Feature

Professor of the Year

Mechanical engineering professor Autar Kaw wins nation's top teaching honor.

By Vickie Chachere | USF News

At any given moment on any given day, USF mechanical engineering professor Autar Kaw is teaching somebody somewhere.

It might be one of the students in an upper-level computational methods class on the Tampa campus — or it might be a student halfway around the world who is one of the tens of thousands of people to watch Kaw's lessons on YouTube. And it's often one of the thousands of students who posts a question on Kaw's YouTube channel in the middle of the night, and gets a quick answer back because Kaw is almost always teaching.

An early pioneer in using online tools to boost classroom learning, Kaw has now been recognized at the pinnacle of undergraduate teaching nationwide having been named a 2012 U.S. Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. The distinction is considered the nation's highest honor in undergraduate teaching.

Kaw is one of four academics nationwide to receive the award this year. His considerable achievements in teaching were feted in Washington, D.C., Nov. 15 in receptions and speeches at the National Press Club and the Folger Shakespeare Library.

"The U.S. Professor of the Year award is the highest honor in the nation for undergraduate teaching and Dr. Kaw's selection reaffirms what the University of South Florida and his students have long known about this exceptional professor and outstanding individual: his commitment to education and his dedication to his students knows no bounds," says USF President Judy Genshaft.

"His innovative and forward-thinking approach to education, his use of technology to expand learning opportunities around the world and his tireless pursuit of new and engaging teaching methods have made a lasting difference in the education and lives of his students."

Kaw celebrated his 25th anniversary as a USF professor this year. His professional honors abound: Kaw is a fellow in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and a member of the American Society of Engineering Education. In 2011, he was awarded the National Outstanding Teaching Medal from the American Society for Engineering Education. A prolific writer, he has authored four textbooks and scores of academic articles.

Born in India, Kaw received his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science in India and his master's and Ph.D. in engineering mechanics from Clemson University.

Thousands of USF students have come to know him as a patient and accessible instructor. But to tens of thousands of students who follow Kaw's YouTube lessons, he's known more informally as "Numerical Methods Guy" or on Twitter as @numericalguy. Kaw's blog at autarkaw.wordpress.com answers day-to-day questions and has become yet another extension of his teaching prowess with more than 10,000 monthly visitors.

Students can even follow Kaw's lessons on mobile devices — just as long as they don't have their smartphones out during class. Kaw keeps a strict "no technology" policy during class, joking: "I call on my teaching assistants to be the bouncers. There's a time and a place for everything."

Long before anyone started talking about online learning or Massive Online Open Courses — the so-called "MOOCs" which are now taking higher education by storm — Kaw was exploring using technology to reach students.

"He has a way of breaking down advanced topics into understandable pieces. He does have this very sophisticated but humble manner," says Mike Denninger, senior corporate director of rides and engineering for SeaWorld who is a former student of Kaw's. "He has a very deep respect for the student and what they are trying to do."

Kaw says his use of technology stems from a basic concern for student learning: he saw students struggling with the same concepts semester after semester. If that was happening in his classroom, it was probably happening elsewhere, he surmised.

"When I started teaching a course in numerical methods in 1988, students would ask me questions in class for which the answers could not be given on the spot, as they would involve lengthy calculations," he says, explaining the genesis of his online learning initiatives.

"A few times, I would assign such questions as mini-projects and most times, I would write short computer programs to find answers to their questions. This led me to thinking that I should write simulation programs for a course in numerical methods, and since my fellow instructors in other universities must be asked similar questions, why not send these programs to them on a bunch of disks."

Kaw and colleagues eventually won funding from the National Science Foundation for their Internet-based courseware and have not looked back since.

"As much as some may think that this will be the end of the physical classroom or dismiss it for not being equivalent, I look at these resources as a way to complement the physical classroom," he says.

U.S. Professors of the Year Program

Now in its 32nd year, the U.S. Professors of the Year program salutes the country's most outstanding undergraduate instructors. Sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), it is the only national program to recognize excellence in undergraduate teaching and mentoring.

The program recognizes one national-level winner in each of four categories: Outstanding Baccalaureate Colleges Professor; Outstanding Community Colleges Professor; Outstanding Doctoral and Research Universities Professor; and Outstanding Master's Universities and Colleges Professor. State-level winners are also selected; though due to the program’s demanding criteria, not every eligible state has a winner.

USF's Autar Kaw, selected Outstanding Doctoral and Research Universities Professor for 2012, receives $5,000, as well as national, regional and local media coverage and numerous opportunities to speak and participate in activities that highlight the importance of teaching.