Awards
2008 summit award® recipients
THE FRANK SPRAGINS
TECHNICAL AWARD
Dr. krishnaswamy nandakumar, p.eng.
This award is presented to Members of APEGGA who are recognized by their peers for their integrity and expertise and for their outstanding accomplishments in fields related to engineering, geology or geophysics.
Dr. Krishnaswamy Nandakumar, P.Eng., received his B.Tech. from Madras University in India, his M.Sc. from the University of Saskatchewan and his PhD from Princeton University. He has had a long and successful record of accomplishments in research, teaching and service to the profession since joining the University of Alberta’s Chemical and Materials Engineering department in January 1983.
Dr. Nandakumar conducts both fundamental and applied research in the area of computational fluid dynamics. He focuses on computer modelling of a variety of chemical, electrochemical, mineral and polymer processing operations commonly encountered in chemical engineering. He has published more than 120 papers in refereed, international journals and has delivered an equivalent number of conference presentations.
From an early stage, Dr. Nandakumar was recognized for his scholarly abilities and research contributions. In 1975 at the age of 24, he received a fellowship from Princeton to pursue doctoral studies in chemical engineering. In 1989 at the age of 38, he received the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship from the German government, and in 1991 he received the Albright and Wilson Americas Award from the Canadian Society of Chemical Engineering for distinguished contributions before reaching the age of 40. He was also elected a Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada that same year. In 2000 Dr. Nandakumar received the Meritorious Research Award from the Environmental Science and Technology Alliance Canada and in 2001 he was awarded the Killam Annual Professorship by the U of A in recognition of excellence in research, teaching and community service. His teaching abilities were further recognized when he received APEGGA’s Excellence in Education Summit Award® in 2002.
In 2005 Dr. Nandakumar was appointed as the Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering. In 2006 he was appointed Chair Professor at the South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, where he has been asked to mentor a junior faculty member and help set up a computational fluid dynamics laboratory. Other recent milestones include being elected a fellow of both the Canadian Academy of Engineering and the Engineering Institute of Canada in 2007.
Honours, Awards and Distinctions
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C.K. Murthy Memorial Lecture Award, CHEMCON 2006, India
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Distinguished Speaker Award, CHEMCON 2003, India
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APEGGA Excellence in Education Summit Award® (2002)
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Killam Annual Professorship, U of A (2001)
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A.C. Rutherford Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, U of A (2001)
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Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, Faculty of Engineering, U of A (2001; 1999; 1998; 1991; 1985)
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Meritorious Research Award, Environmental Science and Technology Alliance Canada (2000)
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Albright and Wilson Americas Award, Canadian Society of Chemical Engineering (1991)
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Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship (1989)
Professional Affiliations and Activities
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Member, Editorial Board, The Open Energy and Fuels Journal (2007-present)
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Fellow, Canadian Academy of Engineering (2007)
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Fellow, Engineering Institute of Canada (2007)
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Member, Editorial Board, Indian Chemical Engineer (2006-present)
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Fellow, Canadian Society of Chemical Engineering (1991)
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Member, APEGGA (1984-present)
This award is named for Mr. Frank Spragins, P.Eng., APEGGA President, 1975.
Mr. Spragins was a driving force behind the Syncrude heavy oil sands project
which is recognized as the largest industrial project ever to be undertaken in
Canada. His personal qualities of vigour, imagination, courage and endurance,
as well as his negotiating skills, were critical to its success.