Raghavan Selected for Engineering Education Symposium

Clark School Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering associate professor Srinivasa Raghavan is one of sixty-five of the nation's most innovative young engineering educators who have have been selected to take part in the National Academy of Engineering's third Frontiers of Engineering Education (FOEE) symposium. Early-career faculty members who are developing and implementing innovative educational approaches in a variety of engineering disciplines will come together for the 2-1/2 day event in Irvine, Ca. this November, where they will share ideas, learn from research and best practices in education, and leave with a charter to bring about improvement in their home institution. The attendees were nominated for the program by fellow engineers or deans and chosen from a highly competitive pool of applicants.

Raghavan, the Patrick and Marquerite Sung Professor of Chemical Engineering, has consistently been recognized for his efforts as an educator and advisor. In 2007, he was named "Best Teacher" by the University of Maryland's student chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and in 2010 received the A. James Clark School of Engineering's E. Robert Kent Outstanding Teaching Award for Junior Faculty. In 2011, he has one of the first six professors elected to the Clark School's first class of ENGAGED Faculty, part of a National Science Foundation-sponsored program designed to increase the undergraduate student retention rate in engineering. Raghavan was nominated for the honor by Clark School undergraduates, who ranked him among the most approachable and accessible members of the engineering faculty and identified him as a role model and skilled mentor.

"The Frontiers of Engineering Education program creates a unique venue for engineering faculty members to share and explore interesting and effective innovations in teaching and learning," says NAE President Charles M. Vest. "We want FOEE to become a major force in identifying, recognizing, and promulgating advances and innovations in order to build a strong intellectual infrastructure and commitment to 21st-century engineering education.”

This year's program will focus on teaching leading-edge engineering knowledge, project-based learning, active and self-directed learning, and assessment of student learning and education innovation.

"In our increasingly global and competitive world, the United States needs to marshal its resources to address the strategic shortfall of engineering leaders in the next decades," said Edward F. Crawley, Ford Professor of Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the chair of the FOEE planning committee. "By holding this event, we have recognized some of the finest young engineering educators in the nation, and will better equip them to transform the educational process at their universities."

The 2011 Frontiers of Engineering Education symposium is sponsored by the O’Donnell Foundation.

The National Academy of Engineering is an independent, nonprofit institution that serves as an adviser to government and the public on issues in engineering and technology. Its members consist of the nation's premier engineers, who are elected by their peers for their distinguished achievements. Established in 1964, NAE operates under the congressional charter granted to the National Academy of Sciences in 1863.

Story courtesy of the NAE, adapted from the original press release.

For More Information:

Visit Professor Raghavan's Complex Fluids and Nanomaterials Group web site »

Published October 10, 2011