2008 ASEE National Award Recipients

Sue Ann Allen, Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, received the Sharon A. Keillor Award for 2008. Allen is recognized for her outstanding contributions as an educator in chemical engineering, mentor of students at Georgia Institute of Technology, developer of
new educational programs, and internationally known researcher.

At Georgia Tech, Allen began serving in her current position as Executive Assistant to the President in 2005. Previously, she served as Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Associate Chair of Student Initiatives (2004-05); Professor (2000-present); Associate Professor (with tenure) (1994-2000); Visiting Professor, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) (1998); Assistant Professor (1988-94); and Postdoctoral Associate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1986-87).

Allen has guided 30 M.S. and Ph.D. students at Georgia Tech, and created a new non-thesis M.S. program, for which she became mentor. In 2004, she was asked to lead new educational efforts as Associate Chair of the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering. The position was created to identify a leader who would formulate new programs that would have an impact on the education and training of students in the School. Allen structured mentoring of underrepresented minorities and coordinated and publicized a breadth of opportunities available to students through minors and certificate programs. She created new opportunities for Georgia Tech’s best undergraduates by stimulating the creation of a B.S./M.S. program for top undergraduates. Allen has provided leadership for the program and served as mentor and advisor to the participants.

In 2005, Allen became Executive Assistant to the President of Georgia Tech, Wayne Clough. In this role, she has worked with student groups across the campus, providing support and representing the administration. She has been the driving force behind a developing partnership between Georgia Tech and the Atlanta University Center. In this dual-degree program, students earn an engineering degree at Georgia Tech and science degree at participating universities, such as Spelman College. Other programs include a seminar program for undergraduates funded by ExxonMobil, and a non-thesis M.S. program in engineering.

Allen has an international reputation in polymer research, especially as it applies to microelectronics. She has advanced the field by developing new materials (especially those based on polynorbornene), creating new processing and curing methods, and developing new characterization methods.

She is recipient of the Georgia Tech Women Out Front Award (2006); Georgia Tech Packaging Research Center Faculty of the Year Award (2000); Faculty Award for Education from the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Research Center on Electronic Packaging (2000); and the ASEE DuPont Young Faculty Award (1989). She is a Fellow of the Society of Plastics Engineers. Allen earned her B.S. degree (1981) in chemical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Ph.D. degree (1986) in chemical engineering at the University of Minnesota.

The Sharon Keillor Award for Women in Engineering Education recognizes and honors outstanding women engineering educators.