Legacy Award in the College of Engineering

The Legacy Award is given to someone who is or was a tenured College of Engineering faculty member in recognition of outstanding career-long performance and dedication to the College. Their service to UTA should include an unbroken span of at least 20 years as a faculty member and/or service as an administrator, they should have a distinguished record of academic accomplishments, including research, teaching and service, and they should demonstrate national and international recognition.

---

Don H. Liles

Don Liles was a faculty member in the Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Department for 41 years. He earned his B.S. (1970), M.S. (1974) and Ph.D. (1978) degrees in industrial engineering from UTA. He truly cared about students and was proud of the professionals each of his students became. Six IE graduating classes voted him the professor who made the most significant contribution to their education. His most significant research contribution was the development of the Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center (TMAC), which has helped Texas manufacturers realize tens of millions of dollars of impact, including $2.9 Billion in new and retained sales and $995 Million in cost savings. In addition to TMAC, Liles served as associate director of the Automation and Robotics Research Institute (now UTARI) from 1989-98, as director of the Institute from 2000-04, and as chair of the IMSE Department from 1998-2012. He retired in 2020 and was named Professor and Chair Emeritus in 2021. He passed away in 2022. [Awarded 2024]

 

---

Khosrow Behbehani

Khosrow Behbehani's nearly 40-year career in bioengineering leaves a legacy of research excellence, collaborative outreach, and superb leadership. His research led to a culture of patenting and licensing technology at UTA. He defined the model for institutional collaboration by establishing a joint research laboratory for medical imaging with UT Southwestern. He led the effort to make the graduate program in biomedical engineering into the Department of Bioengineering, later adding an undergraduate program. As Dean, he built the foundation of top-level fundraising activities by significantly increasing the number of endowed chairs and professorships in the College. [Awarded 2023]

---

Mo-Shing Chen

Mo-Shing Chen's career spanned more than four decades, earned him international recognition in the field of power systems engineering and defined engineering research at UTA. He established the University's first research center, first international visiting researchers' program and first international continuing education course and symposium. He also produced UTA's first Ph.D. graduate and received the Edison Electric Institute's first power engineering educator award. His philosophy of “How will our students benefit?” resulted in top-tier national rankings and global recognition for UTA and research that continues today. [Awarded 2023]