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Chemical engineering professor and chairman Pedro E. Arce is a recipient of this year s Tennessee Tech University Caplenor Faculty Research Award. The award is granted on the strength of overall accomplishments in scholastic impact, mentoring and publications, and letters of recommendation. Traditionally, the university gives one each year. This year, Tennessee Tech music professor Greg Danner also received a Caplenor. Since Arce joined Tennessee Tech s faculty in 2003, the chemical engineering department has grown in enrollment, retention and undergraduate- and graduate-level research. Today, the department has the university s highest ratio of doctoral graduates to faculty members. By comparison, in 2003 the department produced no doctoral graduates. I see research as the backbone for practically everything else in academia; after all, research is one of the most effective learning strategies, said Arce. I call it a research continuum, as we encourage research and outside-the-box thinking. I strive to keep research inclusive, with no separation between undergrad and grad-level work. It has paid off particularly well in biotechnology; we have a core faculty and offer several new graduate-level courses in that field, as well a bachelor s degree concentration with about a third of the undergraduate students enrolled in it. Under Arce s leadership, the department s faculty members are evenly split between men and women, which is rare in engineering fields. Female enrollment is on the rise as well, going from 68 students in 2012 to 84 in 2013. Many women have graduated with master s and doctoral degrees since 2003, when no women were enrolled. Pedro has been instrumental in drawing women to Tennessee Tech s chemical engineering program, said associate professor Holly Stretz. He s been mindful of things like recognitions, grants, awards to female students and generally acting quickly and presenting really good reasons to get female faculty and students on board. Arce earned his bachelor s in chemical engineering at Argentina s Universidad Nacional de Litoral in 1977, and his master s and doctoral degrees, also in chemical engineering, at Purdue University in 1987 and 1990, respectively. In addition to being a Tennessee Tech Distinguished Faculty Fellow, he won the 2014 Outstanding Faculty Award for Professional Service. He has secured and managed more than $1.8 million in student support and more than $1 million in research funding. Several of Arce s former students have received prestigious graduate government and foundation fellowships, including those from Chile, Brazil, Saudi-Arabia, Sweden and the Schlumberger Foundation. Arce has mentored more than 130 research projects including undergraduate, master, doctoral and post-doctoral students. Many students are from underrepresented minorities and several are in academia in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, South Korea and the U.S. He has authored or co-authored more than 120 peer-reviewed publications, holds seven patents or patent disclosures, and has delivered more than 200 technical presentations. His research group has made ground-breaking contributions in the use of high electrical fields for water and soil purification, as well as developing new and more efficient materials for batteries and fuel cells. The Caplenor award was established in memory of Charles Donald Caplenor, former associate vice president for research and dean of instructional development at Tennessee Tech. Arce and Danner will receive their awards during a faculty awards banquet in April. |