I have been a teaching assistant for the University of Florida since I started graduate school.  Not only has it helped pay the way, but teaching has been the most rewarding and frustrating part of my responsibilities here.  I feel the greatest nontechnical challenge engineers face is our ability to communicate to personnel at all levels in industry.  I feel my steel mill experience gave me firm backing for this belief, and teaching laboratories has given me the chance to express it.  Furthermore, in June 1997, the University reported the commencement of a 5-year project between the engineering school and the National Science Foundation to improve the communication skills of engineering graduates.  Many reports are written for each lab, and I have pushed the students to report their findings in a clear and concise fashion.

As someone once said, you don't really know something until you can explain it to someone else.  It has been a privilege to have the opportunity to share my (sometimes limited) knowledge and experience with so many  people, and to grow with them.

Controls Laboratory

I began teaching the controls laboratory in the Summer of 1997.  I was excited about this since controls is my area of specialization.  The students learn about modeling, analyzing, and controlling dynamic systems.  We use classical controllers, but introduced a fuzzy logic controller during the Summer 1998 semester.  It's especially fun when we get to use real systems such as DC motors and hydraulic pistons.  Teaching has helped my knowledge.  It's amazing how many times a student will question something I always took for truth.  Finding the answer always increases my understanding of classical controllers.
 

Instrumentation and Measurements Lab

This  was the first course I taught when I started graduate school.  Students take this course early in the curriculum to gain experience with using different equipment and to begin developing a report writing style.