The Brown School of Engineering has awarded its annual Dean’s Service and Spirit of Excellence awards for the 2024-25 academic year. Grants and Contracts Coordinator Brittany Pavao was awarded the Dean’s Service award, while Communications Specialist Cherie Daniel received the Spirit of Excellence honor.
The Dean’s Service award, established during the 2012-13 academic year, was created to recognize a non-managing employee who has made a specific contribution or provided outstanding service in the School of Engineering. It recognizes the performance of an individual who has been a positive instrument of change, made significant contributions, and who has provided outstanding service to internal and external constituents. As a Grants and Contracts Coordinator in the School of Engineering, Pavao was lauded for the planning and management of research grants by several faculty members who work with her.
One professor specifically noted how Pavao meets with them at least once a semester to strategically coordinate the allocation of stipend funds for the postdoctoral research fellow and graduate students in the research group up to three years in advance; provides monthly updates of the balance across the federally-funded projects; provides necessary and valuable project information (e.g., balance breakdowns) when drafting federal proposals and when completing annual reports to projects; and coordinates with faculty directly when completing conference registration and travel reimbursement fulfillment for the graduate students in the lab.
All of her nominators noted Pavao’s professional work ethic, positive attitude and availability to answer questions and resolve problems. Her collaborations across campus with the Sponsored Projects team in the Division of Research, working with subcontractors and the complexities therein, was also highlighted. Trustworthy, effective and efficient were common adjectives, while several also acknowledged her post-award management skills, and said Pavao has proactively elevated their research program.
The Spirit of Excellence Award was created during the 2014-15 academic year to be presented annually to an employee who embraces the vision of the School of Engineering through his or her accomplishments during the previous academic year. Daniel’s contributions to the School of Engineering over the past year have been outstanding, and she has gone above and beyond in her work. She earned Employee of the Quarter for her work on the fall 2024 Subra Suresh Symposium, including the program, poster, and photography. Throughout the year, she has received numerous compliments from faculty on her design and artwork.
Two priorities for the School of Engineering are master’s student recruitment and expanding visibility for research, and Daniel played a key role in each this past year. Her digital communications expertise was leaned upon in creating flyers, assisting with the creation of new webpages, and creating social media content for engineering master’s programs. In some cases, this was done under a tight deadline, but Daniel still delivered superior work on time. She also made strong contributions to promoting research, working with the senior associate dean and communications director on several research presentations which will aid the senior administration in promoting the School’s research. Now that the school is dealing with challenges around research grant funding, Daniel is working with the senior associate dean, communications director, and faculty to produce videos to help tell the story of the impact of faculty research.
Daniel continues efforts to create templates for others across the School to ensure a consistent visual identity, and was an early adopter of integrating AI tools with the design of the last magazine cover. Her innovative approach required her to familiarize herself with a new Adobe tool, collaborate with a professor, and integrate an existing image along with key phrases to generate the cover. She invested care to understand university practices around AI, and its ethical use. Nominators agreed Daniel’s work continually and consistently moves Brown Engineering forward.
Both awards were presented by Sorensen Family Dean of Engineering Tejal Desai at the School’s annual summer gathering of faculty and staff.