Four professors and three teaching assistants were recognized and honored for their teaching abilities during the Semiannual Engineering Council Teaching Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Education held Wednesday.
This year's recipients included graduate students Anne Staples for MAE 335, Bryan Patel for CHE 345 and Hafize Ekran for ORF 309.
The other awards went to computer science lecturer Robert Dondero, electrical engineering professor Ed Zschau, electrical engineering professor Sanjeev Kulkarni and geoscience professor Gregory van der Vink.
The award, first given in 1988 to recognize quality teaching, is the only undergraduate-initiated award on campus, Teaching Award co-chair Sarah Moore '06 said.
"It's a way for students to tell teachers 'you inspire us — thank you,'" Maria Klawe, dean of the engineering school, said. "And because it is student driven, it is even more valuable to faculty than anything else."
Klawe and President Tilghman presented the awards, which are open to any professor or teaching assistant working with an undergraduate engineering, math, physics or related course. There is no predetermined number of awards to be given.
Candidates for the award were nominated and supported by the undergraduate student body, and then evaluated by the Engineering Council, which acts as the B.S.E. student liaison to the administration.
"We had students who wrote so much about the professor they nominated that the web-based application form timed out," E-council member Ashley Prescott '06 said, adding that more than 100 individuals replied to the council's request for nominations.
A collection of engineering students presented the awards and spoke briefly about each of the winners.
In her acceptance speech, Staples said the key ingredient to a successful study session is pizza, especially when it is paid for by the department.
Professor Kulkarni, who knew all 75 of his students' names by the second week of classes, was lauded for making complicated engineering ideas comprehensible — even to classics majors.
Van der Vink GS '83, a visiting professor, took his students to visit eroding beaches. "The van ride was long but he made a CD mix of students' favorite songs," Prescott said.
Van der Vink also invited all of his students to his Washington office. "I made a policy of taking all former students out to lunch. It started as a casual comment and has become a major budget item," he said.
Five-time recipients are granted a Lifetime Achievement Award. Four of yesterday's participants — Ekran, Dondero, Zschau and Kulkarni — were repeat winners.
"You might be relieved to know that this is the last time some of you can win this award," Tilghman joked.
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