Prof. Huang Wins UD Mentoring Award

by Diane Kukich

May 22, 2007

C.P. Huang, Donald C. Phillips Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been selected to receive the University's Outstanding Graduate Advising and Mentoring Award.

The sole criterion for the award is outstanding advising and mentoring, including such practices as providing sound advice, fostering best performance from students, showing concern for students as people and support of their personal development, and promoting an understanding of research and professional ethics. Also cited is "extraordinary effort or success with placement of students."

Since he joined the UD faculty in 1974, Huang has advised 57 master's degree students and 38 doctoral candidates in the aquatic chemistry area. Of the latter group, 19 are now teaching at universities throughout the world, and eight have achieved the rank of full professor. In addition to mentoring his own students, Huang has served on dissertation or thesis committees for some 40 other graduate students.

"This is an extremely impressive record," said CEE Chair Michael Chajes, "and it documents the level of impact that C.P. has had. If students are our most important product, then Dr. Huang has indeed been very productive.

"He has also ensured that the knowledge developed here in his research programs is being disseminated not only through his publications and his own teaching but also through the teaching of his graduates at universities in the United States, Taiwan, Korea, and Brazil."

Huang's former graduate students are very effective spokespersons for the impact that he has had. One attributed his recent promotion to full professor at I-Shou University in Taiwan to his professor's "continuous support, encouragement, and significant concern." Another credited him with providing "the ability and the confidence to write research proposals and actively cooperate with peers." Also cited were his patience, his ability to arouse intellectual curiosity, his willingness to let students test new ideas, and his help with finding employment after graduation.

Huang's support of his graduate students goes way beyond the professional sphere. He is a friend who "not only cares about our research progress but also cares about our personal life and development," said one. He has helped his students build their families and their lives outside the research lab and the classroom. Huang has remembered weddings, births, and holidays, and he understands the acute loneliness that students from other countries and cultures may feel while studying in another country.

"I can think of no one more deserving of this award than C.P.," said Chajes.