Vision Awards 2017
Ms. Laura Bistrek
The School of Engineering 2017 Vision Award for Excellence in Community was presented to Ms. Laura Bistrek, director of the School's Diversity in Engineering Center (DEC), for her significant contributions in the area of diversity and inclusion through her involvement with the Multi-Ethnic Engineers Program (MEP), the Women Engineering Program (WEP) and, most recently, for her extraordinary leadership of the Diversity in Engineering Center.
Ms. Bistrek joined the University of Dayton in 2006 as program manager for MEP and WEP. In August 2015, she was named director of the DEC. Under her direction, the School's diversity and inclusion programs and commitments heightened through her continued cultivation and collaboration with groups within the School as well as across campus, including the Women's Center, the Center for International Programs and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, consistently messaging the overall benefits of a diverse and inclusive University. She actively engages and leads UD search committees to hire faculty and staff from diverse backgrounds, arranges diversity educational presentations for faculty, staff and students, such as the University’s Ally training, cultivates a learning community to enhance the campus climate, and serves as an advocate for our diverse faculty, staff and students.
Dr. Jun-Ki Choi
The School of Engineering 2017 Vision Award for Innovation was presented to Dr. Jun-Ki Choi, particularly for his innovative course, the Design for Environment, and because of his innovative teaching techniques and strategies that include unique experiential learning experiences for our students, as well as his continued pursuit of teaching and learning scholarship.
Dr. Choi, assistant professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, teaches graduate students in the Renewable and Clean Energy (RCL) program and is assistant director for the University's Industrial Assessment Center. Dr. Choi's research program includes sustainable manufacturing, energy and resource efficiency, design for environment, life-cycle assessment and economic input-output analysis. Dr. Choi worked with Crown Equipment to test the efficacy of the industry-involved, project-based learning course, and his work was published in KEEN’zine, http://online.fliphtml5.com/zyet/swsb/#p=38. He has been invited to present his research by the National Science Foundation, the Ohio Manufacturing Association, and the National Institute of Standard and Technology. He co-lead the University’s Solar Thermal Adsorption Refrigeration (STAR) team winning three awards from the National P3 (People, Planet, Prosperity) Competition (pictured above). As a KEEN Fellow, he is active in the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network.
Dr. Vijayan Asari
The School of Engineering 2017 Vision Award for Excellence in Scholarship was presented to Dr. Vijayan Asari for his significant accomplishments in the area of scholarship, which includes over $5M in funding support and numerous publications and citations. Dr. Asari routinely supports our undergraduate and graduate students and engages in service to the department, School, University of Dayton and the profession that inspires our youth in the pursuit of an engineering education.
Dr. Vijayan Asari, professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is also the Ohio Research Scholars Endowed Chair in Wide Area Surveillance at the University. As founding director of the School's world-class research facility, Vision Lab (Center of Excellence for Computer Vision and Wide Area Surveillance Research), Dr. Asari readily collaborates with local, national and international faculty and industry research partners as well as supervises 12 Ph.D., 11 M.S. and 38 undergraduate research students. His research funding sources include the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, National Science Foundation, Pipeline Research Council International and Pacific Gas and Electric. His regional industry partnerships include 361 Interactive, Universal Technology, MZA Associates, Persistent Surveillance Systems, Woolpert, Ball Aerospace, Yasakawa Motoman, Riverside Research, SelectTech GeoSpatial and Unmanned Solutions Technology. Dr. Asari has published more than 570 research articles, 93 peer-reviewed journal papers, 36 book chapters, 273 articles in conference proceedings, 7 special issues and 169 abstracts co-authoring with his graduate students and colleagues. Per Google Scholar, his articles have been cited 3261 times by researchers from around the world. He was awarded three U.S. patents with his former graduate students and colleagues and currently has two under review. His Vision Lab team regularly opens their doors for lab tours, etc. for department, School and University visitors. UD Vision Lab has sponsored a capstone project for the last five years to senior engineering students and recently offered a second capstone project. He has served on the graduate program committee, was chair of the faculty development committee and chaired the promotion and tenure committee, with other areas of service that include the School's Strategic Planning Committee and Research Advisory Council, and the International Engagement team, the University Strategic Visioning Steering Committee, and co-chaired the University Strategic Visioning Working Research and Innovation Group.
Dr. Amy Ciric
The School of Engineering 2017 Vision Award for Excellence in Engagement and Service has been presented to Dr. Amy Ciric because of her commitment to our vision to serve the common good and because her vision and work engage our students in service for the common good.
Dr. Ciric serves the needs of our global community by providing the means to affordable, sustainable access to vaccines and medicines that ensure treatment for communicable and non-communicable disease. Access to vaccines requires effective refrigeration solutions in communities that endure extreme poverty, which is recognized as a strategic target for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (3.B.1) and is also the goal of the Solar-Thermal Adsorptive Refrigerator (STAR) project, which won three awards from the National P3 (People, Planet, Prosperity) Competition (pictured above). Nationally recognized for quality and impact, the STAR project established us as a leader in this new and innovative technology that serves both our local and global needs. Dr. Ciric's vision for our global engagement attracted undergraduate and graduate students and faculty. Her unwavering dedication and passion nourishes our STAR research team to provide an environmentally benign, non-electric refrigeration solution to store vaccines in off-the-grid areas. Dr. Ciric's commitment to our School's vision and mission is characterized by her core Marianist spirit of staying with it. Not only are her engagement and service exemplary but also her vision and work to engage our students in service to the common good; she models what we say with tangible actions.