03
November
2010
|
19:00 PM
America/New_York

Engineering professor will give autumn commencement address at Ohio State

  • leaf.jpg
    A mummified birch leaf discovered on Ellesmere Island in Canada. Ohio State University researchers and their colleagues have discovered the remains of a mummified forest that lived on the island 2 to 8 million years ago, when the Arctic was cooling. The remains could offer clues to how today’s Arctic will respond to global warming. Photo by Joel Barker, courtesy of Ohio State University.
  • outcropping.jpg
    An outcropping of mummified tree remains on Ellesmere Island in Canada. A melting glacier revealed the trees, which were buried by a landslide 2 to 8 million years ago, when the Arctic was cooling. The remains could offer clues to how today’s Arctic will respond to global warming. Photo by Joel Barker, courtesy of Ohio State University.
  • vista.jpg
    Ellesmere Island National Park in Canada. Ohio State University researchers and their colleagues have discovered the remains of a mummified forest that lived on the island 2 to 8 million years ago, when the Arctic was cooling. The remains could offer clues to how today’s Arctic will respond to global warming. Photo by Joel Barker, courtesy of Ohio State University.
  • leaf.jpg
    A mummified birch leaf discovered on Ellesmere Island in Canada. Ohio State University researchers and their colleagues have discovered the remains of a mummified forest that lived on the island 2 to 8 million years ago, when the Arctic was cooling. The remains could offer clues to how today’s Arctic will respond to global warming. Photo by Joel Barker, courtesy of Ohio State University.
  • outcropping.jpg
    An outcropping of mummified tree remains on Ellesmere Island in Canada. A melting glacier revealed the trees, which were buried by a landslide 2 to 8 million years ago, when the Arctic was cooling. The remains could offer clues to how today’s Arctic will respond to global warming. Photo by Joel Barker, courtesy of Ohio State University.
  • vista.jpg
    Ellesmere Island National Park in Canada. Ohio State University researchers and their colleagues have discovered the remains of a mummified forest that lived on the island 2 to 8 million years ago, when the Arctic was cooling. The remains could offer clues to how today’s Arctic will respond to global warming. Photo by Joel Barker, courtesy of Ohio State University.

COLUMBUS – David L. Tomasko, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and associate dean for Undergraduate Education and Student Services in the College of Engineering, has been selected to speak at Ohio State’s autumn quarter commencement. Approximately 2,100 students will receive degrees at the ceremony, which begins at 2 p.m. on Sunday, December 12, at the Jerome Schottenstein Center.

Highly regarded by both his faculty colleagues and students, Tomasko has earned numerous research and teaching awards, and he holds a patent for polymer nanocomposite foams.

His research interests are varied – the impact of delivery methods in undergraduate engineering education and engineering outreach to K-12 students, and promoting the use of environmentally benign solvents in chemical and materials processing.

Tomasko earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Tulsa and his master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Illinois before joining the Ohio State faculty in 1993.

He directed Ohio State’s Honors Collegium from 2006-08. He was instrumental in establishing the Center for Affordable Nanoengineering of Polymer Biomedical Devices and served as a deputy director of this NSF-sponsored center until 2009.

As an outstanding teacher and mentor, Tomasko creates opportunities for undergraduate students in his research lab. Tomasko tirelessly counsels students, especially minority and at-risk students, to help them find their voice in academia and their place in engineering. Through the Honors Collegium, he worked to create an environment for some of Ohio State’s most exceptional students. He is also active in community outreach through the Ohio House of Science and Engineering that connects Ohio State students to area schools and teachers.

He currently serves as part of the Collegium Faculty Community, whose members are recruited for their reputation as both distinguished researchers and excellent undergraduate student advisors.

He has been recognized for his excellence in teaching and education by multiple departmental, college, and university awards including the university’s most prestigious teaching award, the Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching. As a recipient of that award, Tomasko is part of the Academy of Teaching, which helps promote teaching excellence throughout Ohio State.

Other recognitions include the College of Engineering Faculty Diversity Excellence Award, the Exemplary Service Award in the Minority Engineering Program, the Ralph L. Boyer Award for Teaching Innovation, the Lumley Engineering Research Award (three times) the Charles E. MacQuigg Award for Outstanding Teaching (two times) and the Lumley Award for Interdisciplinary Research.

In addition, during the commencement ceremony, Ohio State will award honorary degrees to John Tinsley Oden, director of the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, and Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

The university will also present the Distinguished Service Award to John Riedl, retired dean and director of Ohio State’s Mansfield campus and William Wells, president and CEO of Davis & Son, Inc.