- Michael Pawlovich
- Mostafa Tazarv
- Francis Ting
- Kaiqun FU
- Songxin Tan
- Reinaldo Tonkoski
- Kwanghee Won
- Xiaojun Xian
- Yue Zhou
- Gregory DeRynck
- Gregory Vavra
- Kurt Cogswell
- John Jasper
- Hossein Rekabdarkolee Moradi
- Saikat Basu
- Jeffery Doom
- Stephen Gent
- Zhong Hu
- Gregory Michna
- Todd Letcher
- Doang Nguyen
- Anamika Prasad
- Christopher Schmit
2021
- Suzette Burckhard
- Rouzbeh Ghabchi
- Guanghui Hua
- Michael Pawlovich
- Junwon Seo
- Mostafa Tazarv
- Francis Ting
- Ekaterina Kormyslova
- Huitian Lu
- Timothy Hanson
- Sung Shin
- Sidd Suryanarayanan
- Reinaldo Tonkski
- Kwanghee Won
- Ruanbao Zhou
- Yue Zhou
- Gregory DeRynck
- Larry Leigh
- Kurt Cogswell
- Gemechis Djira
- Hossein Rekabdarkolee Moradi
- Cedric Neumann
- Christopher Saunders
- Saikat Basu
- Marco Ciarcia
- Jeffery Doom
- Stephen Gent
- Zhong Hu
- Todd Letcher
- Doang Nguyen
- Anamika Prasad
- Michael Twedt
- Christopher Schmit
2020
- Christ Schmit
- Suzette Burckhard
- Larry Leigh
- Sung Shin
- Tim Hansen
- Jeffrey Doom
- Stephen Gent
- Rich Reid
- Greg Michna
- Todd Letcher
- Quiquan Qiao
- John McMaine
- Rouzbeh Ghabchi
- Nadim Wehbe
- Junwon Seo
- Francis Ting
- Greg Derynck
- Xijin Ge
- Dennis Helder
- Cedric Neumann
- Chris Saunders
- Mostafa Tazarv
- Reinaldo Tonkoski
- Greg Vavra
2019
- Suzette Burckhard
- Jeff Doom
- Ge Xijin
- Stephen Gent
- Rouzbeh Ghabchi
- Tim Hansen
- Dennis Helder
- Larry Leigh
- Todd Letcher
- John McMaine
- Greg Michna
- Cedric Neumann
- Qiquan Qiao
- Rich Reid
- Chris Saunders
- Chris Schmit
- Junwon Seo
- Shin Sung
- Mostafa Tazarv
- Francis Ting
- Reinaldo Tonkoski
- Nadim Wehbe
2018
- Tom Brandenbuger
- Suzette Burckhard
- Greg Derynck
- Stephen Gent
- Rouzbeh Ghabchi
- Dennis Helder
- Larry Leigh
- Semhar Michael
- Cedric Neumann
- Qiquan Qiao
- Rich Reid
- Chris Saunders
- Chris Schmit
- Junwon Seo
- Mostafa Tazarv
- Reinaldo Tonkoski
- Francis Ting
- Greg Vavra
- Nadim Wehbe
2017
- Ross Abraham
- Tom Brandenburger
- Suzette Burckhard
- Stephen Gent
- Tim Hansen
- Dennis Helder
- Larry Leigh
- Huitian Lu
- Semhar Michael
- Cedric Neumann
- Jon Puetz
- Qiquan Qiao
- Rich Reid
- Ghabchi Rouzbeh
- Chris Saunders
- Chris Schmit
- Mostafa Tazarv
- Francis Ting
- Greg Vavra
- Sharon Vestal
- Nadim Wehbe
2016
- Ross Abraham
- Suzette Burckhard
- Fred Delfanian
- Stephen Gent
- Dennis Helder
- Zhong Hu
- Guanghui Hua
- Cedric Neumann
- Jon Puetz
- Qiquan Qiao
- Rich Reid
- Chris Saunders
- Chris Schmit
- Sung Shin
- Reinaldo Tonkoski
- Greg Vavra
- Sharon Vestal
- Nadim Wehbe
2015
- Ross Abraham
- Suzette Burckhard
- Fred Delfanian
- QiHua Fan
- Stephen Gent
- Dennis Helder
- Cedric Neumann
- Jon Puetz
- Qiquan Qiao
- Rich Reid
- Chris Schmit
- Sung Shin
- Ken Skorseth
- Sharon Vestal
- Nadim Wehbe
2014
- Ross Abraham
- Suzette Burckhard
- Fred Delfanian
- Stephen Gent
- Dennis Helder
- Greg Michna
- Jon Puetz
- Qiquan Qiao
- Xiao Qin
- Rich Reid
- Chris Schmit
- Sung Shin
- Ken Skorseth
- Sharon Vestal
- Nadim Wehbe
2013
- Ross Abraham
- Mahdi Baroughi
- Venkat Bomissetty
- Fred Delfanian
- QiHua Fan
- Dave Galipeau
- Xijin Ge
- Stephen Gent
- Teresa Hall
- Dennis Helder
- Jung-Han Kimn
- Alex Moutsoglou
- Jon Puetz
- Qiquan Qiao
- Xiao Qin
- Rich Reid
- Chris Schmit
- Sung Shin
- Ken Skorseth
- Mike Twedt
- Sharon Vestal
- Nadim Wehbe
2012
- Mahdi Baroughi
- Bruce Berdanier
- Venkat Bommisetty
- Fred Delfanian
- QiHua Fan
- Dave Galipeau
- Xijin Ge
- Stephen Gent
- Teresa Hall
- Dennis Helder
- Jung-Han Kimn
- Alex Moutsoglou
- Jon Puetz
- Qiquan Qiao
- Xiao Qin
- Rich Reid
- Chris Saunders
- Chris Schmit
- Sung Shin
- Ken Skorseth
- Francis Ting
- Mike Twedt
- Sharon Vestal
- Nadim Wehbe
2011
- Ross Abraham
- Bruce Berdanier
- Venkat Bommisetty
- Delvin DeBoer
- Fred Delfanian
- Dave Galipeau
- Xijin Ge
- Stephen Gent
- Teresa Hall
- Dennis Helder
- Alex Moutsoglou
- Jon Puetz
- Qiquan Qiao
- Rich Reid
- Christopher Schmit
- Ken Skorseth
- Mike Twedt
- Sharon Vestal
- Nadim Wehbe