FIU recognizes outstanding professors


MIAMI  The FIU President’s Council on Thursday presented its Outstanding Faculty Award to W. Kinzy Jones, a mechanical and materials engineering professor for more than two decades at Florida International University, where he is the founding director of  the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute.

The award was presented at Florida International University’s annual Faculty Convocation, an event that recognizes faculty selected by their peers.  Along with the honor, Jones received a $12,500 monetary award.  Two finalists for the award— Arvind Agarwal and David Lee — each received $2,000.

FIU Board of Trustees Chairman Albert E. Dotson Sr., FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg, Professor W. Kinzy Jones, FIU President's Council Chairman Morris I. Hollander, FIU Faculty Senate Chairman Thomas Breslin, FIU Interim Provost and Executive Vice President Douglas Wartzok (at podium)

FIU Board of Trustees Chairman Albert E. Dotson Sr., FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg, Professor W. Kinzy Jones, FIU President’s Council Chairman Morris I. Hollander, FIU Faculty Senate Chairman Thomas Breslin, FIU Interim Provost and Executive Vice President Douglas Wartzok (at podium)

This year, the Faculty Convocation keynote speaker was new FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg, who spoke of the “life of the mind”.

“No matter what is going on around you in the world today, your work matters,” Rosenberg said, addressing the faculty at the Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Performing Arts Center.  “The life of the mind matters. In these times as we rise to meet the challenges of the 21st century we must not take our special role for granted as guardians of the life of the mind.”

The President’s Council, a group of business and community leaders who serve as ambassadors and advisers for the university, created the award in 2000 to recognize and support sustained excellence among the FIU faculty.

“As business and civic leaders, we appreciate how the hard work of these professors enhances our lives and bolsters FIU’s reputation as an outstanding, quality, institution, dedicated to its students and their future,” said Morris I. Hollander, chairman of the President’s Council.

As he walked into the Wertheim Performing Arts Center as part of the faculty procession, Jones was surprised by his daughter, who had flown in from Atlanta.

A professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering with a joint appointment in Electrical Engineering, Jones established the 2000-square-foot Motorola Nanofabrication Facility, and the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute, known as AMERI. He also established the Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Materials Science.

Jones, who is known as a mentor to students and junior faculty, has brought more than $8.5 million in external research support to the university in the past 10 years. He holds four patents and has served as an industry and government consultant.

Jones has a Ph.D. in Materials Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as a master’s in Metallurgy and a bachelor’s in Engineering Science, both from Florida State University.

Agarwal, one of two finalists, is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. Agarwal, who joined FIU in 2002, has published more than 135 technical articles, including 90 peer-reviewed journal papers, and edited three books. In 2006 he received the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award. He has been awarded more than $3 million in research grants from leading organizations including the Office of Naval Research, the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program, NASA, the U.S. Air Force, and the Army Research Office.

The other finalist, Lee, a professor of biological sciences and leading tropical botanist, is the former director of The Kampong, a botanical and research garden located on the shores of Biscayne Bay.  Lee, who has been at FIU for 29 years, has conducted fieldwork throughout the tropics and in the Everglades and published widely on the subject of plant color, including in the prestigious scientific journal Nature.  The American Association of Publishers named his book, “Nature’s Palette: The Science of Plant Color”, the Best Scholarly Book in Biological and Life Sciences for 2007. During his three decades at FIU, Lee has helped establish a strong program in tropical botany, serving as founding chairperson of the Department of Environmental Studies. From 2006 to 2007, he also served as chairman of the Biological Sciences Department.

Faculty members also were recognized for excellence in the areas of teaching, research, service, graduate mentorship, and advising. For information on all the winners, click here. To see the professors being honored, click on the video below.

For the full version of Rosenberg’s speech, please click here or watch the video below.

Media contact: Madeline Baró, 305-348-2234

 —FIU—

About FIU:
Florida International University was founded in 1965 and is Miami’s only public research university. With a student body of more than 38,000, its 17 colleges and schools offer more than 200 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations and law. More than 100,000 FIU alumni live and work in South Florida. FIU has been classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a “High Research Activity University”. In August 2009, FIU welcomed the inaugural class of the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu.