Fostering Excellence

Donor-created endowed positions promote faculty excellence.

Endowed deanships, chairs and professorships are powerful catalysts for faculty excellence. Funded by donors, these positions provide faculty with dedicated resources for research and teaching and help universities attract and retain exceptional scholars. Funding supports graduate assistants, conference travel, equipment, specialized laboratories and much more. It allows faculty to pursue an even more ambitious research agenda and more innovative teaching methods. Moreover, the prestige associated with these positions helps faculty secure external grants and national and international research partnerships.

Vamegh Rasouli – The Le Norman Endowed Leadership Chair in Energy and Petroleum Engineering

In fall 2022, Vamegh Rasouli became the first-ever University of Wyoming Le Norman Endowed Leadership Chair in Energy and Petroleum Engineering. The position was established through a gift — that was matched by state matching funds — from UW alumnus David Le Norman, an energy and investment entrepreneur, to the UW College of Engineering and Physical Sciences in 2018. This endowed position is intended to be held by the head of the Department of Energy and Petroleum Engineering.

Rasouli and his research group are focused on studying geomechanics aspects of shale oil and gas reservoirs in Wyoming for drilling, completion, stimulation and production applications.

“The rich oil and gas industry in Wyoming and complexity of shales, such as the Mowry Shale, deserve deep and long-term research studies for better characterization of the producing formations,” Rasouli says.

Rasouli works on the Mowry Shale Project, which is spearheaded by UW’s School of Energy Resources. The project aims to study the Mowry Shale in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin and to assess the potential of unlocking and producing the hydrocarbons locked within. Mowry Shale is an Early Cretaceous geologic formation named for a creek in Wyoming.

The oil and gas industry is a major economic driver for the state. Educating qualified students who can join the workforce and developing advanced technologies through innovative research studies will ensure the long-term production of oil and gas in the state and, hence, sustainable growth of the economy for many years, Rasouli says.

Providing a high-quality education in petroleum engineering requires support for major lab resources and facilities to offer applied teaching and research education to students. Additionally, hiring graduate students also requires funding. The endowed chair position provides a flexible source of funding to support students, faculty and research in the Department of Energy and Petroleum Engineering.

“I would like to offer my great thanks and appreciation to Mr. David Le Norman for his generous support to our students through this endowed fund, which has had a significant impact in the growth and reputation of the department and will continue to have in the future,” Rasouli says.

Rasouli also is working on the Top 5 in 5 Initiative. The goal of this initiative and fundraising campaign is for the Department of Energy and Petroleum Engineering to reach a top-five ranking in the nation in the next five years, targeting a total of $30 million to support the initiative. This target can help attract top students and the best faculty who perform world-changing research in a superior environment. 

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Francois Jacobs – The Roy L. and Caryl L. Cline Distinguished Professor in Engineering

Francois Jacobs is passionate about providing students with a platform for success once they graduate. He also is passionate about helping provide opportunities for construction companies and their workers to thrive in the state.

Jacobs, the inaugural Roy L. and Caryl L. Cline Distinguished Professor in Engineering at UW, teaches and performs research that focuses on construction workforce development. A professor in the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering and Construction Management, he not only educates UW students, but he also has developed training programs for high school students and for those already working in the construction industry.

Jacobs’ work impacts the state’s economy through workforce training and development. Initiatives offered through the Construction Management Program help address the shortage of construction workers in the state.

“Through our program’s initiatives, Wyoming construction companies are able to recruit talent from within the state versus recruiting from across our borders,” Jacobs says.

Jacobs’ endowed professorship is supported by a generous gift from Roy and Caryl Cline. The gift’s purpose is to support the careers, education and research of faculty and students in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences. Roy Cline earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from UW. He had a long career with Morrison Knudsen Construction Group before retiring as executive vice president for Peter Kiewit Sons Inc. in 2002.

“I have had the privilege to meet both Mr. and Mrs. Cline,” Jacobs says. “They are a humble, kind and engaged couple who continue to demonstrate their passion for construction progress across Wyoming.”

