The award came from Purdue's Official Mechanical Engineering Grad Student Association (OMEGA), who wrote: "Professor Xiulin Ruan has thoughtful and effective strategies for training students of different seniority in research, choosing topics to constantly make his students feel accomplished during research.  He sets an exemplary standard for faculty members with his enthusiasm and ability to arouse our scientific curiosity, cultivate our research skills and set career goals.  He is the person we think of first when we have questions about research and careers."

Xiulin Ruan's main areas of research include nano-scale heat conduction and nano-photonics (including nanoscale thermal radiation).