Texas A&M Presents International Awards For Excellence To Three Faculty, One Student

Texas A&M University has presented the 2012 Eppright Award honoring an international student and the Bush Excellence Awards for international teaching, international research and public service.

Bush Excellence Awards, established through the vision and support of President and Mrs. George H.W. Bush in 2002, were presented to Vijay P. Singh, Stephen W. McDaniel and M. Sam Mannan on Wednesday (April 18) at a dinner honoring international excellence. Texas A&M Executive Vice President and Provost Karan Watson and Executive Director of the Bush Foundation Roman Popadiuk presented each recipient with a plaque and a check for $2,500 during the dinner presentation.

Anuj Chaudhry, a doctoral student in electrical engineering from India, received the 2012 Eppright Outstanding International Student Award during the International Board luncheon honoring student excellence on Thursday (April 19). The award is the highest honor presented to a currently enrolled international student.

The Bush Excellence Awards

The Bush Excellence Award for faculty in International Research was presented to Singh, professor and Caroline and William N. Lehrer Distinguished Chair in Water Engineering in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Organizers say for more than 30 years, Singh has dedicated his scientific and intellectual efforts for the betterment of humanity through national and international contributions to water resources engineering.

The research he pioneered in entropy theory in hydrology now has its roots in collaboration with distinguished scientists and engineers from 15 countries representing every continent of the world. According to his colleagues, his hundreds of published articles, 18 text books and 17 chapters have made a tremendous educational impact making him sought after as a keynote speaker all over the world. Singh has received more than 100 honors, awards and fellowships including honorary professorships and foreign memberships of academies of engineering and sciences from universities, national academies and government entities representing several European countries, India, China, Australia, Canada and Mexico. One nominator wrote that “Singh’s leadership, dedication and commitment are unmatched in the U.S. and outside. He has put the Texas A&M University water program on the world map.”

From Mays Business School, the 2012 Bush Excellence Award for Faculty in International Teaching was presented to McDaniel, professor of marketing, director of the Study Abroad Program in Marketing, the director of the Master of Science in Marketing Program and adviser for marketing cooperative education students.

McDaniel has served Texas A&M for more than 30 years. One of his main goals is to elevate the rigor and richness of the courses offered through study abroad. For the past seven years he has taken approximately 80 students on an eight country tour exposing then to unique cultures, unique business practices and unique people on a month long study abroad course. One nominator said, “Although he is a task master – requiring students to work hard on impressive projects – he has consistently been right on the top in the student evaluation scale.” One student, now in London as a result of her experiences in McDaniel’s courses, said she gives back by answering questions from students about living and working abroad, but “Dr. Mac is the one who inspires them to work abroad.”

Mannan, Regents Professor and director of the Mary Kay O’Connor Safety Center of the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering in the Dwight Look College of Engineering, received the Bush Excellence Award for Faculty in Public Service.

Mannan has brought recognition to Texas A&M, Texas Engineering Experiment Station and the Texas A&M System through his successful work worldwide as director of The Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center, which is globally considered a leading scientific institution implementing an original applied research program. This program provides necessary expertise and data for practical prevention against accidents, major failures and industrial disasters.

He is a consultant for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies and has testified before Congress, served on the NASA board investigating the Challenger shuttle explosion and on an oversight board that ensure the safety of the U.S. Army’s chemical demilitarization facilities.

His nominators say Mannan has done more than anyone to increase and spread the knowledge of process safety and reduce the injuries, deaths and damage caused by industrial accidents.

The Bush Excellence Awards were established through the vision and support of President and Mrs. George H.W. Bush in 2002, with financial assistance from the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation. Since that time 33 awards have been presented to Texas A&M faculty. To view recipients from previous years, visit the Public Partnership & Outreach website.

Eppright Outstanding International Student Award

The Texas A&M Eppright Outstanding International Student Award recognizes the outstanding contribution made by a student to international understanding and leadership at Texas A&M and in the local community. Facilitated by Scholarships and Financial Aid, this award, which carries with it a $2,500 scholarship, recognizes excellent academic record, involvement in a wide array of university and community activities, and promotion of international awareness on campus and in the community.

Chad Wootton, associate vice president for public partnership and outreach, who presented the award, said Chaudhry is a great example of students who, no matter where they come from around the world, embrace the Aggie value of selfless service to the greater good.

Born and raised in Mumbai, India, Chaudhry came to Texas A&M in the fall of 2007. Almost immediately he became involved in academic and in student activities serving first as a representative for the department of Electrical Engineering on the Graduate Student Council and went on to serve in numerous leadership positions.

In addition to serving in several capacities on the Graduate Student Council, he also held leadership positions in the International Student Association, the Student Government Diversity Commission and the International Graduate Student Council. He co-founded and served as president of the Indian Graduate Student Council and as president of the India Association.

He says he believes that Texas A&M offers many opportunities to learn from its multicultural environment that encourages personal and professional growth for all of its students.