To give top Clark School master's student researchers special recognition that will be valuable in launching their careers, and to show all students the importance of high quality engineering research, Dean Darryll Pines created the Dean's Master's Student Research Award Competition this year. Students submitted their work through competitions at the unit level. Three judges assembled in the Kim Engineering Building earlier this month to evaluate the finalists, and Dean Pines has announced the winners for 2009:

First Place:
Bradley Johnson, Aerospace Engineering,
Advisor: Professor J. Gordon Leishman
"Mechanisms of Sediment Entrainment and Transport in Rotorcraft Brownout"
Prize: $1,500

Second Place:
Dean Berlin, Bio-engineering
Advisor: Professor Gary Rubloff:
"Enzyme Inhibition in Microfluidics for Re-engineering Bacterial Synthesis Pathways"
Prize: $1,000

Dean Pines congratulated all the winners (and their advisors) on the quality of their submissions, noting the power of competition to inspire high student achievement. He also thanked the judges: Associate Dean Mark Shayman, Department of Fire Protection Engineering Chair Marino di Marzo and Department of Materials Science and Engineering Chair Rob Briber.