Zhenye (Allen) Kang received the Extraordinary Professional Promise Award at the 2018 Chancellor’s Honors Banquet, the largest annual recognition event of the year at UT Knoxville.  This award is given to undergraduate students for professional promise and to graduate students for professional promise in research or other contributions.  He also received the Outstanding Graduate Student Award at the 2018 MABE Honors Banquet.  This annual event recognizes top MABE students, faculty, and the newest hall of fame members.

Kang is a graduate student at The University of Tennessee Space Institute.  He is currently working on his PhD in Mechanical Engineering and is advised by Associate Professor Feng-Yuan Zhang in the NanoHELP group. Kang has demonstrated his passion on research and study, with outstanding accomplishments as a result.  He has authored/co-authored twenty publications, given seven presentations in national and international meetings, and delivered nine quarterly reports for a government sponsor.  Several of Kang’s papers were published in the following journals: “Energy & Environmental Science,” “Applied Energy,” Electrochimica Acta,” and “Nano Energy.”