Colorado State University Engineering Professor Honored with National Award

Note to Reporters: A photo of Professor Azer Yalin is available with the news release at http://www.news.colostate.edu/.

The Society of Automobile Engineers International has honored Azer Yalin, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Colorado State University, with the Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award for young educators who are successfully preparing engineers to meet societal challenges.

Yalin received the award in recognition of his teaching and research in the aerospace area. His research focuses on innovative applications of lasers, including their use to ignite internal combustion engines, and on the erosion of engines used for satellites and spacecraft. The Colorado State University Research Foundation has filed multiple patent applications associated with Yalin’s advanced research in laser ignition systems that will help improve industrial engine performance while reducing pollution.

Yalin has 30 journal publications, 50 conference proceedings and presentations and three patents. His awards include the Abell Outstanding Early-Career Faculty Award from CSU’s College of Engineering. He also serves as director of the university’s NASA Space Grant Program and as faculty adviser to the student chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. The NASA Space Grant Program provides opportunities for CSU undergraduate students to build and fly satellite payloads and other space hardware.

He received a bachelor’s in engineering physics from Queen’s University, and master’s and doctoral degrees from Princeton University.
 

The SAE award honors the late Ralph R. Teetor, 1936 SAE international president, who believed that engineering educators are the most effective link between engineering students and their future careers. It is funded through the SAE Foundation and administered by the Teetor Educational Award Committee. SAE International is a global association of more than 121,000 engineers and related technical experts in the automotive, aerospace and commercial-vehicle industries.

The organization will present Yalin with his award at a November conference in Seattle.

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