Saint Martin’s professor to receive regional engineering award

Jan. 31,2005

Lacey, Wash. – Saint Martin’s mechanical engineering Prof. Amanie Abdelmessih, Ph.D., has been selected by the Puget Sound Engineering Council to receive its 2005 Academic Engineer of the Year Award. It will be presented Feb. 26 at the council’s awards banquet at Boeing Museum of Flight.

The Puget Sound Engineering Council consists of some 30 area chapters or sections of national engineering, architectural, and associated scientific societies. It annually gives the award to an engineer in academia who has significantly advanced the state of the art of engineering and taken an active role in interposing new technologies in society and improving the level and scope of engineering education.

Linda Thomas, president of the Society for Women Engineers – Pacific Northwest Section, a council member, wrote in a recent newsletter, “(Abdelmessih) has demonstrated excellence as an engineering educator through her dedication in student instruction, mentorship in the Saint Martins College student activities and projects, and leadership as a SWE student section adviser,” said. “Her accomplishments lie in enabling her students to excel in their research projects and gain recognition in the technical community. She is highly regarded for her encouragement and support to the students of Saint Martins College, and has been an active contributor to SWE activities on the local and regional level.”

Besides teaching at Saint Martin’s and advising the college’s chapter of the Society of Women Engineers, Abdelmessih has twice spent summers researching at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center. She has spent two other summers at Marshall Space Flight Center experimenting with transient heat conduction during welding for the main space shuttle tank. She also has done research at Argonne National Laboratory and at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Her leadership roles with professional organizations include serving as national directorship and as national programming chair for process intensification for the Transport and Energy Processes Division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. She has twice served as vice chair of the Puget Sound Section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers International, and previously was vice president for the Seattle Chapter of the National Society of Professional Engineers.

She is the winner of numerous professional engineering and education honors, including the 2001 Monks of Saint Martin’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Abdelmessih, who joined the Saint Martin’s faculty in 1997, earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Egypt’s Alexandria University before coming to the United States, where she earned her doctorate at Oklahoma State University.

Deanna Partlow
Office of Communication
360-438-4541; dpartlow@stmartin.edu