TEACHING

Teaching Philosophy

I love teaching and interacting with students — it is the highlight of my day. I strive for excellence in my teaching. I meticulously organize and prepare for my courses, and bring enthusiasm and positive energy to my lectures. I emphasize rigor, clarity, and a sound understanding of basic principles in my teaching. I am a believer in the importance of engaging students in lectures and knowing every student by name. I also believe in the role of the faculty member as a facilitator of learning and thus the active role each student must undertake in his/her own learning. I have recently begun to integrate aspects of problem-based learning (PBL) and entrepreneurially-minded learning (EML) into my courses to increase student comfort in handling ill-defined/open-ended problems, sharpen students’ ability to identify unexpected opportunities for value creation, and foster creativity and ingenuity.

Courses Taught

EGR 201: Statics

This course provides an introduction to mechanics as applied to engineering problems. Principles of force and moment balance, work, and energy conservation are applied to systems in static equilibrium. The similarity of balance laws applied to mechanical behavior to those used in thermodynamics and electric circuits is introduced. Students are introduced to the concepts of free-body diagrams and equivalent systems of forces, properties of areas and sections, analysis of simple structures, internal forces, stress, and material failure. Introduces a common problem-solving approach and processes to address and solve open ended problems and creative application of theory. Both analytical and computer solutions of engineering mechanics problems are emphasized.

Prerequisites: MTH 168 (Analytical Geometry & Calculus I) and PHY 206 (General Physics I - Mechanics

Textbook: Beer, Johnston & Mazurek, “Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics,” 12th edition, McGraw-Hill, 2019

Audience: This course is part of the Integrated Engineering Core for all engineering students.

MEE 312: Engineering Materials I

Atomic structure, bonding, and arrangement in solids. Mechanical and physical properties of solids, phase equilibria, and processing of solids. Strengthening methods in solids, principles of material selection, and characteristics of non-ferrous alloys, polymers, ceramic composites, and construction materials.

Co-requisites: EGM 303 (Mechanics II) and MEE 312 (Materials Laboratory)

Textbook: Askeland & Wright, “The Science and Engineering of Materials,” 7th edition, Cengage, 2016

Audience: Junior-level required course for MEE majors

MEE 312L: Materials Laboratory

Conducting mechanical and physical tests on solids including, but not limited to tension, compression, bending, hardness, and impact. Metallographic examination of surfaces. Test standards, data reduction, analysis, interpretation, and written and oral communication of test results.

Prerequisites: EGM 303 (Mechanics II) and MEE 312 (Engineering Materials I)

Audience: Junior-level required course for MEE majors

MEE 460: Engineering Analysis

Case study approach to engineering problem solving. Emphasis on breaking down problems to tractable parts, modeling physical systems and selection of solution techniques. Problems related to thermal, fluid, structural, and dynamic systems. Problems typically involve solution of ordinary and partial differential equations, Fourier analysis of periodic behavior, simulation, optimization and/or statistical analysis. Analytical and numerical solution techniques, with an emphasis on selecting the most appropriate technique and understanding the limitations of the analysis.

Prerequisites: MEE 410 (Heat Transfer)

Audience: Senior-level required course for MEE majors

MEE 503: Introduction to Continuum Mechanics

This course provides an introduction to the mechanics and thermodynamics of continuous media. Kinematics and kinetics under large deformations. Mechanical conservation laws and the first and second laws of thermodynamics. Constitutive equations for linear elastic solids (isotropic and anisotropic), nonlinear elastic solids, and Newtonian viscous fluids, with solutions of canonical boundary-value problems.

Prerequisites: EGM 303 (Mechanics II) or equivalent

Textbooks: Lai, Rubin & Krempl, “Introduction to Continuum Mechanics,” 4th edition, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2010

Audience: Senior-level elective course and introductory graduate-level course

MEE 590: Mechanics of Soft Materials

Constitutive modeling of soft materials capable of large elastic deformations such as natural rubber, elastomers, biomaterials and tissues, colloids, gels, liquid crystals, and field-responsive polymers. Rigorous development of the constitutive theory for large-strain elasticity (hyperelasticity) using the principles of nonlinear continuum mechanics. Survey of popular strain energy functions for elastomers and tissues. Experimental methods for material characterization. Calibration of constitutive models to experimental test data. Numerical implementation of constitutive models in commercial finite-element analysis (FEA) software. Semi-inverse analytical solutions of inhomogeneous boundary-value problems (BVPs). Advanced topics including dynamic BVPs, anisotropy, viscoelasticity, fracture, and field-activated soft materials.

Prerequisites: MEE 503 (Introduction to Continuum Mechanics)

Textbook: Holzapfel, “Nonlinear Solid Mechanics,” Wiley, 2000

Audience: Advanced graduate-level course

Page updated

Report abuse