Awards and Recognition

University of Utah electrical and computer engineering assistant professor Benjamin Sanchez Terrones has been awarded an R21 grant from the National Institute of Health for his work involving tongue cancer patients. The grant will fund a collaborative project between Sanchez Terrones and Katherine Hutcheson from the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and will also support Ph.D. student Nathan Hansen, a member of the Sanchez Terrones’ lab.

University of Utah electrical and computer engineering Ph.D. candidate Xiang Huo and teammate Samantha Eddy, an architectural studies senior and member of the Navajo Nation (Diné Bikéyah), earned second place — and $10,000 — in the inaugural Wilkes Center Student Innovation Prize. Their project, “Decarbonize the Diné: A Prefabricated Solar-Driven Communal Solution with Passive Survivability,” proposes a holistic, modularized solution to decarbonize the tribal land.

University of Utah biomedical engineering Ph.D. student Nicholas Witham has earned first place — and $20,000 — in the inaugural Wilkes Center Student Innovation Prize. His project, “Renewable Energy and Carbon Capture with Thermomotive Biopolymer Textiles,” proposes employing a class of materials that would expand and contract along with the Earth’s daily temperature cycles.

The University of Utah electrical and computer engineering department would like to congratulate this year’s recipients of the John and Marcia Price College of Engineering Awards! Each award is chosen via nomination from peers, staff and faculty within the College.