Raresh Pascali, instructional associate professor in the mechanical engineering technology program at the University of Houston has been named the 2017 recipient of the Allen J. Chapman Award. Presented by the South Texas Section of the American Society of Engineers (ASME) Pascali received the award during the ASME South Texas 2017 Awards Banquet, held April 20th at the Forest Club in Houston, Texas.
Established in 1981, the Alan J. Chapman Award is named in honor of the former Rice University Dean of Engineering who passed away in 2007. The award recognizes superior leadership in furthering the goals of ASME and the profession of Mechanical Engineering.
Distinguished by his outstanding personal devotion to student mentoring, service, and teaching excellence, Pascali spent nine years teaching in the Mechanical Engineering Technology Department of Polytechnic University, several years as an engineering consultant, and then faculty member and assistant department head in the Marine Engineering Department at Texas A&M before joining the College of Technology in 2005 as an instructional associate professor.
Since the beginning, Pascali has led the charge toward increasing enrollment from about 154 students to where it is today at around 800 students. He developed the only mechanical engineering technology lab at the University's campus in northwest Houston and has created and taught rigorous courses such as engineering graphics, elements of plant design and fundamentals of pipeline design, implementing a two-semester capstone sequence that has attracted significant involvement and funding from industry partners such as FMC Technologies. Pascali was named the 2016 recipient of the Ross Kastor Educator Award that recognized dedication to improving engineering and science awareness for students and improving educational opportunities for future industry leaders.