III. Teaching Performance (Last updated 9/12/2007)
I teach two courses in my first academic year in the tenure track position. After the first year, I expect to teach 3 courses per academic year. Mini table of contents A. Teaching Load B. Teacher/Course Evaluations C. Peer Evaluations D. Advising/ Mentoring of Undergraduate Students E. Mentoring of Graduate Students F. Teaching Innovations G. Awards and Honors for Teaching H. Education Related Grant Proposals I. Education Related Publications J. Other: Statement of Teaching Philosophy and Interests A. Teaching Load Since I joined USU in Fall 2000, I have taught the following courses (Note: My tenure-track clock started on July 1, 2002) I was hired in the fall of 2000 by CSOIS to lead the Sensing and Perception Group for autonomous ground mobile robot research while teaching one upper level course per semester. From 2000-2002, as a research assistant professor, I taught the following courses • ECE/MAE 7350 "Intelligent Control Systems", Fall 2000 • ECE/MAE 6330 "Nonlinear and Adaptive Control", Spring 2001 • ECE/MAE 7360 "Optimal and Robust Control", Fall 2001 • ECE/MAE 6330 "Nonlinear and Adaptive Control", Spring 2001, 2002 • ECE/MAE 7750 "Distributed Control System", Spring 2002. • ECE6930 ST: "Machine Vision for Control and Automation", Summer 2002 Since 2002, as a tenure track assistant professor, I have taught the following graduate and undergraduate level courses • ECE/MAE6330 Nonlinear and Adaptive Control (3cr, 1 time) • ECE/MAE7360 Robust and Optimal Control (3cr, 3 times) • ECE/MAE7750 Distributed Control System (3cr, 1 time) • ECE6010 Random Processes in Electronic Systems (3cr, 1 time) • ECE5320 Mechatronics (lab intensive course, 4cr, 5 times) • ECE3620 Circuits and Signals (3cr, 2 times) In addition, I have guided the following Special Topic or independent study courses: • ECE6930 ST: Machine Vision in Control and Automation (3cr, 2 times) • ECE7930 ST: Computational Intelligence (3cr, 1 time) • ECE7930 ST: Computational Optimal Control (3cr, 1 time) • ECE6930 ST: Advanced Control Designs (3cr, 1 time)
• •
PHYX2400 ST: Nanoscience and Technology - Materials Today (NSF NUE program) PHYX3500 ST: Nanomechatronics (NSF NUE program)
Course ECE/MAE7350
ECE5930
Title Intelligent Control Systems Nonlinear and Adaptive Control Machine Vision in Control and Automation Robust and Optimal Control Nonlinear and Adaptive Control Distributed Control System Computational Intelligence Random Processes in Electronic Systems Mechatronics
ECE5930
Mechatronics Lab
ECE6930
Mechatronics
ECE6930
Mechatronics Lab
ECE6930
Machine Vision
ECE7930
Computational Optimal Control Robust and Optimal Control Mechatronics
ECE/MAE6330 ECE6930
ECE/MAE7360 ECE/MAE6330 ECE/MAE7750 ECE7930 ECE6010
ECE/MAE7360 ECE5320 ECE/MAE6330 ECE7930 ECE/MAE7360 ECE/MAE7750
Nonlinear and Adaptive Control Computational Intelligence Robust and Optimal Control Distributed Control
Semester Fall 2000 Spring 2001 Summer 2001
Credits Enrollment Lab New? TA? 3 5 No Yes No 3
11
No
Yes
No
3
4(3)
No
Yes
No
Fall 2001 Spring 2002 Spring 2002 Fall 2002 Fall 2002
3
6
No
Yes
No
3
4(1)
No
Yes(2) No
3
5
No
Yes
No
3
5(4)
No
Yes
No
3
28
No
Yes
Yes/ Grader
Spring 2003 Spring 2003 Spring 2003 Spring 2003 Summer 2003 Summer 2003 Fall 2003 Spring 2004 Spring 2004 Spring 2004 Fall 2004 Spring
3
9
Yes Yes
No
1
5
Yes Yes
No
3
10
Yes Yes
No
1
6
Yes Yes
No
3
3(5)
No
No
3
1
Yes Yes
No
3
7
No
No
4
15
Yes No
Yes
3
6
No
No
No
3
2(6)
No
No
No
3
4
No
No
No
3
9
yes
no
no
No
No
ECE/MAE5320 PHYX2400
ECE7930 ECE3620 ECE6930
PHYX3500 ECE5320 ECE3620 ECE6930
ECE/MAE7360 ECE/MAE5320 ECE7390 ECE6390
ECE6390
ECE6390 ECE4840 ECE4850
Systems Mechatronics
