Dr. Nancy Amato, Regents Professor and Unocal Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University, was the invited speaker at the 2016 Ethel Ashworth-Tsutsui Memorial Lecture which was sponsored by the College of Science Educational Outreach and Women’s Programs Office.
Additionally, engineering graduate students Yanpu Zhang and Rana Soltani-Zarrin received awards during the event.
Amato’s presentation, "Sampling-Based Motion Planning: From Intelligent CAD to Crowd Simulation to Protein Folding," detailed motion planning and its application in many domains, such as robotics, animation, and virtual prototyping and training. Amato also described sampling-based planning and some variants developed thus far.
Zhang, from the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, was recognized as the 2016 recipient of the Ethel Ashworth-Tsutsui Memorial Award for Research, while Soltani-Zarrin, from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, received the Ethel Ashworth-Tsutsui Memorial Award for Mentoring.
Zhang and Soltani-Zarrin each received a $500 check, a memorial plaque and a certificate of recognition.
The awards are presented by Women In Science and Engineering (WISE) to highlight research and mentoring efforts by women on the Texas A&M campus in honor and remembrance of Ethel Ashworth-Tsutsui, a longtime faculty member of the Texas A&M Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics. Tsutsui was a founding member of WISE and cared deeply about the retention and recognition of women in the university's graduate programs. Both the awards and the event are sponsored by WISE, the College of Science, the Division of Research, the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies and the Office of the Vice President and Associate Provost for Diversity.
Women In Science and Engineering at Texas A&M is an organization of graduate students, staff and faculty from various science and engineering backgrounds. The group was created to address specific problems faced by women in non-traditional fields.