About Teaching and Learning

"Illinois was my chosen destination as a new faculty member due, in large part, to its reputation for educational excellence and for the exciting opportunity in developing a new Bioengineering department. My educational design and delivery efforts are guided by three enabling principles for students: the “why” must be understood, “how” must be learnt and “I can do” must be demonstrated. I believe that the greatest challenge facing emerging engineers will be to design and evaluate ever-faster appearing scientific developments. Hence, their education must be based on sound principles, their toolkit of techniques must be rich and they should demonstrate the ability to translate “real world” issues into a framework for problem-solving.

Additionally, I believe that setting a high standard and demanding excellence from students in a respectful and collegial atmosphere has been effective in imparting a deep-seated ability and love for the subject. I have developed five new courses, taught six different courses, developed educational programs from the high school to postdoctoral level and contributed in other educational activities while participating actively in the development of the departmental curriculum. Three broad categories of efforts - programs developed, classroom education, and external activities - are detailed above."