Muhsin Menekse, Assistant Professor
Purdue University School of Engineering Education Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching

For serving as a positive role model for engineering students and engaging them in critical thinking, designing and implementing curricular innovations, and teaching and advising  21st Century STEM Educators to teach engineering.

Since arriving at Purdue in 2015, Muhsin has taught in First-Year Engineering (FYE) for 6 semesters and is dedicated to preparing the 21st century STEM scholars to teach engineering in K-12 schools.

Muhsin has been a positive role model to his engineering students. For example, one of his FYE students describes him as a teacher who “strives to see his students succeed.” Similarly, another states that Dr. Menekse “raises risk-takers, problem-solvers, communicating engineers, and most importantly, true team members.” Muhsin also plays an important role in setting up his students for future success at Purdue as this student says, “Dr. Menekse taught me to interact within the courses I am enrolled in, and communicate with my future instructors openly.” Students’ comments in his course evaluations re-iterate his care for his students and how he motivates his students.

Muhsin asks his student teams to present their data, results, and conclusion to the whole class. By doing so, the entire class engages in discussions and discourse. He encourages the rest of the class to engage with the presenting teams by asking questions. These instructional practices support critical thinking as students challenge each other’s arguments by using scientific evidence and evaluate the validity of each other’s explanations with arguments and counterarguments. To support collegial interactions, Muhsin creates and provides feedback guides for students to evaluate each team presentation, and provide and receive peer feedback. As his former student says: “His teaching allowed students to have the perfect combination of freedom and guidance.”

In sum, in all these activities and initiatives, Muhsin has shown to be highly effective in undergraduate  teaching and mentoring. His work has had a significant effect on undergraduate students not only in his classes but stands to have implications for improving undergraduate teaching and learning at scale.

Kerrie Douglas, Assistant Professor
Purdue University School of Engineering Education Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching

For promoting and implementing innovation in the manner in which our graduate students are educated, for effectiveness of her instructional practices, and her high-quality mentoring of graduate students in graduate education.

Since joining the faculty in 2016, Kerrie has contributed significantly to graduate education in the School of Engineering Education. She has been an active member of the graduate committee and leads a vibrant team of graduate students (8 of whom she advises) and has been a tremendous mentor to them. She has redesigned our ENE 685 course, Educational Methods in Engineering, and taught 3 sections of the course. After her initial redesign, she also did a further redesign that allowed the course to go online for our online certificate program. In regards to her excellence in teaching this course, one of her students stated, “This was the most enjoyable class that I have taken at Purdue. I feel much more confident in developing lesson plans and taking on the responsibility as a lecturing professor in a higher education setting.”

Kerrie supports student empowerment in graduate engineering education. She gives her students high-quality learning experiences by creating and instructing her classes with intentionality and care. She introduces new teaching methods and technologies in her classroom in a manner that is very well-crafted so the students experience the teaching methods in action and see the usefulness of the technological tools. Furthermore, she inspires her students to take control of their own learning and pursue their goals, while she supports their growth along the way. As one of her students states, “She gives her students autonomy, challenging me to participate because I am interested in the subject, and not for a grade.”

In sum, Kerrie is highly deserving of this award. Her nominators, a professor and one of her graduate students, stated, “we truly believe that Dr. Kerrie Douglas deserves this recognition. She is an outstanding educator to graduate students, mentor to junior researchers, and an indispensable colleague to peer faculty.” And the Faculty award committee agrees.