The purpose of this award is to recognize outstanding educators from among the untenured junior faculty at the assistant professor level from the Schools of Aerospace Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering, as well as the College of Computing. Award recipients are selected for extraordinary effectiveness in classroom teaching, educational innovations, inspiration transmitted to students, direct impact and involvement with students, and impact on the postgraduate success of students.

Dr. Zhang has been on the ECE faculty since 2006 and specializes in digital signal processing and systems and controls.