2005 Spring 2005 Nanosciece and Spring Technology - 2005 Materials Today Nonlinear Systems Spring and Control 2005 Circuits and Fall Signals 2005 Advanced Control Fall Designs 2005 "Nanomechatronics Spring 2006 "Mechatronics" Spring 2006 Circuits and Fall Signals 2006 ST: Machine Summer Vision in Control and Fall and Automation 2006 each Optimal and Spring Robust Control 2007 Mechatronics Spring 2007 ST: Distributed Summer Control Systems 2007 ST: Machine Fall Vision in Control 2007 and Automation ST: Fractional Fall Calculus in 2007 Engineering ST: Sensor Fall Networks 2007 Senior Design II Fall 2007 Senior Design III Fall 2007
Notes: (1) One student quit USU. (2) Changed textbook from Slotine-Li to Khalil
4
31
yes
no
yes
3
26
yes
yes
no
3
2(7)
no
no
no
3
58
No
Yes
Yes
3
1(8)
yes
yes
no
3
3(9)
no
yes
no
4
31
yes
no
yes
3
45
No
no
Yes
3
2(10)
no
no
no
3
11
no
no
yes
4
18
yes
no
yes
3
1
no
no
no
3
1
no
no
no
3
1
no
yes
no
3
1
no
yes
no
2
39(11)
no
yes
no
2
6(11)
no
yes
no
(3) One MSc. student from Computer Science Dept. One student quit USU. (4) One Ph.D student from Civil and Environment Engineering Dept. (5) One MSc. student from Computer Science Dept. (6) Two Ph.D. students from Computer Science Dept. (7) One PhD student and one MSc student from ECE Dept. This independent study course offering was due to the cancellation of the normal ECE7330 Nonlinear and Adaptive Control course in Spring 2005. (8) One MSc student from ECE Dept. This is an experimental offering as an independent study course with intensive lab projects using the famous textbook “Control Systems Designs” by G.C. Goodwin et al. (9) Three students from Dept. of Physics. (10) Two ECE geaduates took this course. The syllabus has been scrutinized by ECE Graduate Committee and circulated in CS Dept. which is considered as a significantly different machine vision related course with emphasis on closedloop controls and automation. This course helped a student in securing a full time job position in Autoliv. (11) Co-teaching with Dr. Paul Wheeler. B. Teacher/Course Evaluations Following is a summary of my teacher/course evaluations. Course Department 00F : ECE/MAE Intelligent Control See Dr. Kevin Systems Overall Quality of Course Moore’s Instructor Effectiveness 01Sp: ECE/MAE6330 Nonlinear and Adaptive Control Overall Quality of Course 4.9 4.9 Instructor Effectiveness 4.3 4.8 01F: ECE/MAE7360 Robust and 5.3 4.6 Optimal Control Overall Quality of Course 5.0 4.5 Instructor Effectiveness 02Sp: ECE/MAE6330 Nonlinear and Adaptive Control Overall Quality of Course 4.7 4.7 Instructor Effectiveness 4.0 4.7 02Sp: ECE/MAE7750 Distributed Control Systems Overall Quality of Course 4.2 4.7 Instructor Effectiveness 4.0 4.7 02F: ECE7930 Computational Intelligence Overall Quality of Course 5.2 4.4
College
University
4.7 4.7
4.9 5.0
4.7 4.7
4.9 5.0
4.7 4.8
4.9 5.0
4.7 4.8
4.9 5.0
4.6
4.9
Instructor Effectiveness 02F: ECE6010 Random Processes in Electronics Systems Overall Quality of Course Instructor Effectiveness 03Sp: ECE5930/6930 Mechatronics Overall Quality of Course Instructor Effectiveness 03F : ECE7360 Robust and Optimal Control Overall Quality of Course Instructor Effectiveness 04Sp: ECE5320 Mechatronics Overall Quality of Course Instructor Effectiveness 04Sp: ECE/MAE 6330 Nonlinear and Adaptive Control Overall Quality of Course Instructor Effectiveness 04F: ECE/MAE7360 Robust and Optimal Control Overall Quality of Course Instructor Effectiveness 05Sp: ECE5320 Mechatronics Overall Quality of Course Instructor Effectiveness 05Sp: ECE/MAE7750 Distributed Control Systems Overall Quality of Course Instructor Effectiveness 05F: ECE3620 Circuits and Signals Overall Quality of Course Instructor Effectiveness 06Sp: PHYX3500/ECE5930 Nanomechatronics Overall Quality of Course Instructor Effectiveness 06Sp: ECE5320 Mechatronics Overall Quality of Course Instructor Effectiveness 06F: ECE3620 Circuits and Signals Overall Quality of Course Instructor Effectiveness 07Sp: ECE5320 Mechatronics Overall Quality of Course Instructor Effectiveness
