9/7/2016
MechSE Associate Professor Matt West was among the nation’s most innovative engineering educators selected to take part in the National Academy of Engineering’s eighth
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West is one of three Engineering at Illinois faculty chosen, including Timothy Bretl from the Department of Aerospace Engineering, and Wade Fagen-Ulmschneider from the Department of Computer Science. In total, the 48 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, where they can share ideas, learn from research and best practice in education, and leave with a charter to bring about improvement at their home institution.
"The goal of the Frontiers of Engineering Education program is to strengthen U.S. innovation by nurturing and catalyzing the insights of education leaders on today’s 21st century engineering education needs,” said NAE President C. D. Mote, Jr. “The program builds this community of engaged engineering educators as a resource committed to the preparation of engineering students for today’s engineering world.”
West, an associate professor, joined MechSE in 2008. Within the College of Engineering, he has been recognized for his innovative teaching methods, and he was part of a team that led a $2 million NSF WIDER (Widening Implementation & Demonstration of Evidence Based Reforms) study to investigate best practices for STEM education reform.
His own research interests include asynchronous and structure-preserving integrators, stochastic simulation and uncertainty quantification, and multi-scale and multi-physics simulations. He has investigated the use of computers to simulate problems with fluids and boundaries, such as droplets in an engine injector system or the inflation of gas inside an airbag—work that significantly impacts both energy efficiency and clean combustion in automobiles, as well as transportation safety.
The Frontiers of Engineering Education symposium provides a forum for creative engineering educators to generate novel approaches, share early implementation schemes, establish a national network, and serve as change agents in their home institutions. The attendees were nominated by NAE members and engineering deans and chosen from a highly competitive pool of applicants. The symposium will be held September 25-28 in Irvine, California.