Arlan Norman Award for Excellence in Student Mentoring
The Arlan Norman Award for Excellence in Student Mentoring recognizes a faculty member in the College of Science and Engineering for excellence in mentoring student research.
There are two categories of this award, one award will go to a Graduate Mentor and one to an Undergraduate Mentor. The financial award goes to the students of the faculty recipients, plus additional funds for supplies to support the student’s summer research.
Dr. Arlan Norman, beloved founding Dean of the College of Sciences and Technology (now College of Science and Engineering) passed away unexpectedly on Saturday, July 31, 2021. This award was near and dear to Arlie's heart and is truly a fitting tribute to his legacy and is one of the most important for the College of Science and Engineering. It lives on in perpetuity in Arlie’s name as a true testament to his life’s work: promoting, supporting, and celebrating excellence in research.
Nominations for the 2025 Arlan Norman Award for Excellence are now CLOSED. Thank you to those that took the time to nominate a colleague!
Selection Criteria
The faculty awardees (one as Graduate Mentor, one as Undergraduate Mentor) will have a demonstrated record of mentoring student research as evidenced by student co-authored conference presentations, student co-authored peer reviewed publications in high-quality journals and proceedings, and other evidence of student success such as research awards, fellowships, etc.
The faculty awardee will select a student from their research group to receive the corresponding funds for research associated with this award based upon a demonstrated merit and outstanding promise in student research. Multiple people may be nominated from a department or program.
Award/Recognition
The Fund’s distribution may be used to pay any costs related to educational expenses, including, but not limited to: tuition, books, materials/supplies, summer research support or conference presentation attendance and travel, etc. The expenditures will be the responsibility of Western Washington University, acting through the designee of the President of the University.
Award Administration
Nomination Process
Awardee selection will be in accordance with an approved process by the Dean of the College of Science and Engineering and the Dean of the Graduate School.
Additional Information
2025
Melissa Rice - Geology/Physics & Astronomy
Melissa Rice is a professor of Planetary Science in both WWU’s Geology and Physics & Astronomy departments, where she has been a faculty member since 2014. Her research focuses on the geology of Mars and is supported by over $2 million in external grants. The Western Mars Lab, Melissa’s research group, includes research staff, postdocs, graduate and undergraduate students. To help interpret data from NASA’s Mars rovers, Melissa runs a reflectance spectroscopy laboratory on campus, which her group uses to study the properties of Mars analog rocks and minerals. She received WWU’s Paul J. Olscamp Research Award in 2022.
Melissa has mentored 10 master’s students and 35 undergraduate students across various STEAM disciplines at WWU. As a team member on NASA's Perseverance and Curiosity rover missions, Melissa is one of a small number of scientists who have involved undergraduates in actual rover planning and operations. Melissa also worked with undergraduate students to help design aspects of Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z cameras. Of her undergraduate mentees, 19 have presented at professional conferences, 12 have participated directly in NASA Mars rover mission operations, nine have contributed to peer-reviewed publications, and eight have continued on to competitive graduate programs.
Ying Bao - Chemistry
Associate Professor of Chemistry Ying Bao highly values the opportunity to mentor students — both in the classroom and the research lab — and is passionate about supporting and empowering students from all backgrounds to succeed.
Ying’s research group focuses on the development of functional metallic nanomaterials for applications in sensing, catalysis, and imaging. She has secured approximately $1 million in external funding to support both her research and shared instrumentation. Since joining WWU seven years ago, she has mentored six master’s students and twenty-two undergraduates, with two master’s and nine undergraduate students currently active in her group. Seventeen of her mentees have coauthored the group’s 10 peer-reviewed publications, produced through both independent and collaborative efforts. Her students regularly present their work at regional and national conferences in both oral and poster formats. To date, nine of her students have gone on to pursue graduate or professional degrees, while seven have obtained research positions in industry.
Ying received her B.E. Degree in Pharmaceutical Engineering at Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, China, in 2008. She then came to the United States and earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of South Dakota in 2013. Ying worked as a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Chicago before coming to Western as a faculty member in 2017.
Past Awardees
2 awardee(s) for this year
2024 Awardees

Amanda Murphy - Chemistry
Amanda Murphy is a Professor of Chemistry and the Director of the Advanced Materials Science and Engineering Center (AMSEC). Amanda is a WWU alumni, graduating with degrees in Engineering and Chemistry in 2001. She earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry at UC Berkeley and was a postdoctoral fellow at Tufts University before returning to WWU as a faculty member in 2010.
Her interdisciplinary research focuses on the development of biomaterials for drug delivery, bioelectronic and tissue engineering applications. She has received ~$2 million in grants that have supported her research, shared instrumentation and student outreach programs. To date, 57 undergraduates and 8 master’s students have participated in her research program, with 26 becoming co-authors on the 17 peer-reviewed papers her group has published thus far. Her students regularly present at regional and national conferences, and seven students have completed honors theses. To date, twenty-four of her students pursued graduate or professional degrees, while ten secured industrial research positions following graduation. Amanda directed the NSF-REU program in Chemistry from 2018-2022, which provided summer research experiences to 26 students with limited opportunities at their home institution. In 2021, she received a Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar award for her dedication to undergraduate research and education.

Moushumi Sharmin - Computer Science
Associate Professor Moushumi Sharmin is the graduate student advisor in the Computer Science Department. After earning her bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Moushumi received an M.S. from Marquette University in 2006 and a Ph.D. in computer science specializing in human-computer interaction from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2013. Moushumi worked as a research assistant professor at the University of Memphis before coming to Western in 2015.
Moushumi’s research focuses on designing computing technology for addressing behavioral and mental health conditions, such as autism and stress management. In 2016, Moushumi co-founded the NEAT Research Lab, which aims to design technological solutions to support neurodivergent individuals. For the last two years, Moushumi along with her collaborators and students are investigating accessibility issues related to academic content and utilizing generative AI technology to facilitate the creation of neurodivergence-accessible content. Another research project focuses on understanding the evolution of autism research and identifying gaps between autistic individuals’ needs and current technological solutions. All these projects involve neurodivergent students as lead student researchers, who participate in every aspect of the research process.