News
Professor and Departmental Chair Alexander Smits was recognized by receiving a President's Award
Professor and Departmental Chair Alexander Smits was recognized by receiving a President's Award for Distinguished Teaching at the Commencement ceremonies on 5 June 2007.
As noted in the citation: "He has supervised 27 Ph.D. and 21 MSE students and 14 postdoctoral researchers, who now participate in leading academic and industrial research groups around the world." "Working in the Smits group was an inspirational experience," wrote one former graduate student. "He affords his students a great freedom to explore fluid mechanics and begin to understand the research process, while sharing his extensive experience in a way that helps one pull the pieces of the field together."
June 05, 2007
Smits, who joined the mechanical and aerospace engineering faculty in 1981, has taught many undergraduate and graduate classes, but most frequently has led "Mechanics of Fluids," a demanding, required sophomore course. He has written "A Physical Introduction to Fluid Mechanics" as a textbook for the course, and has won several awards from the Engineering Council for his work with the class. "His way of describing fluid mechanics concepts was both crystal clear and precise," wrote one student. "He has a gift for drawing useful diagrams and pictures on the board, and creating practice problems that make sense. His book was also great, useful both as a first-time introduction as well as a handy reference for other courses." Another former student added, "His lectures were grounded in practical experience; he could always take complex ideas and mathematics, and break them down into their individual components to provide substantive physical meaning. He is a catalyst for intellectual growth." Smits, who served as chair of mechanical and aerospace engineering from 1998 to 2004, worked to implement a new graduate general examination process in the department intended to relieve unnecessary stress on students, reduce the time to graduation for MSE and Ph.D. candidates and provide for more flexibility in class scheduling. He has supervised 27 Ph.D. and 21 MSE students and 14 postdoctoral researchers, who now participate in leading academic and industrial research groups around the world. "Working in the Smits group was an inspirational experience," wrote one former graduate student. "He affords his students a great freedom to explore fluid mechanics and begin to understand the research process, while sharing his extensive experience in a way that helps one pull the pieces of the field together. The breadth of my final thesis area both enhanced my doctoral experience and stands me in good stead as I continue to work in academia and develop my own research program."