UAB students, faculty honored at 60th Annual ECOB Awards Banquet

Ryan Willams, and Steven GardnerThe Engineering Council of Birmingham held its 60th Annual Awards Banquet on Tuesday, Feb. 19, where the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s School of Engineering was well-represented at the historic event, with UAB students and faculty receiving awards from the organization.

Steven Gardner, a graduate student in the UAB Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was named the UAB Graduate Student of the Year, and Ryan Williams of the Materials Science and Engineering Department was named the UAB Undergraduate of the Year.

Also nominated for student awards were undergraduates Joseph Willis, Biomedical Engineering; Allison Beatty Elliott, Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering; and Elizabeth Ryan, Materials Engineering; and graduate students Wesley Claiborne LaBarge, Biomedical Engineering; Mary Claire Nabors, Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering; Carlos Larrazabal, Materials Science Engineering; and Santosh Gautam, Materials Engineering.

In addition to the student awards, Fouad Fouad, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, was named the organization’s Educator of the Year. Fouad has mentored hundreds of students and faculty during his long career at UAB, including the past 20 years as department chair. His award marks the second straight year the ECOB Educator of the Year Award has gone to someone in the school’s CCEE Department, following Virginia Sisiopiku, Ph.D., last year.

Fouad Fouad, Ph.D.Another CCEE professor, Bob Peters, Ph.D., was nominated this year for ECOB Engineer of the Year.

“It is an honor each year during Engineers Week to join engineering professionals from all disciplines at this ECOB event,” said Iwan Alexander, Ph.D., dean of the School of Engineering. “This organization helps bring the engineering community together, and it helps bring attention to the achievements of our faculty, students and alumni. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners.”