The College of Engineering and Computing honored seven faculty and six staff members during a staff meeting and awards ceremony Oct. 25.

Dr. Mingzhen Wei, associate professor of petroleum engineering, is the 2018 CEC Dean’s Scholar in recognition of work that uses machine learning, neural networks and artificial intelligence to address the challenges of her discipline.

Three Dean’s Educators were announced:

• Dr. Ralph Flori, associate professor of petroleum engineering and assistant chair for undergraduate studies
• Dr. Keith Nisbett, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and associate chair for undergraduate studies
• Dr. Eric Showalter, assistant chair and teaching professor of civil engineering.

The college recognized three faculty members awarded patents for their research in the past year:

• Dr. Sutapa Barua, assistant professor of chemical and biochemical engineering
• Dr. Mehdi Ferdowsi, professor of electrical and computer engineering
• Dr. Donald Wunsch, M.K. Finley Missouri Distinguished Professor of electrical and computer engineering.

Six staff members were presented the following awards:

• Rookie of the Year Award: Elaina Manson, office support assistant in computer science
• Team Impact Award: Jeannie Werner, office support assistant in civil, architectural and environmental engineering
• Student Service Award: Jody Seely, office support assistant in civil, architectural and environmental engineering
• Extra Mile Award: John Bullock, engineering technician in architectural and environmental engineering
• Loyalty Award: Patty Robertson, administrative assistant in geosciences and geological and petroleum engineering
• Peer-to-Peer Award: Becky Callen, chief clerk in civil, architectural and environmental engineering.