Bortner wins dean's award for teaching excellence

Michael Bortner with dean and department head — Associate Professor Michael Bortner (center) with Dean Julie Ross (right) and department head Steven Wrenn at the 2023 Dean's Awards for Excellence ceremony. Photo by Peter Means for Virginia Tech.

Each year, the office of Dean Julie Ross recognizes College of Engineering faculty whose work promotes education and student success.

Associate Professor Michael Bortner of the Department of Chemical Engineering received the 2023 Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Bortner's specialties are polymer nanocomposites, nanostructured materials and surfaces, polymer morphology and structure-property relationships and surface and interface phenomena in polymers.

Bortner is no stranger to the dean's awards ceremonies. In 2022, he received a certificate for teaching excellence and was named a Faculty Fellow by the dean's office in 2021.

He received his master's of engineering and doctoral degrees from Virginia Tech and earned a bachelor's degree from Penn State.