TU Delft: TU Delft Education Heroes in the spotlight during Education Day on 4 November
Lecturer Tom Burdyny from the faculty of Applied Sciences has been chosen as TU Delft Lecturer of the Year 2021. This was announced during the TU Delft Education Day on 4 November. Burdyny had to compete against seven candidates from the other faculties: Alper Alkan from Architecture and the Build Environment (A+BE), Stefan Persaud from Industrial Design and Engineering (IDE), Ron Noomen from Aerospace Engineering (AE), Jan Kees Blom from Civil Engineering and Geosciences (CEG), Maurice Aniche from Electrical Engineering, Mathematics & Computer Science (EEMCS), Jan Anne Annema from Technology, Policy and Management (TPM) and Peter Wellens from Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering (3mE). Although only one can be the winner, this election has no losers. All lecturers who are nominated for the election Best TU Delft Lecturer of the Year, have been elected by the study associations as Best Lecturer of their faculty in the past academic year. The appreciation of the students that can be read in the nomination documents is great. It makes it hard for the jury of the Best TU Lecturer of the Year election to make a choice every year. You can read what makes the winner Tom Burdyny unique and so appreciated by his students in the next Educator edition that will be published mid-November.
All Best Lecturers of the faculties received a contribution of 1,000 euros for private use and Tom received another 5,000.- allotted to support his teaching practices. Tom will also be nominated for the national election which will take place in April 2022. In addition to the monetary prizes, the lecturers will be immortalised with a photo on the Wall of Education Heroes in the Teaching Lab.
3 new Education Fellows
On another note to TU Delft’s Best Lecturer, Stefan Hugtenburg and Cythia Liem of EEMCS and Bijoy Bera of AS were announced as the new Education Fellows. The lecturers were nominated by the Dean of the faculty and chosen by the jury to further develop their education projects with a two-year grant of €25,000 per year they receive as Education Fellow. The TU Delft Education Fellowship recognises and appreciates their efforts for educational innovation and will give a boost to their projects, respectively ‘Course Design using Skill Circuits’, ‘Teaching responsible AI practice’ and ‘Custom-made Learning at TU Delft’. On the Teaching Academy website you can read more about the projects of Stefan, Cythia and Bijoy and you can also find the Education Fellows of previous years.
Comenius fellows
The three TU Delft winners for the Comenius Grants 2021, who have already been announced in July, were spotlighted as well during the award ceremony. Pleun Hermsen MSc, MD (Program Director Reflective Engineer) and Dr Angeliki Sioli (Assistant Professor of Architecture) have received the Teaching Fellowship and Dr Rebecca Price (Assistant Professor in Transition Design) the Senior Fellowship. The Comenius fellows have received a grant for the renewal and improvement of higher education and have also became members of the Comenius Network of Educational Innovators, which focuses on knowledge exchange and dissemination.
Professor of Excellence
Also Max Mulder was mentioned. On Thursday 3 June, Delft University Fund awarded him the title of Professor of Excellence 2021. Mulder is Professor of Control & Simulation in the Department of Control & Operations at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering (AE). Max Mulder was nominated by Prof. Henri Werij (Dean of the Faculty of AE), colleagues from his field, the study association VSV ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ and former Master’s students and doctoral candidates. “Professor Mulder is receiving the Professor of Excellence Award for his remarkable contribution to teaching, research and the university. The jury considers Professor Mulder to be a true Professor of Excellence, a consummate professional with outstanding research qualities who also excels in every aspect of coaching students, doctoral candidates and colleagues,” noted Prof. Van Keulen, Chair of the Professor of Excellence 2021 jury.
edX prize finalist – again!
Once more a TU Delft lecturer is in the running for the 2021 edX Prize, which will be awarded in December. Gillian Saunders (AE), together with members of the course team – Calvin Rans, Joost Sinke, Katharina Ertman, Julie Teuwen, and René Alderliesten – is finalist with the online course Introduction to Aerospace Structures and Materials.
TU Delft is very proud that yet again a TU Delft lecturer is shortlisted for this annual award for exceptional contributions to online teaching and learning. Saunders’ nomination follows closely from last year’s winners Andy van den Dobbelsteen, Eric van den Ham and Tess Blom (A+BE) with their MOOC Zero-Energy Design: an approach to make your building sustainable, and from Arno Smets (EEMCS) who won the prize in 2016 with his Solar Energy MOOC. Best of luck!
Keep an eye on the Teaching Academy website for the winner announcement- and visit the Teaching Lab to see the Wall of Education Heroes where all of them, and soon other award winners, are immortalised.