Three faculty receive awards from national organization

April 24, 2014

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Three Bagley College of Engineering faculty members earned recognition from a national organization for their dedication to engineering and engineering education.

Dave Dampier received the 2014 Outstanding Teaching Award from the American Society for Engineering Education Southeast Section. This award is presented to faculty who have shown excellent contributions to engineering education through classroom performance.

John Brocato and Islam El-adaway were also honored during the event. Brocato was presented the Outstanding Campus Representative Award and El-adaway received the second place New Faculty Research category.

All three recipients are pleased to be recognized for their work. Dampier is specifically thankful to be acknowledged by his peers.

“I’m thrilled to be recognized for the part of my job I love the most,” Dampier said. “This award means somebody thought I made a positive difference.”

Dampier has been a member of the ASEE since he joined the Bagley College of Engineering in 2000. During this time he has served as the ASEE software engineering division chair and the secretary of the instructional division. He was also awarded the ASEE-SE New Faculty of the Year Award in 2003.

Dampier came to Mississippi State after retiring from the U.S. Army. Today he serves as the director for both the Center for Computer Security Research and the Forensics Training Center at MSU.

As an educator, Dampier said he wants to make a positive impact on each of his students, by teaching them how to learn. He enjoys working with students both in his classroom and with his research projects.

“You want to instill in students the desire to learn. If students learn how to learn it doesn’t matter what they want to learn they will be able to do it. And that’s really the most important thing to me,” Dampier said.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Texas at El Paso, Dampier went on to gain master’s and doctoral degrees from the Naval Postgraduate School.

The ASEE-SE also awarded John Brocato the Outstanding Campus Representative Award. He has won this award three times in the past.

Brocato serves as the coordinator for the Shackouls Technical Communication Program, which looks to enhance the writing and presentation skills of all engineering students. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English from MSU before joining the BCoE in 1999.

Assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering Islam El-adaway earned second place in the New Faculty Research category from the ASEE-SE.

El-adaway is currently working on three research projects, including two through the Department of Transportation. He is also engaged with an international research project concerned with applying delay analysis techniques to large construction projects.

El-adaway joined the BCoE in 2008 after completing a doctorate in civil engineering at Iowa State University. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the American University in Cairo. He holds the Richard A. Rula Professorship at MSU of construction engineering and management and was recently inducted in the BCoE Academy of Distinguished Teachers.

ASEE was founded in 1893 with the ASEE-SE forming in 1934. There are approximately 1,500 members today in the southeastern section, which is made up of nine states and Puerto Rico.

More information about the American Society of Engineering Education can be found at www.asee.org.

For more information about the Bagley College of Engineering, visit www.bagley.msstate.edu.

By: Emily McConnell