March 22, 2001-Vol32n24: Faculty receive Plesur Awards

Four faculty members have received the 2001 Milton Plesur Excellence in Teaching Awards from the undergraduate Student Association recognizing their teaching excellence and commitment to students.

Showing off their Plesur citations, from left to right, are Jennifer Zirnheld, Gregory Baker, Kemper Lewis and Tamara Thornton.

Photo: Stephanie Hamberger

The awards honor Plesur, a UB faculty member who died in 1987. The Student Association renamed its Excellence in Teaching Awards for Plesur-one of its first recipients-after his death.

A nationally regarded author and scholar of popular culture and the American presidency, Plesur delighted generations of students with his entertaining lectures that mixed erudition with warmth and humor.

Recipients of the Plesur award are student-nominated and selected. This year's recipients, who were honored at a ceremony and reception held last Friday, are:

Gregory Baker, assistant professor of geology. A UB faculty member since 1999, Baker also serves as director of the geology department's Environmental Geophysics Research (EGR) Laboratory, which applies the principles and theories of physics and instrumentation to examine the upper 200 meters of the Earth's subsurface. He teaches courses on global environmental science, geophysics/tectonics and environmental geophysics.

Kemper Lewis, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. A UB faculty member since 1996, he is director of the Design of Open Engineering Systems (DOES) Research Lab in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, which promotes and advances the state-of-the-art in multidisciplinary design optimization and modern design theory. Lewis has received a prestigious National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development grant to apply game theory-the same theory military strategists use-to improve the manufacturing design process. He teaches upper-level courses in "Machines and Mechanisms II," "Design Process and Methods," "Design of Complex Engineering Systems," "Advanced Design Theory" and "Optimization in Engineering Design."

Tamara Plakins Thornton, professor of history. A specialist in American cultural and intellectual history, Thornton is the author of "Handwriting in America: A Cultural History," which explores the many ways in which Americans historically have used handwriting as both a lesson in conformity and a talisman of individuality. A UB faculty member since 1994, she also authored "Cultivating Gentlemen: The Meaning of Country Life among the Boston Elite, 1785-1860," a study of how 18th- and 19th-century industrialists developed estates to identity themselves with European aristocracy and offset an image as exploiters of the environment and working classes.

Jennifer Zirnheld, a lecturer in the Department of Electrical Engineering. A doctoral student in electrical engineering, Zirnheld has taught in the department since 1996. Among the courses she teaches are "Electrical Devices," "Power Electronics Engineering I" and "Engineering Solutions." She has been the Bergquist Doctoral Fellow in Energy Systems since 1998 and before that was the James Clerk Maxwell Primex Doctoral Fellow and the James Clerk Maxwell Olin Doctoral Fellow.