Two ECE students selected as Dean’s Teaching Fellows
Two graduate students in Purdue University’s Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering have been selected as 2022 Purdue Engineering Dean’s Teaching Fellows. The program was established in 2020 to ensure that all College of Engineering graduate students have the opportunity to practice, establish and implement their own approaches to teaching undergraduates – before these graduate students go on the academic job search. The initiative is a partnership between the College of Engineering, Office of Graduate Education, Office of Undergraduate Education and Schools of Engineering in order to enrich the mentoring and teaching experiences of outstanding Engineering Ph.D. students who plan to pursue academic careers.
ECE grad students Laura Cruz and Rajeev Sahay are among four students selected as 2022 Dean’s Teaching Fellows. Cruz’s faculty mentor is Prof. Mahsa Ghasemi, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
“Being a Dean's teaching fellow allows me to explore teaching strategies while in the company of a mentor with experience in teaching,” says Cruz. “I am looking forward to learning, analyzing, and enjoying this unique and prestigious opportunity.”
Sahay’s faculty mentor is Prof. Qiang Qiu, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He says he is excited to be a part of undergraduate teaching at Purdue.
“My passion for learning and teaching has been inspired by my interactions with excellent professors,” says Sahay. “Now, as a graduate student preparing for a career in academia, this fellowship provides an excellent opportunity for me to teach and influence undergraduate students through instruction and mentoring.”
In addition to shadowing an exemplary faculty mentor and serving as a lead instructor of their own course, a novel part of the Dean’s Teaching Fellows program is the emphasis on technology. Each Dean’s Teaching fellow is awarded a $750 technology stipend in order to purchase a piece of equipment and employ in the classroom or lab. Dean’s Teaching Fellows are immersed in an engineering education course and training to master new pedagogies and instructional technology that have rapidly evolved in the pandemic era.
Source: Purdue Engineering selects four Dean’s Teaching Fellows