Three Faculty Members Honored for Excellence

MELBOURNE, FLA.—Three Florida Institute of Technology faculty members recently earned the university’s 2009 Faculty Excellence Awards for outstanding performance. They were Veton Këpuska, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, the Kerry Bruce Clark Award for Excellence in Teaching; Kurt Winkelmann, associate professor of chemistry, the Andrew W. Revay Jr. Award for Excellence in Service; and Marc Baarmand, professor of physics and space sciences, the Award for Excellence in Research.

Këpuska has introduced several new graduate courses in the area of speech processing and significantly revamped undergraduate courses related to microprocessors and Internet programming. He also received excellent evaluations from undergraduates for directing a research project supported by the National Science Foundation: “Collaborative Research: Advances of Machine Learning in Theory and Applications.” His students have won many awards in local, national and international competitions, including first place in a competition organized by Advanced Micro Devices and the University of Massachusetts.

Winkelmann was faculty senate president from 2008 to 2009. He also chaired the Professional Development Subcommittee of the Academic Information Technology Committee and has been adviser to the Florida Tech student chapter of the American Chemical Society, which hosts frequent events such as liquid-nitrogen ice cream socials. Winkelmann also conducts chemistry demonstrations at local schools and for middle school and high school students who visit the Florida Tech campus.

Baarmand is an internationally known expert in high-energy physics. When he came to Florida Tech in 2000 he brought with him an experimental particle physics program based on research with the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the European Center for Particle Physics (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. The center is the largest high-energy physics laboratory in the world. While at Florida Tech, he has received more than $1.5 million in funding from the Department of Energy for this project. Baarmand has also authored more than 60 refereed journal publications since 2000.

PHOTO:  From left, Florida Tech 2009 Faculty Excellence winners Kurt Winkelmann, Veton Këpuska and Marc Baarmand.