ASU Alumni — Founders’ Day
Gerald Heydt, PhD — Faculty Service Achievement Award
Founders’ Day is Arizona State University’s signature event in recognition of the university founders, leaders of the effort to create an institution that has become the nation’s largest public research university and holds the unique distinction of being ranked №1 in innovation for three consecutive years by U.S. News & World Report. Founders’ Day showcases ASU faculty, alumni and philanthropists who embody the pioneering spirit of those who helped establish the university, and exemplify how the university continues to evolve into a New American University, an educational institution that advances research, champions discovery of public value and assumes fundamental responsibility for the communities it serves.
Arizona State University annually celebrates the vision and contributions of the founders of the institution. This signature event has taken place since 1964 and is a tradition known as Founders’ Day. ASU faculty, staff, alumni and advocates who exemplify the pioneering and innovative spirit of ASU’s founders are honored with excellence-in-achievement awards at Founders’ Day.
Founders’ Day is celebrated each year in February or March to coincide with the first day of classroom instruction at the original Territorial Normal School at Tempe on Feb. 8, 1886.
Gerald Heydt, PhD
Regents’ Professor, Advanced Energy Technology Professor, School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering | Distinguished Sustainability Scientist, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability
ASU Regents’ Professor Gerald Heydt, a world-recognized academic whose seminal work in power engineering has impacted the industry, academia and countless students over four decades, is the 2018 recipient of the Founders’ Day Faculty Service Achievement Award.
“Dr. Heydt is the faculty embodiment of the New American University charter,” says Kyle Squires, senior sustainability scientist and dean of ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, adding, “He and his colleagues have grown the Fulton Engineering power program into the largest and most prominent in the country. His leadership has helped attract other top faculty and students to attend ASU.”
An ASU Regents’ Professor — the highest faculty honor awarded by the university — Professor Heydt is well-known for his tireless work and passion for power engineering that he willingly shares with students, connections that run deep and create lasting impacts on their university and professional careers. He is the namesake and a leading donor for the Dr. Gerald Heydt Fellowship for Power Engineering, an endowed fellowship living in perpetuity for graduate students in the field of study.
A professor of advanced technology at ASU, he is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and a life fellow of IEEE who has been recognized as the organization’s Power Engineering Educator of the Year and recipient of the prestigious Kauffmann Award. He has served as program manager for the National Science Fdn’s program for power engineering and has worked with the United Nations Development Program to help countries achieve sustainable development.
“He is not your average faculty member,” says Dean Squires. “He is a world-class researcher with global impact who cares who cares about the future through each and every student he interacts with at ASU.”
Learn more about Founders’ Day here.
