Assistant Professor Eoin King - Wins 2016 Belle K. Ribicoff Junior Faculty Prize

Assistant Professor Eoin King Wins 2016 Belle K. Ribicoff Junior Faculty Prize

(l-r): Emily Meachon '16, student member of the Selection Committe; Eoin King, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and acoustics; Provost Sharon Vasquez; and Bob Celmer, professor of mechanical engineering and acoustics.

Eoin King, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and acoustics in the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture (CETA), has been selected to receive the 2016 Belle K. Ribicoff Junior Faculty Prize. The prize recognizes excellence in teaching, scholarly or creative activity, and service. It includes an award of $10,000 to further enhancement of an existing scholarly project, a new investigation, and/or support of the awardee's professional development goals and will be presented to King at Commencement in May.

In what has become an annual tradition, Provost Sharon Vasquez delivered the news to a surprised King in a manner similar to the Publishers Clearinghouse presentations. King and his senior students were working in the acoustics lab on Wednesday, April 11, when Vasquez came in to make the announcement. She was joined by Professor Bob Celmer, program director of the Acoustical Engineering and Music program in CETA and The Hartt School, as well as Emily Meachon ’16, the student member of the Search Committee.

“This is a big deal,” Vasquez told King’s students. “The donor, Belle K. Ribicoff, wanted us to honor a faculty member who exemplifies a teaching scholar…it is someone who not only is excellent in the classroom and supportive of students in and out of the classroom, but also takes their scholarship and research seriously and pulls as many students into that as possible.”

For example, King guided two students through an environmental noise study on the High Line in New York City last year. Their research was published in an academic journal, they presented at an international conference, and received positive press coverage. King also set students up with a Fulbright Scholar to conduct research that resulted in publication and he was the faculty advisor for students who organized the University’s first TEDx in fall 2015.

April has certainly been a good month for King. Just a week before winning the Belle K. Ribicoff Junior Faculty Prize, he and his wife welcomed their first child, a girl named Eavan Julia King.

The annual Ribicoff Junior Faculty Prize, together with an endowed chair for junior faculty, was established through a generous gift from Belle K. Ribicoff, a long-time supporter and life regent of the University. Each year, the prize recognizes an outstanding junior faculty member – one who is in a tenure track position, but not yet tenured. King is the eighth winner in the history of the prize.

 UNOTES - 4/18/16