The winners of the inaugural IMPACT Student Choice Awards for Instructor and Teaching Assistant (TA) of the Year were announced last weekend at the annual Materials Science & Engineering Dinner Dance. Selected by the undergraduate student body “for dedication and excellence in teaching,” the 2011 awardees were Professor Zhirui Wang (Instructor of the Year, MSE 316S: Mechanical Behaviour of Materials / MSE 419F: Fracture & Failure Analysis) and Leo Monaco (MSE 1T0, MASc Candidate/TA of the Year, MSE 342F: Nanomaterials).

“It was wonderful to have awards for teaching that were voted on by students,” said Professor Jun Nogami, MSE Department Chair. “And it was great to see them presented by and in front of our students at the dinner-dance.”

The awardees received a framed certificate encased with several samples of impact testing from the ballistics experiment conducted in MSE 101, courtesy of Dr. Scott Ramsay. A plaque showing the names of each year’s awardees will be on permanent display in the MSE Department.

The IMPACT Student Choice Awards recognize an MSE undergraduate instructor and teaching assistant as selected by the student body each year. Named after MSE’s alumni and industry magazine, IMPACT, the title of the award makes reference to both materials testing and the influential effect of professional dedication and excellence.

Award candidates must be a MSE faculty member or graduate student and have taught at least one MSE undergraduate course in the previous calendar year.