Qiaoyan Yu

Excellence in Teaching, 2015

Electrical and Computer Engineering

It gives me great pleasure to see a colleague as dedicated to students as Qiaoyan Yu being recognized with an "Excellence in Teaching Award."

Qiaoyan specializes in computer engineering, with specific interests in the cybersecurity of hardware systems, computer chip designs, flexible organic transistors and emerging nanoelectronics. Breaking from the traditional pedagogical methods, she has engaged with students in seven different classes and two labs, all of which are highly interactive. These include:

Qiaoyan is the quintessential quick learner, arriving at UNH with little teaching experience, but recognizing early what she needed to do in order to be counted among the elite group of faculty with stellar teaching records. In just two years, she has grown dramatically as an instructor. Student comments about Qiaoyan's engagement with students in the classroom aresome of the most enthusiastic I have seen as dean.

A recent student in ECE 711, Digital Systems, wrote, "Prof. Yu has been one of my favorite professors in ECE due to her fairness in dealing with students and understanding the student's problems both with the class & other conflicts due to timing. She was very available for help even outside her office hours which showed she cares about how we do which I have not seen from every professor."

Another student from that same class added, "Professor Yu is an EXCELLENT teacher. She is extremely helpful and nice and does a great job helping her students learn efficiently. I have learned much more in this class than I have in other classes where much more work is given which has not contributed to my ability to learn the material. Prof. Yu strikes a great balance in the classroom and manages to teach us a lot while also keeping the class enjoyable and fun."

A student in ECE 651, Electronic Design II, commented, "Awesome teacher. Very good presentation of material; very methodical & this helps us to learn better. Homeworks prepare students incredibly well for exams. Exams are exactly what we expected & what we expected to learn. One of the best teachers in the department."

Another student from this class added, "You are hands down my favorite professor in this department."

The enduring evidence of Qiaoyan's enthusiasm for teaching is not only found in the number of courses she has taught at all levels, and in the excellent scores from student evaluations, but also in her overall commitment to the improvement of pedagogical methods. Besides the regular tweaking of her classroom lectures, Qiaoyan has dedicated herself to the all-important one-on-one sessions with students outside the classroom and outside of regular office hours.

Congratulations, Qiaoyan!

By: Samuel B. Mukasa, Dean, College of Engineering and Physical Sciences