Teaching & Courses

Summary of Teaching Achievements

Since joining UConn as an Assistant Professor in Residence in Fall 2016, I have taught or co-taught small (<15 students) and large (>400 students) enrollment courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. These have included core and lab courses during each year of the chemical and biomolecular engineering undergraduate curriculum as well as UNIV 1810: First Year Experience Engineering House Seminar and ENGR 1166: Foundations of Engineering (co-taught).

Courses

  • Taught 11 different undergraduate courses (including laboratories) in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (CBE), School of Engineering (SoE), and First Year Experience (FYE)
  • Developed three new elective courses at the undergraduate level
    • CHEG 4995: Special Topics in CBE – Bioseparations
    • CHEG 4995: Special Topics in CBE – Transport Phenomena with Industrial Applications
    • CHEG 4995: Special Topics in CBE – Introduction to Brewery Engineering

 Scholarship

  • New England Regional Hub Coordinator for Washington State University’s NSF award: “EDUC-ATE: Educating Diverse Undergraduate Communities: Affordable Transport Equipment” PI: Bernie Van Wie (WSU)
  • Senior Personnel on a collaborative NSF award: “IUSE: E-ETHIC2S: Engineering Ethics Through High-Impact Collaborative/Competitive Scenarios” PI: Scott Streiner (Pitt) and Co-PI: Daniel Burkey (UConn)
  • 6 teaching-focused peer reviewed publications
  • 8 teaching-focused presentations
  • Co-led American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) virtual community of practice on laboratory courses, 2020 – resulted in a co-authored publication in Chemical Engineering Education

 Teaching Recognition

  • 2022 School of Engineering Distinguished Engineering Educator Award
  • Awarded Faculty of the Year Award (voted by CBE undergraduate students), 2020
  • 2017 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Chemical Engineering Summer School Poster Award, 2017

Teaching Innovations

  • Used “ungrading”[1] approach during Fall 2021 in CHEG 3123: Fluid Mechanics
  • Used a liquid syllabus website during Fall 2021 in CHEG 3123: Fluid Mechanics
  • Implemented specifications grading[2] twice in CHEG 4139: Senior Laboratory
  • Students developed comics to explain challenging topics in CHEG 3123: Fluid Mechanics and CHEG 2103: Introduction to Chemical Engineering
  • Students produced videos highlighting engineers from historically excluded groups
  • Began including an “Engineers You Should Know” section in CHEG 2103 during Summer 2019 to highlight engineers from historically excluded groups
  • Began implementing culturally responsive pedagogy[3],[4] in 2019 as part of the UConn Teaching Through Diversity Network Improvement Community led by Dr. Milagros Castillo-Montoya
  • Led an all-female Capstone Design Team in designing an on-campus brewery
[1] Kohn, Alfie, and Susan D. Blum. Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead). West Virginia University Press, 2020.
[2] Nilson, Linda B. Specifications grading: Restoring rigor, motivating students, and saving faculty time. Stylus Publishing, LLC, 2015.
[3] Harris III, Frank, and Estela Mara Bensimon. “The equity scorecard: A collaborative approach to assess and respond to racial/ethnic disparities in student outcomes.” New directions for student services 2007.120 (2007): 77-84.
[4] G. Ladson-Billings, “Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy,” Am. Educ. Res. J., vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 465–491, Sep. 1995.