NORMAN,
OKLA. – Janet Allen, University of Oklahoma professor of industrial
and systems engineering, was named the recipient of the 2019 Ruth and Joel
Spira Outstanding Design Educator Award.
One of the highest honors bestowed by the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers, the award recognizes an individual who has
made significant contributions to engineering design education through
scholarship creation, instructorship, and as a mentor and role model.
Allen is one of the founders of the National Science
Foundation/ASME Travel Grant Program, which she has helped run for more than 20
years. This program created a Student Design Essay Competition, funded by the
National Science Foundation. Winners are awarded grants to travel and present
their work at the International Design Engineering Technical Conferences annual
ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and
Information in Engineering Conference.
“Students go to the conference and talk to whomever
they want, present their ideas and get feedback,” Allen explains. “It gives
them the tools to continue to develop their careers.”
Since the creation of the grant, nearly a dozen essay
winners have gone into the academic field, even sending students of their own
to the conference.
Appropriately, Allen was nominated by a former student,
Wei Chen, who is a professor of mechanical engineering at Northwestern
University.
“Professor Allen is passionate about encouraging
students to rise to their full potential,” Chen wrote. “Through her educational
and outreach efforts, she has positively influenced the lives of hundreds of
undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty members.”
Allen joined the University of Oklahoma in 2009. Along
with Professor Farrokh Mistree, she established the Systems Realization
Laboratory, with a focus on engineering design. Additionally, Allen holds the
John and Mary Moore Chair of Engineering at OU.
“We’re all extremely proud of our students,” Allen says. “We want to continue
to help make their lives better, particularly their experiences in grad
school.”
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