Khan Wins $25,000 Reynolds Prize

Dr. Saad A. Khan, Alcoa Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, is the 26th recipient of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research and Extension. Khan received the award at a campus ceremony Nov. 16. The award presentation was followed by Khan’s lecture, Picking Materials That Make a Difference: Soft Solids, Colloidal Gels and Nanofibrous Structures.

The annual award is supported by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company through the NC State Engineering Foundation to recognize scientific and educational achievements in engineering. The recipient is given a $25,000 prize distributed over five years.

Khan, who joined the faculty in 1993, is an internationally renowned scholar in the areas of soft solids, gels, colloids and associative networks. He has served for the past 12 years as director of the graduate program in chemical and biomolecular engineering, established and directed the nation’s first distance education master’s degree program in chemical engineering and organized national and international meetings.

He has received the Alumni Association Outstanding Research Award, Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor Award, Alcoa Foundation Distinguished Research Award and Alcoa Engineering Research Achievement Award.

Khan has supervised 34 doctoral students, 4 master’s students, 11 postdocs and more than 30 undergraduate researchers. In 2001, he received the NC State Outstanding Teacher Award and was elected to the Academy of Outstanding Teachers.

Khan earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University and a doctorate in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.