Engineering professor Sankaran Mahadevan was named the Vanderbilt recipient of a 2016 Southeastern Conference Faculty Achievement Award, the SEC announced March 30.
Mahadevan, John R. Murray Sr. Professor of Engineering, was recognized for his outstanding record in teaching, research and scholarship. One winner is selected each year from each SEC school.
“The SEC Faculty Achievement Awards provide a unique opportunity for our conference to recognize the work of world-renowned faculty members from each of our 14 universities,” said Vanderbilt Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos, president of the SEC. “This year’s winners represent some of the brightest and most accomplished individuals in their disciplines, and I offer each of them my sincerest congratulations.”
SEC Faculty Achievement Award winners receive a $5,000 honorarium and become their university’s nominee for the SEC Professor of the Year Award. The SEC Professor of the Year, to be named in April, receives an additional $15,000 honorarium and is recognized at the SEC Awards Dinner. Isabel Gauthier, David K. Wilson Professor of Psychology and professor of radiology and radiological sciences at Vanderbilt, won the Professor of the Year Award in 2015.
To be eligible for the SEC Faculty Achievement Award, a candidate must be a teacher or scholar at an SEC university; have achieved the rank of full professor; have a record of extraordinary teaching; and have a record of scholarship that is recognized nationally and/or internationally.
Winners are selected by a committee of SEC provosts.
The SEC Faculty Achievement Awards and the SEC Professor of the Year Award are part of SECU, the academic initiative of the Southeastern Conference, which sponsors, supports and promotes collaborative higher education programs and activities involving administrators, faculty and students at its 14 member universities.
“The SEC is honored to support the scholarship and research of these 14 men and women, who represent nearly 14,000 full-time, tenured professors in the SEC,” said Greg Sankey, commissioner of the SEC. “We appreciate all they have done to empower and encourage students to make a difference and to positively showcase the Southeastern Conference within the region and around the world.”
The 2016 SEC Faculty Achievement Award recipients are:
- University of Alabama, Seth Panitch, professor of acting
- University of Arkansas, Rodolfo Nayga Jr., professor and Tyson Chair in Food Policy Economics
- Auburn University, Hanqin Tian, Solon and Martha Dixon Endowed Professor
- University of Florida, Jose Principe, Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering
- University of Georgia, Milton Masciadri, Distinguished University Professor of Music
- University of Kentucky, W. Brent Seales, professor of computer science
- Louisiana State University, Isiah Warner, Boyd Professor and Philip W. West Professor of Analytical and Environmental Chemistry
- University of Mississippi, Joey Granger, Billy S. Guyton Distinguished Professor
- Mississippi State University, T. Brent Funderburk, William L. Giles Distinguished Professor of Art
- University of Missouri, Glen Cameron, professor of journalism
- University of South Carolina, Claudia Benitez-Nelson, College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor
- University of Tennessee, Susan Riechert, Distinguished Service Professor
- Texas A&M University, Rafael Lara-Alecio, Regents Professor of Educational Psychology
- Vanderbilt University, Sankaran Mahadevan, John R. Murray Sr. Professor of Engineering