UE Announces Berger Award Winners
Published: August 19, 2009
The University of Evansville is pleased to announce W. Bryan Lynch and David E. Mitchell as the winners of the 2009 Sadelle and Sydney Berger Awards, given annually to members of the UE faculty for both scholarship and service.
Lynch, an associate professor of chemistry and chair of UE’s chemistry department, received the award for scholarship, while Mitchell, an associate professor of electrical engineering, earned the award for service. Both awards were given at the University’s annual Fall Faculty & Administrator Conference by UE Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Susan Kupisch, who presented the awards on behalf of the Berger family.
“Every year, it is our distinct pleasure to honor two members of our faculty with the Berger Award,” said UE President Stephen Jennings. “This is one of the most prestigious awards our University can bestow upon its faculty; through their exceptional research and service to UE, Bryan Lynch and David Mitchell have more than earned the recognition they receive today.”
Mitchell, who came to UE after a stint as the chief systems engineer for Sensitrol, Inc., in Albion, Illinois, earned the Berger Award for service through his tireless “off-the-clock” work for the University’s College of Engineering & Computer Science. As a member of that department’s faculty, Mitchell is an annual volunteer instructor at the college’s OPTIONS programs, as well as a frequent presenter of lectures and demonstrations for prospective students at UE Open House weekends. He has been faculty advisor for innumerable electrical and computer engineering student projects, a technical advisor for nearly every student project in his department, and a guide for students as they prepare for regional, national, and international engineering competitions each year. He also acts as a frequent consultant to the University community and its professional alumni in areas of electronic circuit and microprocessor applications.
An alum of the University of Evansville, Mitchell received a B.S. in electrical engineering from UE, before going on to earn an M.S. in physics and astronomy from the University of Toledo. He has been employed at the University of Evansville since 1976.
Lynch, who earned the Berger Award for scholarship, was rewarded for his research into the study of small molecules. Using a nitrogen-pumped dye laser, Lynch has studied the structure of electronic excited states of small molecules in the gas phase – including a two-semester period in 2007 when he took a sabbatical in Massachusetts to study in the research labs at MIT. His project, supported by the Lilly Endowment, Inc., the Petroleum Research Fund, and the American Chemical Society, led him to work with isocyanogen, CNCN, to observe and determine the structure of its first electronically excited state – something that had never been done before.
Lynch earned a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh, and earned his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the same institution. Before coming to UE in 1994, he worked as a research scientist at several companies in Pennsylvania, including Advance Materials Corporation and Gulf Research and Development Co., where he was a project leader.
The Berger Awards are presented annually in memory of Sadelle and Sydney Berger. Sadelle was a UE graduate and life-long member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences at UE. Sydney was a well-known local attorney. Both dedicated their lives to public service. The Berger family established the endowment to give recognition to faculty at the University of Evansville.
