Cristina H. Amon, professor of mechanical engineering and biomedical and health engineering, and director of the Institute for Complex Engineered Systems, was awarded the Raymond J. Lane Distinguished Professorship in Mechanical Engineering at a ceremony in the Singleton Room of Roberts Engineering Hall last month.

The prestigious award was established by Carnegie Mellon Trustee Raymond J. Lane in memory of his father who was a mechanical engineering student at what was then Carnegie Tech.

Lane, a general partner at the giant venture capital firm of Kleiner Perkins Canfield & Byers, said the professorship honors his father's dedication to education and family. The elder Lane was the first in his family to attend college.

"I feel a close bond to Mr. Lane because I too was the first of my family to attend college," said Amon, who joined the Carnegie Mellon faculty in 1988. "I am extremely proud and pleased to be part of such an outstanding award."

John L. Anderson, dean of the College of Engineering, praised Amon for her dedication and creativity.

"Cristina is one of the top faculty in the Engineering College," Anderson said. "She excels at all phases of being a professor-teaching, mentoring, research and professional involvement at the international level.

"In addition, she has displayed excellent leadership as director of the Institute for Complex Engineered Systems and as an active participant in the university's outreach activities," he said.

Amon is an internationally known scientist in the fields of computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer.

She has earned numerous accolades, including the American Society for Engineering Education's George Westinghouse Teaching Award in 1997. She is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. She has also received the Society of Women Engineers' Distinguished Educator Award and the College of Engineering's George Tallman Ladd Award for Excellence in Research. Amon also earned the College of Engineering's Benjamin Teare Award for Excellence in Engineering Education in 1998.

Amon earned her master's and doctor's degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She received her bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Simon Bolivar University in Venezuela.

Chriss Swaney
(11/07/01)