George Lee Recognized by White House for Efforts as a Mentor

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Professors who are internationally renowned researchers sometimes do not attain the same level of proficiency in their capacity as mentors, especially for students from underrepresented groups.

But for George C. Lee, Ph.D., SUNY Distinguished Professor in the University at Buffalo Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, pioneering research and mentoring have always gone hand-in-hand.

Today, in a ceremony in Washington, D.C., Lee was among 11 individuals honored by the White House for his efforts with a 2006 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM).

The annual award, administered by the National Science Foundation, honors individuals and organizations that have demonstrated a commitment to mentoring students and boosting the participation of minorities, women and disabled students in science, mathematics and engineering. It includes a $10,000 grant for continued mentoring work and a Presidential certificate.

According to the NSF, the awardees serve as leaders in the national effort to develop fully the nation's human resources in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

"George Lee is one of the most distinguished and accomplished members of the University at Buffalo faculty," said UB President John B. Simpson. "I extend to him on behalf of the entire university community our sincerest congratulations on this outstanding recognition from the White House.

"During the past 46 years he has made invaluable contributions to his department, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the university," Simpson noted. "MCEER wouldn't be headquartered at UB if it were not for the initiatives of George Lee. His research as a leader in the field of earthquake engineering has helped make buildings and communities around the world more resilient in the face of one of nature's most devastating disasters."

Simpson added: "While providing world-recognized leadership as a faculty member, dean and researcher, Dr. Lee has always devoted time to serving as a mentor and role model not only for students at UB, but those in the Western New York community, with a particular emphasis on outreach to young women and members of minority groups. He has helped open the worlds of science, mathematics and engineering to them, and in many cases those efforts have led to rewarding careers in these fields."

A UB professor of civil engineering since the department's earliest days in 1961, Lee is Samuel P. Capen Professor of Engineering and founding and former director of MCEER. He served as dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences from 1977-95, as chair of the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, and as associate director of the Calspan-UB Research Center. His research has covered a wide spectrum of basic and applied fields, ranging from earthquake engineering to modeling of the mechanics behavior of biological systems.

Lee has long maintained a belief that the success of the discipline depends on a comprehensive effort to promote engineering starting at the K-12 level, through the graduate level.

That belief, his colleagues say, has served as the foundation of his efforts to actively recruit and mentor undergraduate and graduate students throughout their careers at UB, with a special focus on those students who have had to overcome significant obstacles because of their minority status.

At the same time, his efforts have exposed literally thousands of high school students from underrepresented groups in the Buffalo area to new opportunities through targeted science and engineering programs.

In 1981, Lee started a modest summer program for 20 students from underrepresented groups designed to boost math, science and computer skills among high school students in the greater Buffalo area. He developed the program from the ground up, serving as an instructor himself and working to enlist the help of other UB engineering faculty.

Eager to expand on that effort, he sought additional resources, developing a partnership between the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Linde Division of Union Carbide, now Praxair, representatives from the Buffalo Public Schools and members of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, an African-American professional men's fraternity.

Together, the partners pledged to form an organization dedicated to promoting engineering among underrepresented youth.

The result was BEAM, Buffalo-area Engineering Awareness for Minorities, one of the region's earliest programs dedicated to stimulating interest in engineering among middle school and high school students.

Headquartered in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, BEAM is a cooperative educational enrichment program that has been helping prepare teen women and minority youth for careers in science, engineering and architecture.

Through his stewardship of BEAM and related programs, Lee has been responsible for the following mentoring achievements:

* Exposing to science and engineering on average more than 360 students in the Buffalo Public Schools each year, serving additional students in the Niagara County Public Schools.

* Operating with local colleges a summer enrichment program, in which more than 100 students spend 4-5 weeks focused on mathematics, science, communication and computer applications.

* Involving more than 350 students in grades 5-12 in BEAM's after-school clubs, doing hands-on projects that demonstrate math, science or computer principles, ranging from the simple, such as exploring aerospace principles by making paper airplanes to the complex, a year-long effort building regulation size canoes to learn about fluid mechanics.

* Providing students with more challenging hands-on projects, such as building and launching rockets, assembling AM/FM radio kits and developing Web pages in Saturday Academies at the University at Buffalo Science and Technology Academy.

* Giving outstanding minority students the opportunity to work intensively for 8 weeks on scientific research projects of UB engineering faculty through the Summer Honors Research program.

In addition to his work with BEAM, Lee has worked with and fostered at UB organizations focused on underrepresented groups, including the National Society of Black Engineers, the Society of Women Engineers, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, as well as appointing the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences' first director of minority programs.

The synergy that has developed among these programs has not only provided more mentors for students in the BEAM program, but also has strengthened minority recruitment of students and faculty at UB.

Lee's vision for BEAM and related programs has focused on making these efforts sustainable in the long term through the development of partnerships with both educational and industrial organizations.

He has consistently strengthened relationships with local companies to the benefit of the university and its students.

In 1994, he was named director of the UB Greater Regional Industrial Technology Program, or UB GRIT, a project designed to help area businesses develop new products in cooperation with regional research universities. In 1994, he founded the Engineering Career Institute (ECI), a summer program designed to supplement the technical education that UB engineering students receive, while providing local companies with skilled interns who often help boost efficiency and cut costs.

As an international leader in earthquake engineering, Lee was a key player in the development of UB's Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering. He was instrumental in bringing to UB the National Science Foundation-funded National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research, (NCEER) in 1986. From April 1989 to September 1990, Lee served as acting director of the center, later renamed MCEER, where he currently serves as special tasks director.

In each of these capacities, he has worked to increase underrepresented group participation both among the center's researchers and in its executive committee.

As a researcher and faculty member, he also has advised numerous students from underrepresented groups.

As further evidence of his interest in boosting the diversity of UB's student body, he has been a proponent of international education, helping to negotiate UB's first exchange agreements in Beijing in 1980 and supporting more than 30 visiting international scholars.

A prolific researcher, Lee has co-authored four books and published 250 papers on structural engineering and mechanics, steel structures and earthquake engineering.

His accomplishments have earned him numerous awards, among them the Superior Accomplishment Award from the National Science Foundation, the Newmark Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Walter P. Cooke Award from the UB Alumni Association, the President's Medal for Distinguished University Service from UB, the UB SEAS Dean's Award for Achievement and the UB Award for Outstanding Contributions to International Education.

A native of China, Lee received a bachelor's degree from National Taiwan University and holds master's and doctoral degrees in civil engineering from Lehigh University.

Lee lives in Amherst.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, the largest and most comprehensive campus in the State University of New York. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.