Honors and Awards

Aditi Khadilkar places third at graduate exhibition

Aditi Khadilkar, doctoral student in energy and mineral engineering, was awarded third place in the engineering category of the 2014 Penn State Graduate Exhibition for her poster titled, Modeling agglomerate growth in fluidized bed combustion and gasification systems.

The annual graduate exhibition challenges students to effectively communicate their research to a general audience by presenting their work in clear, comprehensible terms to people outside their fields. The event includes poster competitions in six different fields, including arts and humanities, engineering, health and life sciences, physical sciences and mathematics, social and behavioral sciences, and visual arts. Each year, graduate students throughout the University are invited to participate.

Lueking recognized for service to adult learners

Angela Lueking, associate professor of energy and mineral engineering and chemical engineering, received a 2014 Annual Recognition Award from the Penn State Commission for Adult Learners. This award recognizes commendable service provided to adult learners enrolled at Penn State.

Brownson receives promotion

Jeffrey R. S. Brownson received a promotion to associate professor. Brownson teaches in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering. He offers a unique background as a materials scientist for solar energy conversion systems, having completed his degrees in geoscience, materials science, and environmental chemistry. His work focuses on synthesis and characterization of inorganic photovoltaic materials, considering sustainable materials design for energy conversion; system-Integrative Photovoltaics (SIPV); and system scale transient energy simulations for buildings and for network (electrical grid) deployment of solar technologies.

Blumsack receives promotion and tenure

Seth A. Blumsack received a promotion to associate professor and tenure. Blumsack teaches in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering and is the co-director of the energy and environmental economics and policy initiative at Penn State. His work focuses on policy-relevant engineering, environmental and economic research for the energy, electric power and transportation industries. He also performs research in the area of complex engineered infrastructure networks. 

Johns receives SPE grant for student recruitment efforts

Russell Johns, Beghini Professor of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, received the 2013 Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Faculty Grant for PhD Pipeline. The award is designed to recognize petroleum engineering faculty who have developed innovative techniques to recruit doctoral students.

Johns is in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, where he holds the Victor and Anna Mae Beghini Faculty Fellowship. Prior to his current position, he served on the faculty at The University of Texas at Austin from 1995 to 2010. He also has nine years of industrial experience as a petrophysical engineer with Shell Oil and as a consulting engineer for Colenco Power Consulting in Baden, Switzerland. He served as Executive Editor for SPE Reservoir Evaluation and Engineering Journal from 2002-2004, and in 2009 he was awarded the SPE Distinguished Member Award. Johns also directs the Gas Flooding Joint Industry Project at Penn State.

Eser receives Fulbright grant for 2014-2015 academic year

Semih Eser, professor of energy and mineral engineering, has received a Fulbright grant to teach and conduct research at the Izmir Institute of Technology in Izmir, Turkey. His grant is for the 2014-2015 academic year.

Eser’s research interests include the reactivity and microscopic characterization of cokes and carbons, coke/carbon formation and deposition mechanisms, inhibition of undesired carbon deposition, and molecular analysis and processing of petroleum feedstocks. Eser also coordinates the carbon research program at the EMS Energy Institute.

Eser received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, and his doctorate in fuel science from Penn State University. From 1987 to 1988, he worked as a research associate in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Auburn University. He returned to Penn State in 1988 and was appointed as an assistant professor of fuel science in 1989. He served the Department of Energy and Geo-Environmental Engineering as associate head (2001-2006) and acting head (2004).

The Fulbright Scholarship Program sponsors U.S. and foreign participants for exchanges in all areas, including the sciences, business, academe, public service, government, and the arts and continues to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The Fulbright Program was established in 1946 under legislation introduced by then-Senator J. William Fulbright. The program awards approximately 8,000 grants annually, including 1,200 grants to U.S. scholars.