Jacobs says his endowed position allowed him to expand his research vision to the international arena. He delivered the keynote address at last summer’s Construction Education Summit at Nelson Mandela University. He spoke on the impact of workforce training and the various initiatives deployed across Wyoming. Four other UW faculty members traveled to South Africa to attend the summit.

Jacobs notes the significance of an endowed position: “An endowed position not only benefits the recipient, but it far extends in the areas of state-focused research and program and student support.”

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Haibo Zhai – The Roy and Caryl Cline Distinguished Chair in Engineering

Haibo Zhai is dedicated to inspiring his students to make a difference. He also is dedicated to challenging himself in research to make new impacts.

Zhai serves as the Roy and Caryl Cline Distinguished Chair in Engineering and as a professor in the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering and Construction Management. Additionally, he is an adjunct professor in the School of Energy Resources and the School of Computing at UW and in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University.

Zhai conducts systems research in low-carbon energy and environmental sustainability, which addresses technical, economic and policy issues related to energy and the environment. His areas of research include carbon capture and sequestration, low-carbon energy systems, hydrogen energy, nuclear energy and the energy-water nexus under carbon constraints for climate change mitigation. His current research projects on deep carbon capture and clean hydrogen have been supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Wyoming Innovation Partnership and the UW School of Energy Resources.

Zhai’s Laboratory for Low-Carbon Energy and Environmental Sustainability promotes a long-term vision for the role of both technology and policy to cope with complex energy, environmental and natural resource challenges in Wyoming — to foster a sustainable energy transition in the state. He has extended his research to workforce development, innovation and entrepreneurship to help support Wyoming’s energy-driven economy.

His laboratory pioneers the development of the Integrated Environmental Control Model (IECM), a computer-based tool for power plant modeling and techno-economic analysis. The IECM has been adopted by users from more than 40 countries for a wide range of applications since being housed at UW in 2022. His lab will soon release a new version of the IECM — version 12 — to support research, teaching and workforce development on clean energy.

Funding from the Cline Chair has supported graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, IECM development, and computing facilities in the laboratory.

“Roy and Caryl’s unwavering support serves as a pivotal force in shaping a better future for our university and students,” Zhai says. “Thanks to their generosity, I am empowered to make profound impacts in both research and education, transforming challenges into opportunities that drive innovation and growth.”

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Shane Epping – The Bobby Model Photojournalism Professor

Stories matter. That’s the philosophy that drives Shane Epping, the first-ever Bobby Model Photojournalism Professor, named in honor of the late Bobby Model, a UW graduate and a former National Geographic photographer from Cody.

“I’m exceptionally grateful for this position — it is the exclusive reason that I am at UW,” says Epping, an assistant professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism.

In 2019, Bob Model, Bobby’s father, created the Bobby Model Photojournalism Professorship and the Bobby Model Excellence Fund in Photojournalism to honor the legacy of his son, who died in 2009 at the age of 36.

Epping, who joined the UW faculty in 2021, teaches photojournalism courses, including introductory photography and entrepreneurship as it relates to professions focused on creativity. Additionally, he works on a number of photography projects.

Last summer, he traveled to a remote area of Perú known as El Chino, which is located on the Tahuayo River, where he interviewed and photographed women who belong to an organization called Manos Amazonicas. The artisans use their art of weaving to generate income to support their families, which empowers women to have a strong voice in their communities.

Epping’s photographs will be exhibited at a solo juried show at D’art Gallery in Denver. His creative research project was made possible by a grant from UW’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Epping documented U.S. Highway 287 between Colorado and Wyoming for three years. The resulting photo essay was published last fall in Visual Communication Quarterly, a peer-reviewed journal, with one of the photos serving as the cover image. This project is a public service announcement about the dangers of traveling on the highway.

“The photo essay serves as a tribute to all the lives lost on the road and a reminder of life’s fleeting nature bounded by beauty and loss,” Epping says.

Funding from the professorship and the excellence fund has been used to support students in their storytelling, including by purchasing photography gear, updating the computer lab, subsidizing international travel and hosting regional photography exhibitions.

Epping notes that the spirit of his professorship’s namesake lives on in his classes: “Bobby Model’s photos and, perhaps more importantly, his passion for telling stories with a camera are the fuel that keeps the fire burning in my classes at UW.”