Chemical engineering professor inspires students to reach their full potential

Virginia Davis, professor in the department of chemical engineering, is the 2015 recipient for the Auburn University Award for Excellence in Faculty Outreach. Davis said it was "quite an honor" to receive the award.

"This award is particularly meaningful because it indicates that I'm having an impact on people in the community and people outside of Auburn," Davis said. "[It indicates] that I'm really having an influence."

Davis has received other awards such as the 2014 Auburn University Alumni Professorship and the 2013 South’s BEST Jim Westmoreland Memorial Judges Award, but she said this award shows her peers and the University recognize and appreciate her efforts.

"The most rewarding thing about being a professor [are] those moments where you realize you really helped a student or someone get where they're intended to go in life," Davis said. "[You realize you] really made an impact on their day and all of their future directions."

With her research in nanotechnology, Davis said she is focused on taking nanomaterials and assembling them into larger structures to do useful things in the areas of high-strength materials, antibacterial materials or things related to energy application.

"Nanotechnology and nanomaterials have actually always been there, [but] we just didn't know it," Davis said. "Even your DNA is a nanomaterial, and medieval artisans made those beautiful stained glass windows using nanotechnology."

Davis said if she could have students and the University community know anything about her, it is her love of science.

"I see science and engineering as a way to impact people and people's lives," Davis said. "I think that the university environment provides such an excellent way to do that both directly through research and through teaching and mentoring."