Matt Pharris (right), a doctoral student in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University, is noted for his passion for teaching and mentoring, part of the reason he was received the Graduate School Excellence in Teaching Award, Purdue's highest honor in recognition of graduate student teachers.

Graduate students selected for this award must have demonstrated excellence in teaching and mentoring at the undergraduate and/or graduate level. In addition, recipients should have accomplishments in service/outreach and scholarly publications.

“What really stands out about Matthew’s time at Purdue is his passion for teaching and mentoring,” said Tamara Kinzer-Ursem, Marta E. Gross Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering. “His teaching and student mentoring skills have advanced to the point where he is better at it than many professors who have done this for decades.”

Pharris has been a graduate student working in Kinzer-Ursem’s lab since 2013, has mentored six undergraduate students, and has been a teaching assistant for eight semesters. His teaching experience includes a semester teaching a course in which he was in charge of four graduate teaching assistants and 96 students—a responsibility that far exceeds the typical expectations of a graduate teaching assistant.

Pharris’s primary goal in teaching is to empower students to become independent problem solvers who strive for excellence by default. “As an instructor, I aim to provide students with a role model in whom they can consistently observe independence, enthusiasm, and ambition,” he said. “If I am always doing my best, I can expect my students to do theirs.”

Matt Pharris, a doctoral student in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, will begin a new position as a researcher at a pharmaceutical company after completing his PhD in June 2019.

His consistently positive course reviews reflected a strong work ethic. One student wrote in a course evaluation: “Saying Matt did an excellent job teaching [BME 295] is definitely an understatement. His passion to teach and his drive to improve as a TA was very apparent throughout the semester. He came to every class prepared, with very helpful hints and attention-grabbing presentations to keep the class engaged at all times.”

When he is not teaching, Pharris conducts research in computational neuroscience. He investigates protein signaling in the learning and memory-forming regions of the brain with an eye toward improving diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of neurogenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease. He has published three first-author papers and has two more in preparation. He has presented his work at several national meetings, including the Society for Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering Society meetings.

This is the latest award Pharris can add to a CV of many notable teaching and service awards, including the Graduate Teaching Award, College of Engineering Outstanding Service Award, and EH Magoon Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has also won the Weldon School’s Geddes-Laufman-Greatbatch Prize for Outstanding Research.

Pharris plans to complete his PhD in June 2019, after which he will begin a new position as a researcher at the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.