Dr. Sreeram Vaddiraju (above left), assistant professor of chemical engineering, is the 2014 recipient of the Fluor Distinguished Teaching Award.
The award and $2,000 check, sponsored by Fluor Corporation, recognizes Vaddiraju for his dedication and outstanding contributions to the education and professional development of chemical engineering students at Texas A&M University.
Vaddiraju joined the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M in August of 2009. He works predominantly in research related to organic and inorganic semiconductors, nanostructures, thermoelectrics and solar cells, among other research areas.
Fluor Corporation is the fall 2014 sponsor of the department's plant design competition, a capstone chemical engineering course in which seniors are tasked with conceiving a fully functional chemical processing plant that operates per Fluor's specifications. In conjunction with Fluor's annual plant design sponsorship, the company also presents a teaching award to an outstanding faculty member within the chemical engineering department.
The presentation was made by Dr. M. Nazmul Karim, department head, professor and T. Michael O'Connor Chair II, in a ceremony attended by students and Fluor Corporation representatives who participated in and served as industry mentors for the senior project.
Employing a global workforce of more than 40,000 people, Fluor is one of the world's largest, publicly-owned engineering, procurement, construction and maintenance services companies. A FORTUNE 500 company that is ranked first in FORTUNE magazine's "Engineering, Construction" category of America's largest corporations, Fluor maintains a network of offices in more than 79 countries.