Azzouz named 2017 Hardin Professor

Azzouz named 2017 Hardin Professor

Dr. Mohamed Salim Azzouz, Associate Professor of Engineering in the McCoy School of Engineering, was named Hardin Professor for 2017 during the Midwestern State University commencement ceremony May 13. Hardin Professor is the highest honor bestowed upon a faculty member at the university each year.

The Hardin Foundation for Wichita County established the annual award in 1962 for a member of the MSU faculty whose teaching and research of the preceding 12 months has brought distinction to the faculty member and the institution. The award carries with it a stipend of $3,500. Azzouz is the 57th professor to achieve this honor.

Azzouz came to MSU in 2006. He previously worked as a mechanical engineer for the LRG Group (Dannon) in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1990-1997, then as research assistant and adjunct faculty at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, from 1999-2005. He was an intern engineer for SIEMENS VDO in Newport News, Virginia, in 2005-2006.

At MSU, Azzouz is a member of the Faculty Senate and the Financial Aid Appeal Committee. He has participated in recruitment trips to high schools throughout the area, and advised numerous student organizations such as the Sri Lankan Student Organization, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Student Chapter, and the African Student Organization. Azzouz works as a mentor in the Undergraduate Research Opportunities and Summer Workshop program.

He is a member of the Wichita Falls ISD Career and Technical Education Center Advisory Board. He has been a speaker and presenter at the Region 9 Math and Science Conference in Wichita Falls and the Big Brothers Big Sisters/MSU Dream Big College Day. He frequently judges area robotics contests and projects at science and engineering fairs.

Azzouz was recognized by students as best teaching faculty at the McCoy of Engineering each year from 2012 through 2015, and received an Award of Appreciation plaque from the Senior Mechanical Engineering Students in 2014. He received recognition from the African Student Organization in 2011 and a Certificate of Appreciation from the College of Science and Mathematics at MSU in 2007. He also was recognized by Mortar Board in 2007 as an exemplary professor, leader, and mentor.

He is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the American Solar Energy Society.

Azzouz received a License of Mechanics from University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France, in 1986. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland, and a Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia in 2005.