A column in The New York Times this past February, titled “How to Hold Colleges Accountable,” had several suggestions for making higher education more effective, but at the top of the list was “quality of teaching.” Noting that most professors come from Ph.D. programs where there’s much more emphasis on research than pedagogy, the co-authors lamented the lack of training, evaluation, and assessment that college professors receive when it comes to teaching.  

Well, Georgia Tech is on it — and actually has been for some time.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1507","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"150","style":"width: 120px; height: 150px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; float: left;","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"120"}}]]Jennelle Piepmeier (PhD ME '99) was recently promoted to (Full) Professor at the United States Naval Academy (USNA), to be effective mid-August. Dr.

Varian Medical Systems, the world's leading manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating cancer as well as a premier supplier of X-ray imaging components, announced that it will expand its operations in Fulton County, Georgia. Company officials anticipate that this expansion will enable it to better serve its East Coast customers and accommodate anticipated growth that will create up to 100 new high-paying technical jobs over the next five years.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1503","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","style":"width: 180px; height: 240px; float: left; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]Raghuram Pucha has been selected by the Georgia Tech Center for the Enhancement of Teaching & Learning (CETL) awards committee to be a recipient of this year's Geoffrey G. Eichholz Faculty Teaching Award. This annual award recognizes faculty who provide outstanding teaching to students in core and general education undergraduate courses.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1501","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","style":"width: 167px; height: 250px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; float: left;","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]Alper Erturk has been named the 2015 recipient of the ASME Gary Anderson Early Achievement Award.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1491","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","style":"width: 146px; height: 250px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; float: right;","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, founded in 1886 at Cornell University, is the honor society of scientists and engineers that recognizes scientific achievement.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1477","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","style":"width: 179px; height: 250px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; float: left;","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]As a result of his outstanding educational accomplishments, Asegun Henry, assistant professor, has been selected to receive the 2015 Lockheed Inspirational Young Faculty Award.

If such a designation existed, Nazanin Bassiri-Gharb would be on the fast track to becoming an Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) “super user.” Her research on nanoscale materials has taken her all across the ORNL campus, from scanning probe and electron microscopes at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences to neutron reflectometry at the Spallation Neutron Source and radiation equipment in the Materials Science and Technology Division.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1443","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"448","style":"width: 188px; height: 250px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; float: left;","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"336"}}]]Rhett Mayor, Professor, and Andrew Semidey launched their new electric motor company, DHX.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1441","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"480","style":"width: 167px; height: 250px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; float: left;","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"321"}}]]Bill Wepfer, the recipient of the 2015 Edwin F.