This is about a professor at my alma mater. The text and link will speak for itself:
"WASHINGTON, DC (TADIAS) – When Physicist Solomon Bililign was a young teacher imprisoned in Ethiopia during the “Red Terror” era, he never imagined that he would one day receive a Presidential Award in the United States.
Now a professor at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Dr. Bililign is one of nine individuals whom President Obama this week named recipients of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. The honorees will receive their awards at a White House ceremony later this year. The award recognizes the role that mentoring plays in the academic and personal development of students studying science and engineering. According to the White House, candidates are nominated by colleagues, administrators, and students at their home institutions.
“Through their commitment to education and innovation, these individuals are playing a crucial role in the development of our 21st century workforce,” President Obama said. “Our nation owes them a debt of gratitude for helping ensure that America remains the global leader in science and engineering for years to come.”
Now a professor at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Dr. Bililign is one of nine individuals whom President Obama this week named recipients of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. The honorees will receive their awards at a White House ceremony later this year. The award recognizes the role that mentoring plays in the academic and personal development of students studying science and engineering. According to the White House, candidates are nominated by colleagues, administrators, and students at their home institutions.
“Through their commitment to education and innovation, these individuals are playing a crucial role in the development of our 21st century workforce,” President Obama said. “Our nation owes them a debt of gratitude for helping ensure that America remains the global leader in science and engineering for years to come.”
Dr. Bililign said that success in science, engineering or math is not as glamorous as success in performing arts or sports in the U.S., but the economic competitiveness of the nation, depends on a solid foundation in the sciences. “Young people need to be encouraged, pushed, persuaded to do it,” he said. “Not for the money or fame but for the love of discovery and innovation. I believe every one has a gift, and a mentor’s role is to identify the gift and nurture it.”
TADIAS: Obama Honors Physicist Solomon Bililign With Presidential Award for Excellence
Dr. Bililign's reply to my congratulatory email:
ReplyDeleteThank you all for expressing your heart felt congratulations. I was overwhelmed by the outpour of support and affirmation of the award from colleagues former students and fellow Ethiopians. It is quite humbling. I thank God -source of all gift for the opportunity. I thank my wife my children and family for their support. I thank my colleague Keith Schimmel for the nomination and my colleagues and former students who wrote the strong letters of support . They helped me and shaped me through our interactions over the years It takes a good mentee to be a good mentor.
I am just one of thousands of mentors who happened to be nominated and I am sure there a lot more deserving mentors. I take the opportunity to thank all the mentors who shaped me over the years. My parents who were both teachers taught me the value of mentoring and teaching. My undergraduate mentors Dr. Doug Holland (former chair of Physics at Haile Selassie I University who is never tired of teaching is now back in Ethiopia helping start a new University (Hope University) and teaching long after retirement) and my friend, collague and teacher Dr. Mulugeta Bekele who also was mentor to a very large number of Physics graduates at AAU including me. I thank my PhD advisor and all the physicists at National Labs, other Universities who provided me with research opportunities over the years. I also thank my research collaborators and especially the NOAA-ISETCSC team for working with me and providing excellent mentoring to all the students who came through the program. This program gave me the opportunity to reach out to a larger group.
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Solomon Bililign;Ph. D.
Professor of Physics
Director: NOAA-ISET Center
North Carolina A&T State University
Greensboro, NC 27411
http://www.noaaiset.org/bililign
"Talent is God-given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful."
"......He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. I thank and praise You, O God of my fathers; You have given me wisdom and power, ...”. Dan. 2: 20-23.
“When I fear God, there is no room in my heart to be afraid of men" Carl Medearis