In This Issue:

New Departmental Space

Presidential Fellows

Class of 2004

CVN is "Best of Web"

TAs Receive Awards

Heffner Hydrologic Lab

SEAS Teachers Honored

Free Email Forwarding

High School Students Build Robot

Annual Fund Hits New High

Alumni Briefs

Camp Columbia Reunion

Teaching Assistants Win Awards For Excellence

The Engineering School has established on-line teacher evaluations and the results are exceptional. The participation rate was almost 70% and valuable feedback was obtained that is being used to improve teaching. The evaluations help form the basis for awards for both faculty members and teaching assistants. The Columbia Engineering School Alumni Association's committee to award annual Distinguished Faculty Teaching Awards relies heavily on these evaluations, as does Dean Zvi Galil, who last year instituted special awards for excellence to Teaching Assistants.

Yannis Tsividis

"We wish to recognize the exceptional work done by some of our TAs," said Dean Galil, "since the work of the TA is crucially important in providing a first class education." Based on the TA evaluations, Dean Galil gave 25 awards, consisting of a certificate and a cash prize of $500, for the spring semester. Four of the winners also won the award in the fall semester.

Dean Galil commended Profs. Yannis Tsividis of electrical engineering and Karl Sigman of industrial engineering and operations research for their own excellence in teaching as well as for having teaching assistants that won the TA award. "This combination insures that the students are the winners," said Dean Galil. Both professors are past recipients of the Alumni Association's Distinguished Faculty Teaching Awards. One of the most common praises for a winning TA was responsiveness. Students appreciated the willingness of these TAs to help. Said one student, "He was always available for questions, even if it was not his office hours, and if you asked him a question he could not answer on the spot, he would go back and think about it and email you back as soon as he figured out the answer."

Karl Sigman

Another student wrote of his TA, "He loves helping students, knows so many shortcuts and is wonderful at explaining difficult problems. And better yet, he always wants to help." A third TA was described as "one of the best I have ever had at my time at Columbia. The professor makes everything seem so easy because his knowledge of the subject matter is so comprehensive. Same goes for the TA. They explain material very well."