Award Winners

The School of Engineering is delighted to announce the 2019-20 Faculty Award recipients: Tonya Nilsson, Teacher of the Year; Behnam Dezfouli, Researcher of the Year; Stephen Hudgens, Adjunct Lecturer of the Year; and Robert Kleinhenz receives the Gerald E. Markle Award for Teaching Excellence in Applied Mathematics and Engineering.

Praised for her contributions to the curriculum development of the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Sustainable Engineering, students also appreciate Dr. Nilsson’s innovative teaching approach that encourages classroom engagement and interactive learning while addressing the different learning styles and challenges of SCU’s diverse student population.  An unflagging mentor and supporter of student learning, Dr. T gives generously of her time as advisor of SCU’s Engineering Without Borders and Society of Women Engineers student chapters. As a teacher, mentor, and leader, she is inspirational to all, but particularly to the female students in her classroom, who view her as a role model for their own success.

Researcher of the Year – Behnam Dezfouli
Computer Science and Engineering

Dr. Dezfouli heads a robust research program in the field of IoT reliability, energy-efficiency, timeliness, and security requirements. Dedicated to involving undergraduate and graduate students in research in wireless communication, software-defined networking, edge and fog computing, network and computing virtualization, and machine learning, he has published 11 journal papers and 16 peer-reviewed conference papers in top-ranked venues. He also serves his profession and community as associate editor and reviewer for nearly a dozen flagship journals, technical program committee member of major conferences and workshops, and through the development and deployment of Flomosys, a flood monitoring system funded by Santa Clara Valley Water District and the City of San Jose.

Adjunct Lecturer of the Year – Stephen Hudgens
Electrical and Computer Engineering

For more than a decade, Dr. Hudgens has been the principal contributor to the School of Engineering’s nanotechnology curriculum, for which he recently helped reestablish the ECEN 156/MECH 156, Introduction to Nanotechnology course. Colleagues laud his openness to exploring new technical fields, and willingness to broaden his area of expertise to meet departmental needs. Students appreciate his passion for teaching, presentation of relevant and practical examples gleaned from industry experience, and commitment of his time and effort to further student understanding. As an adjunct lecturer, Dr. Hudgens not only meets his teaching obligations, but also genuinely cares about the wellbeing of the students, the department, and its programs.

Gerald E. Markle Award – Robert Kleinhenz
Applied Mathematics

Dr. Robert Kleinhenz has taught undergraduate probability and statistics and graduate courses in probability, stochastic process, and Markov chains at Santa Clara since 2009 and receives this award in recognition of his outstanding work with students. Of particular note are his interesting graduate course assignments and his data-rich group projects at the undergraduate level that ask students to apply, in engineering contexts, the concepts and techniques learned in class. Having worked as an engineer and consultant for various companies relating to aerospace, communications, and software, in recent years he has also collaborated on research projects that involve application of mathematics to computing and to crystallography.