Category: People

This year’s Frist Humanitarian Award Volunteer
winner is Hanna Lewis. Hanna is a Child Life
Volunteer at TriStar Centennial Women’s and
Children’s Hospital. For the last two years, she has
extended her vibrant spirit and compassion to
patients and families through the hospital. Hanna
began volunteering at the start of the COVID
pandemic. She organized the first Teddy Bear Clinic,
participated in holiday parades outside the hospital,
and added valuable content to our YouTube channel
to provide activities for the children. A very special
story I wish to share is a patient missed an important
football game due to treatment. Hanna immediately
sprang into action. She coordinated three Titans
football players to spend the day with this patient to
support him and give him a wonderful day. Thank you
Hanna for caring for our patients with passion and
dedication. We are honored you choose to volunteer
here at Centennial. Congratulations for being our
2022 Frist Humanitarian Award Volunteer Winner.

Hello, Golden Eagles! Today we’re giving a Wings Up Welcome to our brand-new admin here at the Women’s Center: Jordan Dicey! We’re super excited to have her working here with us, so Welcome Aboard, Jordan!

Have you ever wished you could feel more confident in knowing how to support someone who might be at risk of suicide? Come join us on Sept. 15 from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. in the RUC Tech Pride Room and become QPR certified. You will learn how to recognize and respond to those at risk of suicide, how to offer hope, and how to connect to the appropriate resources and save a life.

Chance Morris, a senior chemistry major with minors in biology and environmental studies, recently received the Student Scholarship Program Award from the Tennessee Environmental Network Show of the South (TENSOS) at their conference earlier this summer. TENSOS is a meeting for environmental professionals in the Southeast to meet and work together on tackling large environmental problems. Chance participated in a three round competition where he first submitted an abstract over his research project and was then invited to submit a poster over his work in the second round. He was one of the finalists to be invited to the third round of the competition to present his poster in person and give a short presentation at the TENSOS conference. Chance received one of two scholarships awarded at the meeting, and was the only undergraduate recipient. Chance conducts environmental chemistry research with Dr. Amanda Carroll working to remediate heavy metal contaminants from water sources.

The College of Graduate Studies would like to welcome Karen Warren as our new Coordinator of Graduate Studies. She will be handling all areas within degree progression. Karen started her career at Tennessee Tech in 2016 working in the Water Center. We know that she will be a great asset to our department and we are so happy to have her on our team.

Tennessee Tech’s Chapter of the American Chemical Society (ACS) is among the top 10 in the world! In just one year, this group held a total of 80 events – 19 service events, 15 professional development events and 46 chapter development events. This is even more incredible because it happened during the pandemic! In addition to inclusion in the top 10 student chapters, Tennessee Tech’s group earned both the Outstanding and Green Chemistry Awards.

ACS students completed science activities with the campus and community, assisted in the Chemistry Olympiad, hosted speakers, presented research and wrote grants to support activities and conference travel. In addition, students collaborated with the Nashville local section of ACS and hosted a virtual speaker whose topic was Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Respect in Chemistry which earned the Tennessee Tech Student Chapter a 2021 ChemLuminary award in Fostering Interactions between Local Sections and Student Chapters from ACS.

Dr. Adedeji Badiru, awesome alumnus (B.S. Industrial Engineering 1979, M.S. Mathematics 1981 and M.S. Industrial Engineering 1982) is the recipient of the 2022 Industrial Engineering and Operations Management (IEOM) Society International Frederick Winslow Taylor Award – the highest award presented by the society to recognize members who have distinguished themselves in the IEOM field. Dr. Badiru recently returned to his alma mater, Tennessee Tech University, and visited with Dr. Jeff Roberts, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), and Dr. Allan Mills, Associate Dean of the CAS. Dr. Badiru has generously donated funds to establish the Carroll Viera Appreciation Scholarship Endowment for students studying English. This fund is to show his appreciation for friendship and mentorship that Dr. Vierra (retired English professor, College of Arts and Sciences) provided throughout his academic career at Tennessee Tech.

Nine students and two faculty members from the department of Earth Science attended the 2022 Geological Society of America Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio, April 7-9. Two students, Billy Clanton and Sydney Beltran, received URECA! Travel grants to attend the conference. Other students raised funds through the GeoClub to fund their travel.

Billy Clanton presented his senior thesis research on the Fort Payne Formation, a rock unit that outcrops near Celina, TN. Billy will attend graduate school at the University of Southern Mississippi this fall. Sydney Beltran presented her senior thesis research on alluvial fans and deltas in Norway. These features are Earth-based analogs for similar structures on Mars. Sydney received a Creative Inquiry Summer Experience award to continue her research this summer.

Dr. Bhattacharya presented results from his postdoctoral research on the Indus Basin which record evidence of a tectonic collision between the Indian and Asian plates. He will return to TTU as an Assistant Professor in Earth Sciences this fall.

Dr. Carla Hurt of the Department of Biology is a recipient of the 2021-2022 College of Arts & Sciences Award for Research and Scholarly Activity. This award recognizes a significant research publication or creative project appearing during the previous two years and receiving expert critical review. Dr. Hurt is recognized for using new methods of phylogenomic sequencing to create the first worldwide phylogeny of Alpheus snapping shrimp.