Three UConn engineering faculty will be inducted into the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (CASE) on May 31, during a gala event to be held at the University of Connecticut campus in Storrs. They are among 39 new members who were elected in the 2012 class, which also includes eight other faculty members from the University of Connecticut.

The newly elected members from the School of Engineering are:

S. Pamir Alpay, professor of Materials Science in the Department of Chemical, Materials & Biomolecular Engineering. Dr. Alpay’s research concentrates on functional or “smart” materials systems, including ferroelectric, ferromagnetic, and shape memory materials. His current research focuses on the development of frequency agile tunable devices for telecommunications and self-healing electrical contacts for military applications.  Dr. Alpay was named a United Technologies Corporation (UTC) Associate Professor in Engineering Innovation (2008 – 2010), has authored more than 110 scholarly journal papers and received in excess of 2,500 citations. He is currently an Editor of the Journal of Materials Science.

Radenka Maric, Connecticut Clean Energy Fund Professor of Sustainable Energy in the Chemical, Materials & Biomolecular Engineering Department. A major focus of Dr. Maric’s research has been on improving the performance-to-cost ratio of fuel cell materials and components and development of low temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). She is a leader in the manufacture and commercialization of engineered fine particles, especially using the reactive spray deposition technology (RSDT), which she helped to pioneer. Dr. Maric has published more than 150 scientific papers in the fields of nanomaterials processing, thin film deposition, material coatings, fuel cell and batteries. 

Prabhakar Singh, United Technologies Corporation (UTC) Chair Professor of Fuel Cell Technology and Director of the Center for Clean Energy Engineering at UConn.  Dr. Singh conducts research in advanced energy conversion systems including fuel cells, functional materials, fuels and fuel processing, carbon capture, gas separation membranes, high temperature alloys and coatings, and novel synthesis techniques. He has authored or co-authored more than 100 technical reports and papers, serves on the editorial boards of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Ceramic Society, and holds more than 50 U.S. patents and trade secrets.  He is an elected Fellow of ASM International, the American Ceramic Society and the National Association of Corrosion Engineers.

Two members of the UConn School of Engineering Advisory Board also will be inducted: Paul R. Adams, Senior Vice President of Engineering and Operations, Pratt & Whitney; and Peter J. Halvordson, Vice President – Engineering and Design, General Dynamics Electric Boat. 

Other UConn faculty members elected to the 2012 class include Drs. Robin Chazdon and Robert Colwell (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology), Jeffrey Hoch (Molecular, Microbial and Structural Biology, and UConn Health Center), Amy Howell and Steven Suib (Chemistry), Marja Hurley (Medicine and Orthopaedic Surgery, UConn Health Center), Mina Mina (Craniofacial Sciences, UConn Health Center) and Paul Skolnik (Chairman of Medicine, UConn Health Center).