Don Milton and Don DeVoe were honored at the University of Maryland Faculty & Staff Convocation

Don Milton (Affiliate Fellow) and Don DeVoe (Fischell Fellow) were honored at the University of Maryland Faculty & Staff Convocation for their contributions to education, research, and the campus community. The ceremony was held on Wednesday, September 13, at the Memorial Chapel.

Don Milton was awarded the Kirwan Faculty Research and Scholarship Prize, which recognizes a highly significant work of research, scholarship, or artistic creativity achieved within the past three years.

"It was wonderful to receive the award—to hear the enthusiasm for the work from Chancellor Kirwan and feel that decades of work are being recognized," said Milton.

Through his research, Milton seeks to understand how people transmit respiratory viruses and how to prevent transmission effectively. Specifically, he studies the airborne transmission of influenza, rhinovirus colds, and, more recently, COVID-19, with a focus on the relative importance of aerosol inhalation, short-range ballistic spray into the eyes, nose, and mouth, and touching contaminated surfaces.

Milton has collaborated with engineers, aerosol scientists, virologists, biostatisticians, and other physicians to explore how to best use ventilation, filtration, and germicidal ultraviolet light to prevent the transmission of viral pathogens.

Don DeVoe was honored with a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Award, which recognizes senior tenured faculty members who combine outstanding scholarly accomplishment with demonstrated excellence in teaching.

"I am humbled to receive this recognition," said DeVoe, whose course, Mechatronics and the Internet of Things (ENME441), was one reason he received the award.

The project-focused course combines sensors, actuators, computation, and communication to create integrated objects capable of robust internet-based interfacing. Students gain experience with circuit development, mechatronic systems, MicroPython coding, and internet communication protocols using the ESP32 microcontroller platform. The course combines lectures with hands-on laboratories to drive learning at the convergence of mechanics, electronics, and software domains for IoT smart object development.

Distinguished Scholar-Teachers make a public presentation on a topic within their scholarly discipline; lecture information will be available online. DeVoe will give a presentation on November 30, titled "Drips, Drops, and Drams: From Nanomedicines to Bioanalytics through Microfluidic Discretization." He will discuss the power of microfluidic systems for generating, controlling, and analyzing large numbers of discrete fluid volumes for applications in biology and biomedicine.

The Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices is proud to have these two fellows recognized for their achievements at the university.

"Don Milton and Don DeVoe are fantastic to work with, and we look forward to seeing their future accomplishments," said Fischell Institute Director Bill Bentley.

Published September 28, 2023