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CoE
honors graduates
The College of Engineering
honored close to 600 graduates, including 63 who earned doctoral degrees,
with a recognition ceremony Sunday.
photos
Lutes Award for Teaching
Excellence goes to ME's Smith
Suzanne Weaver Smith, Donald
and Gertrude Lester Professor of Mechanical Engineering, received the
Henry Mason Lutes Award
for Excellence in Teaching in the College of Engineering. The Lutes
Award is presented annually in May during the graduate recognition ceremony.
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Dr.
Suzanne W. Smith |
Smith,
who joined the UK faculty in 1990, teaches undergraduate mechanics courses,
primarily dynamics, and graduate courses including advanced dynamics,
mechanical vibrations and nonlinear oscillations.
She
has also focused her teaching efforts on aerospace workforce development,
including BIG BLUE (Baseline Inflatable Glider Balloon-Launched Unmanned
Experiment), a student-designed experiment to verify the feasibility
of inflatable-wing technology for Mars exploration.
Smith
was involved in the development of an aerospace certificate program
and a new systems engineering course. To receive an Aerospace Option
in Engineering Certificate, students complete a minimum of 18 credit
hours, including required and option courses, along with a design course
with a project culminating in a functional aerospace system verified
by testing and reviewed by aerospace industry professionals.
The
systems engineering course focuses on concept design for multi-disciplinary
systems. It was offered for the first time in the fall of 2007. Nineteen
undergraduate and graduate students in mechanical and electrical engineering
took the class, which offered aerospace and automotive perspectives,
and included guest lectures from NASA and Toyota engineers.
Smith
says her teaching philosophy combines traditional lectures and homework
with in-class demonstrations, real-world examples and hands-on experiences.
Among many projects, her students have conducted modal testing on basketball
goals at Memorial Coliseum and analysis of the Lexington Central Library
Foucault pendulum.
"Inspiration, fun and
success follow Dr. Smith wherever she goes," student Daniel Roettgen
wrote in support of Smith's nomination for the award. "Dr. Smith
has been such a great part of my educational experience. I can never
be grateful enough."
"Professor Smith has
had a tremendous impact on my career and continues to do so as my career
progresses," wrote Kathleen Sienko, a former student who is now
an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of
Michigan. "I aspire to be the teacher and mentor that Professor
Smith has been to me during my academic career."
Smith won the Lutes Award
for Undergraduate Engineering Education in 1993. She has been named
the outstanding teacher in her department seven times and has won the
Tau Beta Pi Outstanding Engineering Professor Award twice.
Henry Mason Lutes, a native
of Rockcastle County, was a 1934 UK graduate in mechanical engineering.
He was a lifelong advocate for engineering education, and supported
scholarships for UK engineering students. Lutes died in 1987.
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