Each year the Texas A&M Association of Former Students nominates worthy candidates who are distinguished among their peers in the areas of teaching, research, student relations, administration, staff, graduate mentoring; and for extension, outreach, continuing education, and professional development. Twenty-four faculty and staff members of the University and only six faculty members within the Dwight Look College of Engineering were chosen for this award. Dr. Andreas Klappenecker, professor of Computer Science and Engineering, has been honored with the 2014 Distinguished Achievement Award for teaching.
The Dean of Faculty’s guidelines for this award states, “This award is designed to distinguish those teachers who maintain high expectations of their students and ensure academic rigor in their courses. These teachers recognize their responsibilities in motivating and contributing to the overall development of their students as learners and future professionals.”
Dr. Klappenecker “has the ability, unique to only the best instructors, of setting extremely high standards and then motivating students in a positive way to achieve those standards,” said Timothy G. Nix, Ph.D., one of Dr. Klappenecker’s past doctoral students and now assistant professor in the Dept. of EECS, United States Military Academy.
“He has a great sense of humor, very positive attitude, and receptiveness to ideas, which makes him approachable,” said former student Dr. Pradeep Sarvepalli, now assistant professor at IIT Madras in Chennai, India. “In my interactions with him, both during the courses and later on during my doctoral studies, I found him to be a great mentor.”
Dr. Klappenecker continues to make significant contributions to the CSE graduate program by being a graduate advisor and assisting in the annual Ph.D. review, which monitors the progress of graduate students. He is committed to the success of each student.
He has been rewarded with several National Science Foundation Division of Computer and Communication Foundations grants for which he conducts his research and bases his courses. These grants are rewarded for his extensive research on improving the reliability of quantum computing, resilient quantum error-correction, efficient decoherence control algorithms, and design of efficient quantum algorithms.
Dr. Klappenecker holds an undergraduate degree and doctorate in Computer Science from the University of Karlsruhe in Germany, and his research interests include quantum algorithms, randomized algorithms, dynamic distributed algorithms, and signal and image processing.
Since 1955, the Distinguished Achievement Awards have been awarded to faculty and staff who have exemplified the highest standards of excellence at A&M. The awards will be formally presented in Rudder Theater on April 28.