The University of Missouri System announced that two members of the Missouri University of Science and Technology faculty have earned President’s Awards, the highest honor bestowed by the system, for their contributions to their universities and fields of study. A total of 17 awards were presented throughout the UM System.

“It’s my honor to recognize the tremendous talent and contributions of our faculty,” says University of Missouri President Mun Choi. “Every day, these faculty lend their passion and skill to improve the education of our students, the strength of our institutions, and better the lives of people across Missouri and around the globe through their scholarship, research and teaching.”

Winners from Missouri S&T are:

— Dr. Jagannathan Sarangapani, the William A. Rutledge-Emerson Electric Co. Distinguished Professor in Electrical Engineering at Missouri S&T, was awarded the President’s Award for Excellence: Sustained Career, STEM. Sarangapani joined the S&T faculty 19 years ago. During his tenure, he has developed a number of breakthroughs in the field of neural networks that have made an enormous impact on manufacturing, medicine, networking, robotics, bit data analytics, secure cyber systems, autonomous systems, industry, military, aerospace and more. He is regularly recognized for his top performance in teaching, research and service, and is listed among the top 2% of the world’s computer and electronics scientists, according to a Stanford University research study.

— Dr. VA Samaranayake, Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor and interim chair of mathematics and statistics at Missouri S&T, was awarded the President’s Award for University Citizenship-Leadership. Samaranayake has been on the S&T faculty for over three decades. His leadership has increased postdoctoral production in his department, the quality and preparedness of graduate teaching assistants in mathematics, opportunities for students interested in actuarial and data sciences, improved teaching practices among hundreds of K-12 STEM teachers, and improved processes and approaches to general education mathematics curriculum at Missouri S&T.