4.8
4.4
4.6
5.0
4.2 3.7
4.4 4.4
4.6 4.6
4.9 5.0
4.7 4.6
4.8 4.8
4.7 4.8
4.9 5.0
5.0 5.0
4.3 4.7
4.5 4.5
4.9 5.0
4.5 4.4
4.7 4.6
4.7 4.7
5.0 5.0
5.3 4.8
4.7 4.6
4.7 4.7
5.0 5.0
5.0 5.3
4.5 4.5
4.7 4.7
5.0 5.0
4.4 4.1
4.6 4.6
4.7 4.7
5.0 5.1
5.5 5.7
4.6 4.6
4.7 4.7
5.0 5.1
4.0 4.1
4.7 4.7
4.8 4.8
5.0 5.1
5.4 5.5
4.7 4.7
4.8 4.9
5.0 5.1
4.3 4.0
4.8 4.9
4.8 4.9
5.0 5.1
4.0 3.7
4.6 4.5
4.7 4.7
5.0 5.0
4.6 4.3
4.6 4.6
4.7 4.7
5.0 5.1
07Sp: ECE7360 Optimal and Robust Control Overall Quality of Course 4.7 Instructor Effectiveness 4.6
4.6 4.6
4.7 4.7
5.0 5.1
Remarks: (1) I would like to comment that 2002 ECE/MAE7750 is the first time offering. Although it was listed in the Catalog, it was never offered. The 1st offer of ECE/MAE7750 is actually a success since I have pushed hard to emphasize the research flavor of this course. Contrary to the numbers from the course evaluation, most of the students in this class actually gave me pretty good feedback. I hope to improve course evaluation numbers in the next round of offering of ECE/MAE 7750. This has now verified in 2005 offering of ECE/MAE7750. The course evaluation was improved significantly. This is an interesting experience. (2) For ECE/MAE 5320 Mechatronics, the 05Sp evaluation was slightly decreased. This may be due to the fact the class size almost doubled. In 2006 Spring, I will do some teaching innovation to see if the numbers can grow a bit. (3) For Spring 2007 ECE/MAE5320, I have followed the advice from my P/T Committee and Dr. Tamal Bose on “PPT-free” lecturing. It turns out to be a great thing and the student evaluation got improved. (4) For Fall 2006 ECE3620, it went down a bit on the numbers but in terms of actual student remarks, I feel not that bad. In fact, I worked harder and put lot more time into the teaching that the last round of teaching. I believe, when I offer this course again, if I organize better, for example, no hand-written quiz papers, I will get better scores. C. Peer Evaluations Please see an additional section. D. Advising/Mentoring of Undergraduate Students My efforts in advising undergraduate students are through my office hour which is also dedicated for my role as a Faculty Mentor for the Engineering Theme Hall Program in Reeder Hall. I also maintain an e-mailing list to keep in touch with engineering students living in Reeder Hall. In my office, I am always nice to talk to the randomly dropping-in students both graduates and undergraduates. 2007 I supervise the following 6 USU undergraduate researchers:
Jessi Lianghan Ng Chunxiao Lu Chris J. Hall Ryan Keith Mckay Williams Daniel Morgan 2006 I supervise three USU undergraduate researchers: Austin Jensen Shelley Rounds Jessi Lianghan Ng 2005. I supervise two USU undergraduate researchers: Jessi Lianghan Ng Joshua Mabey 2004 Fall. I supervise one freshmen undergraduate student, • Chris Hall, Present Fellowship 2003 Summer and Fall semesters, I supervise 2 senior team-projects with 2 students per project. They are • Jae-Yang Park
[email protected] • Scott Bingham
[email protected] • Yonggoo Yoon
[email protected] • Uijeong Ham
[email protected]
E. Mentoring of Graduate Students I have graduated 2 Ph.D. and 9 MSc. students. I also mentored several undergraduate students. Currently, I am the major professor for 2 Ph.D. students, 6 MSc students, while guiding 6 undergraduate researchers.
