June 7, 2011

UWEBC staff member wins prestigious UW Regents award

Alfonso Gutierrez, Director of the UW RFID Lab and Director of Research and Education for the UW E-Business Consortium (UWEBC), has been selected to receive the 2011 Regents Academic Staff Excellence Award. This award recognizes and rewards outstanding academic staff members among the 26 UW System campuses.

This year marks Alfonso's 10-year anniversary with the UWEBC. His leadership of several innovative multidisciplinary university-industry partnerships has placed the College of Engineering and the campus in the international spotlight and garnered recognition for UW-Madison as a preeminent center for thought leadership in RFID and other emerging information technologies and their applications in various industries. His efforts have made a substantial impact on research, knowledge transfer and outreach to industry. He has advanced the Wisconsin Idea.

Furthermore, his personal mentoring and tutelage of dozens of students (ranging from high school to PhD students) has had a profound positive influence on their lives by enhancing their career-readiness and instilling in them a great level of self-confidence and a passion for life-long learning. Alfonso has received numerous awards honoring his impactful contributions, including an official Certificate of Commendation from Governor Jim Doyle in recognition of his role as an innovator and his contributions towards expanding innovation in Wisconsin and growing our State's economy.

In the award notification letter, Board of Regents President Charles Pruitt and Regent John Drew, Chair of the Academic Staff Excellence Awards Committee, said the following:

The award pays tribute to your impressive dedication as a leader and contributor of critical research support at UW-Madison and signifies the high regard with which you are held by your colleagues, your institution, the UW System, and the Board of Regents. We applaud your professionalism, impressive accomplishments, and outstanding devotion to the quality of research and education in the University of Wisconsin System.

Please join all of us at the UWEBC in congratulating Alfonso on this highly-deserved recognition.