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White House Recognizes George Lee for Mentoring Excellence
President Bush congratulates PAESMEM winner George C. Lee.
The White House honored SUNY Distinguished Professor George C. Lee (CSEE) with a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM), administered by the NSF. The award honors a commitment to mentoring students and boosting the participation of minorities, women, and disabled students in science, mathematics, and engineering.
CSEE professor since 1961, George C. Lee is Samuel Capen Professor of Engineering. He was the founding MCEER director, the School of Engineering dean, as CSEE department chair, as Calspan-UB Research Center associate director, and UB Greater Regional Industrial Technology Program (UB GRIT) director. Lee founded the Engineering Career Institute ECI, a supplemental summer program for UB engineering students that provides local companies with skilled interns.
His research has ranged from earthquake engineering to modeling of the mechanics behavior of biological systems. His scholarship and leadership in multidisciplinary earthquake engineering is internationally recognized.
For over 40 years Lee has mentored underrepresented Buffalo area high school students and has fostered UB organizations for underrepresented groups. He appointed the School of Engineering’s first director of minority programs and was the principal founding director of BEAM, Buffalo Engineering Awareness for Minorities.
A prolific researcher, Lee has co-authored four books and published 250 papers on structural engineering and mechanics, steel structures, and earthquake engineering.
His many awards include the NSF Superior Accomplishment Award, the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Newmark Medal, the UB Alumni Association’s Walter P. Cooke Award, the President’s Medal for Distinguished University Service from UB, the UB Engineering Dean’s Award for Achievement, and the UB Award for Outstanding Contributions to International Education.