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College of Engineering Faculty Selected to Participate in NAE’s Fourth Frontiers of Engineering Education Symposium

WASHINGTON–Two University of Tennessee, Knoxville, faculty members are part of a group of seventy-two of the nation’s most innovative, young engineering educators who have been selected to take part in the National Academy of Engineering’s fourth Frontiers of Engineering Education (FOEE) symposium.

Faculty members who are developing and implementing innovative educational approaches in a variety of engineering disciplines will come together for the two and one-half day event, where they can share ideas, learn from research and best practice in education, and leave with a charter to bring about improvement in their home institution. The attendees were nominated by fellow engineers or deans and chosen from a highly competitive pool of applicants. The symposium will be held Oct. 14-17 in Irvine, Calif.

Dr. Claudia Rawn
Dr. Claudia Rawn

Dr. Claudia Rawn, a University of Tennessee–Oak Ridge National Laboratory Joint Faculty member and an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Dr. Jeffrey Reinbolt, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering, have been invited to participate in the event.

“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,” said 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.”

Rawn has been at the forefront of the college’s latest engineering education initiative, the Research and Instructional Strategies for Engineering Retention (RISER), a new program funded through a National Science Foundation (NSF) Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Talent Expansion Program (STEP). The goal of STEP is to recruit and retain students in STEM fields. Rawn is also the new director of the college’s Center for Materials Processing (CMP), a State of Tennessee Center of Excellence that was established in 1985. CMP’s objective is to develop significant research and academic programs that address the specific needs to American industry in the field of materials.

Dr. Jeffrey Reinbolt
Dr. Jeffrey Reinbolt

Reinbolt has been actively engaged in effective, innovative student learning since he was hired in 2009 after a 3-year appointment at Stanford University. He challenges undergraduates by shifting current engineering education paradigms and links coursework with his research involving simulations to advance biomedical science and human health. He is helping to facilitate institutional change with an award from The National Institutes of Health for the college’s first R25 research education grant titled FUTURE (Furthering University of Tennessee Undergraduate Research Education) for Team-Based Design in Biomedical Engineering. This project fills a gap between the education of biomedical engineers and their roles in the engineering workforce.

The 2012 FOEE program will focus on innovations in the context, curriculum, and delivery of engineering education. During, FOEE the participating faculty will learn about the newest educational developments ranging from MOOCs (massive, open, online, courses) to online publishing.”

For more information, contact Kim Cowart at (865) 974-0686/kcowart@utk.edu.