Faculty, staff honored at Engineering Banquet

Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering had an opportunity to honor its own during the annual awards banquet April 26 in Club 71 at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.

This issue of Engineering Connection takes a look at those five faculty and staff members, including an abbreviated glance at Stephen Gent, who was featured in the April issue.

Award presentations were made by Dean Sanjeev Kumar.

Saikat Basu — Early Career Investigator of the Year

Basu, 37, who has been at SDSU since January 2019, is an assistant professor in mechanical engineering. He received a bachelor’s in civil engineering from Jadavpur University, India, in 2009 and a doctorate in engineering mechanics from Virginia Tech in 2014, followed by postdoctoral stints at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan, and at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill – School of Medicine.

Why are you involved in cancer research?

The development, spread and treatment of cancer all have a connection to fluid mechanics. The idea was to test whether we can build a fluid mechanics framework to model the basic flow physics in a tumor-inspired geometry.

What has been your most enjoyable research project?

When the COVID pandemic broke out in summer 2020, the next few months were some of the busiest in my professional career. The first paper I wrote on airborne transmissions was a single-author study and was published in Scientific Reports, a leading open-access journal from Nature.

I would consider that paper to be the highlight of my years at SDSU. It broke new ground by connecting fluid mechanics inferences with virologic data, to estimate some key parameters such as the infectious dose or what could be the droplet and aerosol sizes that ferry viral load for infection trigger.

Based on the steadily growing citations, the work has been well-accepted by the scientific community as a new paradigm for mechanics-backed respiratory transmission research.

In addition to your education and training, what is the personal quality you possess that makes you a good researcher?

I think success and ingenuity in research demand consistent creative thinking. Integrating consistency with creativity warrants diligence. I think being somewhat diligent is perhaps the greatest attribute that has helped me. 

I knew scientific research was for me when: 

In my reckoning, I never seriously wanted to take up any other profession. Even in fourth grade, perhaps inspired by the literature and biographies I was reading, I wanted to someday be a professor in the STEM discipline.

Why SDSU is a good place to do research?

I truly appreciate the support from the university administration at different levels inside the department and the college. The small college-town atmosphere is the additional blessing for uninterrupted creative pursuits like research.

Michael Pawlovich — Academic Adviser of the Year

Pawlovich, an assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering, has been at SDSU since 2017. Originally from Huron, Pawlovich attended Iowa State University and worked 17 1⁄2 years for the Iowa Department of Transportation in the Office of Traffic and Safety. He also was an adjunct professor for ISU for four years.

Number of students you advise:

Typically, about 15 undergraduate students and two to three graduate students.

What is the No. 1 goal for an adviser?

Assisting the student with academic and career goals, offering advice regarding courses and progression, and directing them to the resources they need related to this.

What is the personal quality you possess that makes you a good adviser? 

I have a willingness to engage, inform and puzzle through the various issues.

As an adviser, I appreciate students who: 

Collaboratively participate in their educational path.

What convinced you to go into a full-time career in education? 

I have always enjoyed sharing knowledge and engaging with people who have a similar interest in knowledge.

Zachary Gutzmer — Teacher of the Year

Gutzmer, a lecturer in civil and environmental engineering, has been at SDSU since 2009. His main course offerings are in the engineering mechanics area for sophomore- and junior-level students. Gutzmer also received the Teacher of the Year Award in 2013.

If I could only teach one class, it would be Mechanics of Materials because:  

It is a nice midpoint in our engineering degrees. There are many opportunities to bring concepts from previous courses into the discussion and also many opportunities to show how the current concepts will apply in future courses.

My favorite kids to teach are those who: 

Ask questions. They also make me a better teacher. It challenges me to find a new way to explain engineering concepts, and it gives me an insight of how new material is being interpreted. Understanding how a student sees a problem allows me to find the best way to answer a question.  

In addition to your education and training, what is the personal quality you possess that makes you a good teacher?

My students could probably answer this question more concisely than I can. It’s likely many smaller traits rather than one superior quality. If you care about the material and you are willing to help students be successful, the rest usually falls into place. A well-timed joke never hurts, either.   

I knew teaching was for me when: 

I knew I wanted to try teaching at some point. When former students started telling me that they enjoyed my teaching style, I thought it would be a good idea to keep teaching and see how much I could improve.

Why SDSU is a good place to teach? 

We have many dedicated engineering students that invest in themselves. I am happy to help them maximize their investment.

Teresa Dawkins — Civil Service Employee of the Year

Dawkins, a program assistant in mathematics and statistics, has been at SDSU since 1988 and in her current position since August 2020. Her 35-year career at SDSU started in purchasing/accounts payable. She also has worked in grants administration and the Sun Grant office. Her husband, Rodney, retired from Facility and Services at SDSU in 2018. They have a son, Paul, who lives and works in Lincoln, Nebraska.

After 35 years, I still enjoy coming to work because: 

I enjoy the work I do. I really love working with the faculty and students, and Dr. (Kurt) Cogswell is wonderful to work for.

The thing that surprised me most about this job is: 

Nothing really surprised me about the job after this many years. Although in previous jobs on campus, I’ve never worked with the students as much as with this job.  

The math department is a good fit for me because: 

I’ve been in other departments on campus and needed a change. I like the feeling the department gave me when I interviewed for the position.

The hardest part of this job is: 

The hardest part was learning the processes for payroll. This is something I never want to mess up on because people depend on their pay being correct.

The favorite part of my job is: 

My favorite part of my job is working with the students. The energy they bring is exhilarating to see.

Stephen Gent — Researcher of the Year

Gent, a professor in mechanical engineering, has been at SDSU since 2009 and directs the North Central Regional Sun Grant Center. Since 2012, Gent has led a National Science Foundation-backed Research Experience for Undergraduates program each summer.

A prolific researcher himself, Gent is also currently involved in a $464,998, NSF-backed project with colleague Mark Messerli, an associate professor in the Department of Biology and Microbiology, that investigates how electricity generates force to move water through the tiniest spaces in the human body.  

To read more on Gent.

Dennis Helder — Distinguished Engineer

Dennis Helder is honored as the 2023 Distinguished Engineer at the Engineering Banquet April 26. Pictured, from left, are Sanjeev Kumar, dean of the college; Dennis Hedge, vice president of academic affairs; Helder, the retired associate dean of research in the college; and SDSU President Barry Dunn.

Helder began work at SDSU as an undergraduate research assistant in 1978 and was on campus full time from 1983 until retirement in 2019, except for a brief sabbatical to earn his doctorate. Helder remains a world-class expert in the field of calibration and validation of satellite imagery and during his SDSU career brought in more than $27 million in research funding.

His honor was previously announced.

To read more on Helder.