Current/Past Graduate Students I have worked and am presently working with the following MS/PhD students as the Major Advisor: LName
FName
Current Degree
CUM GPA
Current Student
Comm CHR Chen
1Comm Mem Budge
2Comm Mem Fullmer, Rees
Moore
Chen
Gunther
Ren
Eames
Ahn
Hyo-Sung
PHD
3.85
Song
Zhen Taranjeet Rambabu Peng-Yu Tripti William K. Kenton Gunther Chalan
PHD
3.77
Graduated Current (defended)
ME MS-A MS-A MS-A
3.5 3.73 3.71 3.66
Graduated Graduated Graduated Graduated
Chen Chen Chen Chen
Moore Berkemeier Gunther Gunther
Gunther Tompkins Dou Ren
MS-B ME
3.83 3.92
Graduated Graduated
Chen Chen
Bose Bose
Gunther Shaw
Arora Chen Bhaskaran Bourgeous Fife Koneru
PHD 3 Comm
PHD 4 Comm Gunther Kulyukin, Vladimir
Liang Shi
Jinsong Yan
MS-A MS-B
3.76 3.33
Graduated Graduated
Chen Chen
Ren Liang
Fullmer, Rees Dasu
Sun
Rongtao
MS-A
3.5
Graduated
Chen
Budge
Gunther
Tarte
Yashodhan
MS-A
3.81
Graduated
Chen
Dou
Wang
Zhongmin
MS-A
3.66
Graduated
Chen
Gunther
Chao
Haiyang
PHD
3.76
Current
Chen
Ren
Gunther Fullmer, Rees Cripps, don
Tricaud
PHD
3.73
Current
Chen
Ren
Jensen Bhambhani
Christophe Austin Michael Varsha
MS-A MS-A
3.24 3.6
Current Current
Chen Chen
Ren Ren
Lee
Lizabeth
MS-B
3.53
Current
Chen
Ren
Cripps Fullmer, Rees Spencer Zhou, Anhong
Rounds Han Mukhopadhyay
Shelley Yiding Shayok Shashidhar Reddy
MS-A MS-A MS-A
3.33
Current Current Current
Chen Chen Chen
Ren
Baktur
MS-A
3.63
Transfer
Chen
Spencer
Gunther
Yeddula
Zhou, Anhong Cripps, Don
Moon McKee, Mac
Kulyukin, Vladmimir Spencer
I previously worked and am currently working with the following MS/PhD students as a thesis committee member:
LName Ballard
Cao ElHamoui Kutiyanaw ala Rathnabha rathi Sorensen
FName Larry Dale
Yongcan Mohamad Ahmed Aliasgar Abdulla Kalani Nanda Nathan W.
