POTSDAM -- Laura E. Ettinger and Sitaraman Krishnan, both professors at Clarkson University, received awards at Clarkson’s 120th commencement ceremony recently.

Ettinger, an associate professor of history, was awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award.

Krishnan, an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, was awarded the John W. Graham Jr. Faculty Research Award.

Ettinger teaches courses in modern American history, the history of medicine and science, gender studies and oral history.

She previously won the Outstanding New Teacher Award.

Ettinger’s scholarly work has focused on the history of women, gender and the medical, scientific, and technological professions in the United States, with a particular focus on nurse-midwifery.

Ettinger’s book, “Nurse-Midwifery: The Birth of a New American Profession,” was published in 2006 by Ohio State University Press.

Her study was the first book-length examination of the topic. It was named an Outstanding Academic Title by Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries.

Ettinger’s current research focuses on the history of women and gender in professions. She is working on a project on the history of women and gender in engineering since the 1960s.

Her most recent publication was an article in collaboration with a 2013 Clarkson graduate on the history of a Clarkson professional fraternity that fought against gender norms in the 1970s by admitting women.

In 2012 Ettinger was a Fulbright Scholar to the University of Rijeka in Rijeka, Croatia.

Ettinger is on the board of the Ultimate History Project, ultimatehistoryproject.com, and the Potsdam Public Museum. She was also on the program committee for a recent National Council on Public History Annual Meeting.

Ettinger has served on many university committees, including the University’s Strategic Planning Team, the Gender Issues Committee and the Pre-Health Professions Committee. She moderated the 2012 Convocation on The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Ettinger has been a faculty member in the department since 1998. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Rochester, her M.A. from the University of Rochester, and her A.B. from Vassar College, Phi Beta Kappa, all in history.

Krishnan's research interests are in the science and engineering of novel materials, focusing on nanostructured and stimulus-responsive polymer-based materials.

He has authored or co-authored more than 30 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, nine patent applications, and more than 40 oral or poster presentations at national conferences.

After graduating from Lehigh University with a Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering, Krishnan was a postdoctoral researcher and a research associate in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Cornell University.

He joined Clarkson in 2007.

Krishnan's publications have spanned a wide range of topics in advanced materials research from investigations of molecular self-assembly in liquid-crystalline polymers, proton diffusion mechanisms in ionic liquids, particle nucleation mechanisms in multiphase polymerization reactions, to statistical theory of gelation.

He has also conducted applied research in the areas of marine antifouling coatings, stimulus-responsive microgels for controlled release, materials for lithium-ion batteries, PEM fuel cells and solar cells and the industrial processes of emulsion polymerization and chemical mechanical planarization.

At Clarkson, Krishnan has been a principal investigator of research projects for companies such as GE, New World Pharmaceuticals and Energy Materials Corporation. He has also worked on projects for federal and state agencies, such as the Army Research Office and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

He has mentored 12 graduate students, as well as several undergraduate students at Clarkson.

Krishnan is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Chemical Society, the Society of Plastics Engineers, the American Society for Engineering Education and the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society.

He has served as a reviewer for approximately 20 professional journals and for funding agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Romanian National Council for Development and Innovation.