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College of Engineering Dean Wayne Davis, right, presents Hash Hashemian with the college's Nathan W. Dougherty Award, it's highest honor.
College of Engineering Dean Wayne Davis, right, presents Hash Hashemian with the college’s Nathan W. Dougherty Award, it’s highest honor.

When Hash Hashemian, then a recent nuclear engineering graduate, and then-department head Tom Kerlin co-founded Analysis and Measurement Services in 1977, their main goal was to provide the nuclear energy industry with a reliable source of testing and problem solving.

In the years since, AMS has become a globally recognized leader in nuclear energy and safety, establishing a connection in every nuclear plant in the United States as well as in several other countries.

Hashemian has garnered several awards for those efforts, and now UT, his alma mater, is recognizing him with the highest honor the College of Engineering can bestow, the Nathan W. Dougherty award.

“I am very honored to have been chosen for such a prestigious recognition,” said Hashemian. “To be chosen for this is a validation not only of the things that I have done, but of the hard work of those who I have been fortunate to collaborate with over the years.”

The award has been given annually in honor of Dougherty, who served as dean of the college from 1940 to 1956 and was a captain of UT’s football and basketball teams as a student athlete in the early 1900s. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1967.

Recognizing Dougherty’s success in engineering and education, the award singles out those who have “brought honor and distinction to the college through their achievements or who have made significant contributions to the engineering profession in Tennessee through their professional activities.”

For Hashemian, those activities include being named a fellow of the American Nuclear Society, winning the society’s Robert L. Long Training Excellence Award, receiving a UT Alumni Professional Achievement Award, and providing financial support to help found the organization Systers: Women in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, which serves to recruit, mentor, and retain women in those fields at UT.

“Hash Hashemian is one of those special individuals who has made a very significant contribution to the nuclear engineering field.” said College of Engineering Dean Wayne Davis. “He has also been a great alumnus and friend to the college and to the departments in which he has been involved.

“He is very deserving of this award.”

The College of Engineering honored Hashemian along with other faculty and staff members at its banquet on Thursday night.

Outstanding Staff Awards went to Jada Huskey, director, College of Engineering Research Office; William Frank Holiway, accounting specialist III, Materials Science and Engineering; Jonathan Turnmire, IT specialist, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

College-wide Faculty Awards were presented in the following areas:

Dean’s Faculty Award for early achievements in sponsored research: Steven Skutnik, assistant professor, Department of Nuclear Engineering

Outstanding Advisor: Mingzhou Jin, professor and associate head, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering; John Ma, professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Leon and Nancy Cole Teaching Award: Claudia Rawn, director, Center for Materials Processing and professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Charles Edward Ferris Award: Jenny Retherford, lecturer, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Moses E. and Mayme Brooks Distinguished Professor Award: Kevin Tomsovic, director, CURENT and professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Teaching Fellows: Daniel Costinett, assistant professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Aly Fathy, James McConnell Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Paul Frymier, professor, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Xueping Li, associate professor, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Professional Promise in Research Awards: Wei Gao, assistant professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Jason Hayward, UCOR Faculty Fellow in Nuclear Engineering, Department of Nuclear Engineering; Kai Sun, assistant professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Cong Trinh, assistant professor, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Research Achievement Award: Baoshan Huang, Edwin G. Burdette Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Joshua Fu, professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Hairong Qi, Gonzalez Family Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Philip Rack, Leonard G. Penland Chair, Department of Materials Science and Engineering; Fred Wang, R. M. Condra Chair of Excellence and professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Translational Research Award: Matthew Mench, R. M. Condra Chair of Excellence, professor and head, Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering; Thomas Zawodzinski, Governor’s Chair for Electrical Energy Storage, Department of Chemical and Bimolecular Engineering

C O N T A C T :

David Goddard (865-974-0683, david.goddard@utk.edu)