Current Degree MS-A
CUM GPA 3.88
Current Student Current
Comm CHR Ren
1Comm Mem Chen
2Comm Mem Gunther
PHD
3.83
Current
Ren
Chen
Moon
MS-A
3.93
Current
Shenai
Chen
Israelsen
MS-B
3.58
Current
Moore
Chen
Budge
MS-B MS-A
3.11 3.65
Current Graduated
Ren Ren
Chen Chen
Eames Gunther
PHD 3 Comm
PHD 4 Com m
Gunthe r
Fuller m, Rees
Subramani an Thayn Zundel
LName Arora Chandrase kharan Flake McInnes Prakash Stormont Tiwari
Prasad Brett Ray Daniel Davis
MS-A MS-A
3.22 3.92
Current Graduated
MS-A
3.23
Current
FName Anisha
Current Degree MS-B
Madhumita John Taylor Allan Urmila Daniel Patrick Rahul
Gunther Moore
Chen Chen
Eames Jost
Ren
Chen
Gunther
CUM GPA 3.54
Current Student Graduated
Comm CHR Moore
1Comm Mem Berkemeier
2Comm Mem Chen
MS-B MS-A
3.48 4
Graduated Current
Moore Moon
Berkemeier Gunther
Chen Chen
PHD MS-B
4 3.43
Graduated Graduated
Swenson Fullmer, Rees
Stiles Swenson
Chen Chen
EE ME
3.35 2.92
Graduated Graduated
Ren Shaw
Eames Israelsen
Chen Chen
Xiao
Li
ME
Xie
Bei
Zhang
Zhongkai
PHD 3 Comm
PHD 4 Com m
Fullme r, Rees
Eame s
3.96
Graduated
Bose
Gunther
Chen
Moon
PHD
4
Transfer
Bose
Moon
Chen
Gunthe r
PHD
3.82
Graduated
Bose
Gunther
Chen
Moon
Additionally, I worked and am working with the following graduated student outside ECE Dept. as the committee member: • • • • • • • • • • • •
Qianru Li (Ph.D., Dept. Economics, Dr. Chris Fawson, on-going) Velmurugan K. Pillai (MS, CS Dept., defended) Zhaowang Ji (PhD, CEE Dept., defended) Leong Guan Eddie Loo (IT, PhD, defended) Francois van Heerden (Math, Ph.D, defended) Piya Chootinan (CEE, PhD, Dr. A. Chen, defended) Surachet Pravinvongvuth (CEE, PhD, Dr. A. Chen, defended) Xiangjun Shi (CS, PhD, Dr. H. Cheng, defended) Liming Hu (CS, PhD, Dr. H. Cheng, defended) Min Rui (CS, PhD, Dr. H. Cheng, defended) Arnind Sudarsanam (ECE, PhD, Dr. Dasu) Jonathan D. Philips (ECE, PhD, Dr. Dasu)
Chen g, HengDa Geller , David Qi, Xiaoj un
• • • •
Li Xiao (ECE, PhD, Dr. Bose) Aliasgar Abdulla Kutiyanawala (ECE, MS-B, pending) Mandar Agashe (CS, MS, pending) Plus some others.
F. Teaching Innovations As a control systems faculty, I look at the teaching/learning process from a system point of view. Whatever I teach, I will ask myself how to optimize the system performance. With this in mind, I will continue to bring teaching innovations in my class. I have attended the Course Design and Development Workshop by the Office of Instructional Support, Utah State University in June 2002. I will consciously use the learned techniques in my lecturing. In March 2003, I got an NSF travel grant to attend the NSF Career Workshop hold in Arizona State University (ASU), Tempe, AZ. From this workshop, I learned how to manage time more efficiently. In May 2003, Dean Hinton organized a half day workshop for untenured professors in the College of Engineering, USU. I learned the philosophy of “Tenure is a by-product” if we always aim higher and achieve more than expected. I also learned from Professor Ron Sims that “publication is also the tool for networking.” I appreciate these important career advices. G. Awards and Honors for Teaching Awarded grants for Teaching Innovation:
Development of a remote YangQuan Chen USU Realtime tele-lab Eddie Loo FACT
$12,000
Development of undergraduate nanotechnology education program at the Utah State University
NSF
$100,000 2004-2005 (granted)
NSF REU Site program
$229,000 2006-2009
Co-PI PI: Haeyeong Yang (Physics Dept.)
