Arlan Norman Award for Excellence in Student Mentoring
The Arlan Norman Award for Excellence recognizes a faculty member in the College of Science and Engineering for excellence in mentoring student research. The financial award goes to the student(s) of the faculty member’s in the form of a stipend plus additional funds for supplies to support the student recipient’s summer research.
Selection Criteria
The award will be given for excellence shown by a faculty member in either graduate or undergraduate student mentoring, with preference given to graduate student mentoring. The faculty awardee 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 (preferably a graduate student) to receive the funds for research associated with this award based upon a demonstrated merit and outstanding promise in 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. Nominations are now CLOSED for the 2021 award.
Additional Information
2021
Mark Bussell - Chemistry
Mark Bussell joined the faculty in 1990 and is a Professor of Chemistry, while also being affiliated with the Advanced Materials Science and Engineering Center and the Institute for Energy Studies. Mark is a native of the Pacific Northwest and obtained a B.A. in chemistry from Reed College and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. Mark’s research interests lie in the heterogeneous catalysis of energy-relevant processes, with particular focus on the development of catalytic materials to produce clean and renewable fuels. His research has attracted more than $3 million in external research funding from federal agencies and private foundations. Mark has mentored 62 undergraduate and 17 M.S. research students and 46 of these former students have pursued graduate or professional degrees. Two of his M.S. student mentees received the Western Association of Graduate Schools Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award (1994, 2005), and two undergraduate student mentees received NSF Graduate Research Fellowships (2014, 2017). Mark served two terms each on the Science Advisory Committee of the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA, 2005-2011) and the Petroleum Research Fund Advisory Board of the American Chemical Society (ACS-PRF, 2012-2017), and he recently completed two terms on the RCSA Cottrell Scholar Program Committee (2015-2020).
Past Awardees
2020
Robert Mitchell - Department of Geology
Bob is the Digges Distinguished Professor of Engineering Geology in the Geology Department, where he has been a faculty member since 1996. His hydrology-related research includes assessing agricultural impacts on ground-water quality, characterizing aquifers, and modeling the effects of climate change on mountain hydrology and hillslope processes in the western Cascades. Bob’s research has involved more than 30 graduate students and has been instrumental to management and policy decisions regarding water quantity and quality for regional tribes, regulatory agencies, and municipalities. He works hard to provide student access to professional experiences and geologic licensing and serves as faculty advisor, for WWU’s student chapter of the Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists. Bob has held leadership positions in state and national professional organizations and currently serves on the Board of the Environmental & Engineering Division of the Geological Society of America.