Two CEE profs honored at college appreciation celebration
The College of Engineering honored two civil and environmental
engineering faculty --- Chin
Wu and Larry
Bank --- at its 2007 Appreciation Day celebration on May 8:
James G. Woodburn
Award for Excellence in Teaching |
pplying a multifaceted teaching philosophy rooted
in active teaching methods that engage and inspire each individual student,
Associate Professor Chin
Wu has turned one of the most difficult and dreaded undergraduate
environmental engineering courses in the department into one of the
most anticipated. His students frequently punctuate course evaluation
forms with such comments as, “Best teacher I ever had,”
“Cared about how every student did,” “Made complex
ideas easy to understand,” and, “We love you, Wu!”
He is a highly accomplished theoretical, numerical,
laboratory and field researcher in environmental fluid mechanics, focusing
on air-sea interactions, physical-chemical-biological interactions in
inland lakes, and contaminated sediments in rivers and lakes. To teach
the fundamentals of fluid mechanics, Wu marries the language of applied
mathematics with practical physical demonstrations that bring immediate
relevancy to the abstract concept at hand.
Known for his enthusiasm, Wu has a rare ability to
capture students’ interest—even when the topic may seem,
at first glance, less than interesting. He compiled a series of videos,
Observations of Life in Fluids, that students
in his course produced. These videos bridge the mathematics of fluid
mechanics with examples of real-world fluids. Wu redeveloped his undergraduate
laboratory course to include computer-aided experiments that allow his
students to more quickly and effectively see and study fluid behaviors,
and he brought sophisticated flow visualization techniques into this
lab so that students could see the beauty of fluid flow and more deeply
understand its mechanics. “The professor did not allow a single
student to get away with doing any less than the best work they were
capable of,” says a former student, who credits Wu with shaping
his own educational path—the study of fluid mechanics. “For
students like myself, many were able to realize more potential as an
engineer.”
Wu’s dedication to his students’ education
does not stop at the end of a lecture. Rather, he regularly provides
out-of-class small-group tutoring, meets one-on-one with students to
ensure they understand the correct answer to every incorrectly answered
exam question, and is accessible for drop-in consultation at virtually
any hour of the day.
He has been a mentor for the Wisconsin Multicultural
Mentor Program and the Summer Collegiate Experience Program. He provides
technical assistance and advice to the UW-Madison Concrete Canoe Team
and frequently performs demonstrations in K-12 classrooms to motivate
students to study math and science. Wu counts among his many teaching
honors six consecutive Polygon outstanding instructor awards, five outstanding
civil and environmental engineering professor awards from students in
the UW-Madison chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers and,
most recently, the UW-Madison “Class of 1955” teaching award.
Harvey Spangler
Award for Technology Enhanced Instruction |
n Professor Larry
Bank’s courses, students don’t just learn engineering
technology—they use technology to learn engineering. To excite,
educate and empower his students, Bank has integrated into his undergraduate
and graduate courses such familiar (to them) communication technologies
as Voice over Internet Protocol, Internet video conferencing, instant
messaging, interactive forums, and collaborative project posting and
review tools. He encourages students not only to use the Internet as
a source of inspiration and information, but to understand, analyze
and communicate what they’ve read to the entire class for feedback
in a nonthreatening manner. “This creates a collaborative learning
experience, breaks down barriers between individuals, promotes confidence,
teaches standards, encourages a work ethic, and empowers the students,”
says Bank.
For the past three years, he has taught CEE 794, Architecture/Engineering/Construction
(AEC) Global Teamwork Project-Based Learning Course, with Renate
Fruchter, director of the Stanford University
Project-Based Learning Laboratory. This unique, elite course joins students
worldwide from each discipline in a cyber classroom; using Internet-based
communication tools, they work in teams to design and ultimately showcase
a 30,000-square-foot virtual building.
In addition, in spring 2006 he launched a “live-over-the-Internet”
course duo in collaboration with Marquette University Associate Professor
of Civil Engineering Chris Foley. Using Internet
2 and Polycom for the video feed and NetMeeting for visual materials,
Bank taught CEE 649, Structural Design With FRP
Materials, to a joint class of campus (UW-Madison) and virtual
(Marquette University) graduate students. Foley then taught CEE 740,
Structural Analysis III, in the same manner,
giving both sets of students real-time interaction with a single instructor.
Not only did the courses create a cost-effective alternative for offering
traditionally low-enrollment grad-level courses at both institutions,
but based on high student evaluations, they also hit the mark with their
audience
.Bank also gives his students—both undergraduate
and graduate—access to the latest, most sophisticated software
tools in civil engineering. Once the students have learned these tools,
which include Commonpoint (for 4-D simulation), REVIT (for building
information modeling, or BIM) and CompositePro (for composite materials
and structures analysis), among others, Bank emphasizes the importance
of knowing how to determine whether the computer predictions are reasonable.
Capitalizing on an opportunity to introduce students
to the rapidly evolving, revolutionary field of building information
modeling, Bank created the CEE 698 course section, Building
Information Modeling, in late fall 2006 and debuted it in spring
2007. In the course, students collaboratively learn BIM software and
engage in discussions with leading local industry professionals about
how they are adjusting to
this new technology in their own practices.
Throughout all of these courses and two others he
teaches, Bank’s physical presence and his constant “virtual”
presence improve his students’ experience. Says a colleague: “He
is not simply using technology for the sake of it, but rather leveraging
it to improve the quality and relevance of the learning experience,
while at the same time, exciting and motivating the students to learn.”