Mobile Actuator and Sensor PI: YangQuan Networks (MAS-net) *) Chen, co-PI: Tamal Bose
PI: YangQuan NSF ENG $29,000 Chen, IREE Polish PI Program Prof. Dariusz Ucinski *) With a strong research component in addition to educational efforts. **) With a strong research component in addition to educational efforts. International Research and Education in Engineering (IREE) with Poland. **)
2003-2004 (granted)
2006-2007
H. Education Related Grant Proposals 1. PI, (co-PI, Wenbin Yu) Dec. 2, 2004. NSF CCLI. Smart Mechatronics. Declined. 2. PI, (co-PI, Wenbin Yu) Sept. 2005. NSF CCLI. Smart Mechatronics. Resubmitted. Declined Nov. 2005. 3. PI, (co-PI, Wenbin Yu) June 2006. NSF CCLI. Smart Mechatronics. Resubmitted. Declined Nov. 2006. 4. PI, (co-PI, Tamal Bose), 2006. NSF REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) Site Program on MAS-net (Mobile Actuator and Sensor Networks). Awarded. Three years program, summer 2006 ,2007, and 2008. Total funding: $229K. I. Education Related Publications * (+) +
: Corresponding author; : Abstract based conference presentation. : Student co-author.
Textbooks: 1. Dingyu Xue, YangQuan Chen* and Derek Atherton. “Linear Feedback Control – Analysis and Design with Matlab”. SIAM Press, 2007, ISBN: 9780-898716-38-2. (348 pages) 2. Dingyu Xue* and YangQuan Chen. “Solving Control Related Mathematical Problems Using Matlab”. (ISBN tbd) Tsinghua University Press, Beijing, China, 2007. (474 pages in Chinese) 3. Dingyu Xue* and YangQuan Chen. “Solving Advanced Applied Mathematical Problems Using Matlab”. (ISBN 7-302-09311-3/O.392) Tsinghua University Press, Beijing, China, August 2004. (419 pages in Chinese) 4. Blas M Vinagre* and YangQuan Chen. “Fractional Calculus Applications in Automatic Control and Robotics”. Lecture Notes Prepared for The Tutorial Workshop at the IEEE International Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Dec. 9 2002, Las Vegas, USA. (316 PDF pages) http://mechatronics.ece.usu.edu/foc/cdc02tw/cdrom/Lectures/book.pdf. 5. Dingyu Xue* and YangQuan Chen. "System Simulation Techniques and Applications Based on MATLAB/Simulink". Tsinghua University Press. 2002. (ISBN7-302-05341-3/TP3137) (www.tup.tsinghua.edu.cn) (435 pages in Chinese) (googlescholar citations: > 650) Education Related Papers: 6. Yashodhan Tarte+, YangQuan Chen*, Wei Ren, Kevin L. Moore. “Fractional Horsepower Dynamometer - A General Purpose Hardware-In-The-Loop Real-Time Simulation Platform for Nonlinear Control Research and Education”. December 1315, 2006. San Diego. Proc. of the IEEE Int, Conference on Decision and Control
7. Bharath Ramaswamy+, YangQuan Chen* and Kevin L. Moore. “CSOIS Omni-Directional Wheel Online – A Mobile Real-Time Control Systems Laboratory.” Int. J. of Engineering Education, accepted to appear in 2008. 8. Bharath Ramaswamy+, YangQuan Chen*, Kevin L. Moore. "Omnidirectional Robotic Wheel - A Mobile Real-Time Control Systems Laboratory". Interactive control education paper. Presented at American Control Conference, 2006. June 14-16, 2006, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. pp. 719-724. 9. Dan Stormont+ and YangQuan Chen*. “Using Mobile Robots for Controls and Mechatronics Education”. Int. J. of Engineering Education, vol. 21, no. 6, 2005. 10. (+) Anhong Zhou*, Joan Mclean, and YangQuan Chen. "Modules Adaptation - Bioinstrumentation Course Omprovement." ( PPT ) Presented by Prof. Anhong Zhou. The 2005 Annual ASEE Rocky Mountain Section Conference (April 15-16, 2005, Logan, UT) 11. (+) YangQuan Chen* and Wenbin Yu. "Control-II: From Digital Control to Mechatronics to Smart mechatronics." ( PPT ) The 2005 Annual ASEE Rocky Mountain Section Conference (April 15-16, 2005, Logan, UT) 12. (+) J. Liang+, Eddie Loo, H. F. Dou, Y. Liu+, and Y. Q. Chen. "An Internetbased Educational Real-Time Control System Lab Using WebLab". Presentation Sides (PPT). USU Department of Instructional Technology, The USU 15-th IT Institute. August 28, 2003.
