BP Award for Innovation in Undergraduate Instruction

Engineering Communications Office

The BP Foundation, committed to promoting innovation in science and technology, provides an annual award of $3,000, for a faculty member or academic staff member who has introduced a particularly successful innovation into undergraduate instruction.

All faculty members and academic staff on regular appointment, whether tenured, tenure track, or nontenure track, who have undergraduate teaching responsibilities in specific science and engineering disciplines are eligible to compete for this award, except those on "T" appointments. Preference will be given to chemical engineering, chemistry, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, and electrical engineering (power and controls). Other disciplines that will be considered are physics, mathematics, chemistry, computer science, computer engineering, general engineering, and theoretical and applied mechanics.

Innovative approaches to undergraduate engineering and science education might involve particularly unusual course content, format, style of presentation, ways to involve students, or the use of instructional technologies. The following criteria will be generally applicable: In what ways is the new approach innovative? How effective is the innovation in terns of student learning?

Solicitation
Letter to department heads by the associate dean for academic programs. Nominations may be submitted by students, faculty members, or administrators to the departmental committee. Each department may submit up to two unranked nominations.

The following information should be included in the nominations. Adherence to the following order of presentation is requested.

Utilize standard cover page including name of nominee, department, rank, and years at the university.
A brief description of the innovative approach, indicating what is new and creative about it.
A list of undergraduate classes affected and their enrollments.
Evidence of the impact of the innovative approach and its effectiveness in terms of student learning. Evaluation by both students and colleagues is desirable and may take the form of either letters or selected comments from student evaluations. If student letters are solicited from past and current students, they must be accompanied by a brief description of the sampling method used in soliciting them. No more than four letters should be included

Nominations should not exceed five double-spaced pages (excluding cover sheet and four letters from students, if presented).

Nomination cover sheet (pdf)

Due
November 30 - to the departmental main office

January 15 - submit six (6) copies to the Office of the Associate Dean for Academic Programs, 206 Engineering Hall, MC-272.

Selection
January
One recipient chosen by the Teaching Evaluation and Improvement Subcommittee of the Executive Committee plus a representative from Chemical Engineering.

Publication
February
Recipient is informed by letter from the associate dean with copies to the following:

recipient's department head
nominator of recipient
editor in the Engineering Communications Office for convocation booklet publication
chairman, awards committee

Logistics
February/March
The editor in the Engineering Communications Office prepares the college awards convocation booklet, which will carry photo and biosketch of awardee. Recipient will be presented award at convocation and associate dean for academic programs will invite awardee to awards luncheon.

Previous Recipients (College of Engineering)

Note: In 1999, this award, which had been a campuswide award, was transferred to the College of Engineering.