Teaching can make for a thankless career, but Pradeep Lall is being recognized for a job done well.
Lall, professor in the Auburn Department of Mechanical Engineering, is the recipient of this year's SEC Auburn University Faculty Achievement Award.
"I was elated beyond belief," Lall said. "I was extremely honored and humbled to find out I had been selected for this."
The award comes with a $5,000 honorarium and an automatic nomination to be one of the 16 candidates to be the SEC professor of the year.
The faculty achievement award is in recognition of outstanding work both inside and outside of the classroom.
"I am excited to be recognized for my work in terms of research and teaching," Lall said.
Lall, who has been a professor at Auburn since 2002, is also the director of the NSF-CAVE3 Electronics Research Center at Auburn.
In addition to directing research Lall is also teaching one course this semester.
Lall said that the CAVE3 is one of only six single university centers recognized by the National Science Foundation.
The primary areas of Lall's research are electronic reliability, prognostics, material constitutive behavior, nano-composites, failure mechanisms, life prediction models and explicit dynamics.
One of the primary goals of the research is to design electronics more resistant to harsh environments.
The award recipient said that the rarity of NSF-endorse of research centers makes the opportunity to conduct research in CAVE3 Electronics Research Center at Auburn exciting.
He also said that it provides students with an excellent experience to include on a resume.
"It really makes students more desirable in the industry," Lall said.
Lall praised Auburn University and its facilities.
"Auburn is a top-tier university," Lall said. "Our students have a very unique opportunity to learn from some of the very best teachers."
Although Lall focuses on mechanical engineering he has a diverse background with several areas of concentration including business and statistics.
Lall has a background in business and received a degree from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
In the Fall Lall will co-teach a class on the strategic management of technology innovation.
"I have found a business background is very valuable," Lall said.
Lall also developed business acumen while working for Motorola in Illinois.
"I worked at Motorola for a long time," Lall said.
He earned three Motorola Outstanding Innovation Awards and five Motorola Engineering Awards during his time with the company.
He also has a background in statistics and has a Six-Sigma Black-Belt in statistics. Lall said that his familiarity with statistics has also proved to be useful.
Lall said that his variety of academic strengths have been responsible for the success of his decorated career.
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