J. Other Statement of Teaching Philosophy and Interests I like the fun saying about education: “Education is what is left when one forgot all he or she has learned”. It is true that education is the process of shaping the way of thinking. My teaching philosophy is simply “teaching is always not enough”. During the teaching, I feel that, in this exploding information age, there are just too many things there and it is impossible to include all of them in my class. Balancing the teaching materials is an art. My idea is not to over stuff the students but to teach them to learn how, where and what to learn. Teaching is to build the “fishing skill” of the students rather than simply feeding the students with the “fish”. The role of the lecturer is not only to guide the students to “learn what should be learned” but also, as Confucius (551-479, BC) said, “Learn to know what you do not know”. According to Confucius, “To learn and to practice what is learned time and again is a pleasure, is it not?” 1 To make the learning process a pleasure, my practice is to motivate the class by asking “why we need to learn this part” and “what the relationship is between this part and other parts”. Sometimes, to stimulate the wonder in the class, I ask the class some “what if” questions in the end of the lecture. Educated in systems and control, I highly value the role of “feedback” in teaching. Quiz, project, assignment, midterm, etc. are all feedback components, which are very important in teaching performance enhancement. For small-scale class, usually for graduates, I prefer to monitor the progresses of individual students using “decoupled feedback” by giving different advice to different student in addition to the common fundamental requirements. For larger class, usually for undergraduates, for efficiency reason, I will use “centralized feedback” via standardizing all the teaching coursewares. Clearly, for undergraduates, the faculty-mentor program will be of great value. Based on my experience as an engineer and an engineering educator, I am increasingly committed to the goal of instilling a broad-based, interdisciplinary systems perspective in my students. It has been my experience that students who can see the "big picture" typically do better in understanding the role of their particular design expertise in the overall system or product development cycle and are better prepared to deal with the complexities of the work place. This is reinforced by my research and storage product developing experience, both of which have exposed me to the great need that industry has for engineers who understand the process of engineering design. Indeed, the systems that engineers analyze and design are larger and more complex than ever before. It is essential that our students receive the training necessary to contribute to the successful completion of such projects. I am convinced that a solid foundation in systems and control theory provides a unique 1
http://www.confucius.org/english/ed0101.htm
perspective from which one can approach the solution of large-scale technical problems. As an engineering educator, my goal is to develop such a systems viewpoint in my students. My teaching interests are in the theory and applications of control, computer based decision and control, signal processing, embedded systems and industrial automation, and distributed computing. Regarding my teaching expertise, I have more than 8 years university teaching experience in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Utah State University (2000-present) and in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Xian Institute of Technology, China (1988-1995) where, as the Department Head, I gained first-hand experience in curriculum reform and development. Additionally, I have more that 3-years experience in the Center for Intelligent Control of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National University of Singapore in co-supervising final year design projects. I have formal training in almost all areas of control, in signal theory and digital signal processing, and in introductory communications and random processes. My strengths are in linear multivariable systems theory, industrial control and automation, power electronics and power systems, nonlinear and adaptive systems, and robust and optimal control theory. I also have solid background in numerical analysis, engineering optimization, stochastic systems and Kalman filtering, and the application of control theory to motion control problems (such as servo systems of hard disk drives). Because of my recent research, I am also conversant in the literature of intelligent and autonomous control and their applications to control systems and signal processing. I can teach any core curriculum of electrical engineering, any introductory engineering or math courses, and any senior-level engineering courses in controls, signal processing, or communications, as well as courses in systems engineering and systems methodology. In addition, I have been trained as a certified Design For SixSigma (DFSS) Green Belt in Singapore Science Park Design Center of Seagate Technology International and I can develop and offer relevant industrial training courses. Based on my industrial experience gained at Seagate, I can immediately develop courses like "Modern Magnetic Storage Systems", "Servo Engineering in Disk Storage Systems", "DFSS (Design for Six-Sigma) for Engineering Professionals" and etc. At Utah State University, I am now practicing “paperless lecturing” with the aid of PowerPoint LCD projector, e-mail, ftp and web-server. When possible, the mailing list server and local news group may be of additional help in delivering rich-content course materials. Teaching is a process requiring constant innovative ideas as socio-technological environment involves. Teaching is also a rewarding process where you can learn from the class. Teaching and learning are bi-directionally beneficial. With enthusiasm in teaching, I would like to conclude that “Teaching is a pleasure”.
