Excellence in Teaching Award
Friends of Davis International Center annually presents an award to an international graduate student who has demonstrated excellence in teaching undergraduates at Princeton University. The Excellence in Teaching Award has been presented since 2000 and carries a stipend of $1000. The award is presented at the reception for the Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni’s Tribute to Teaching.
Yves Plancherel is 2009 Excellence Award Winner
From a small Swiss village in the Alps to deep-sea scientific research in Hawaii, thirty-one year old Yves Plancherel has followed an unusual path to Princeton University, where he is currently a graduate student in the Geosciences Department.
A former rescue soldier in the Swiss army, Yves decided early on that he wanted to study marine biology, which he did at Hawaii Pacific University. An ocean-going research expedition marked the beginning of his interest in oceanography, which then led to a Master’s degree at the University of Hawaii in Manoa. His studies literally brought him to the bottom of the sea aboard the DSV Alvin, a research submarine.
Yves came to Princeton University in 2005 for his Ph.D. studies to work on global scale marine biogeochemistry and the carbon cycle. These past two years, he has been the teaching assistant for the undergraduate course, “Investigating Natural Disasters.”
The course is taught by Dr. Gregory E. van der Vink, the Princeton University 250th Anniversary Visiting Professor for Distinguished Teaching, a visiting faculty member in the Department of Geosciences, and the CEO of Terrametrics LLC.
In his letter nominating Yves Plancerel for the teaching award, Professor van der Vink said, “In over fifteen years of teaching at Princeton University, Yves is without a doubt the most deserving candidate I have encountered. Already a strong research scientist, I believe he also has extraordinary talent for teaching and will be a tremendous asset to any research and educational institution.”
Yves is currently doing research under a grant from the National Science Foundation on the relationships between ocean circulation and the distribution of nutrients in the global ocean. He envisions a future in the field of environmentally-sustainable economic development and would like to contribute to the planning and implementation of infrastructures to deal with the fundamental societal issues of energy and water.
He expects to complete his Ph.D. studies in 2010 and plans to work either in public service, such as with the United Nations, or in the private sector as a consultant.
In addition to his own research and teaching, Yves is the president of the Council of International Graduate Students at Princeton, co-founder of the Sayre Hall Iron Chef competition, and has presented scholarly research at numerous domestic and international science conferences and seminars. If all this is not enough by way of accomplishments, this talented man is an experienced scuba diver, has successfully landed a plane twenty-seven times (so far), and speaks four languages.
A Tribute to the Friends
When Yves was asked why the Friends’ teaching award was so special to him, he responded that the award “gives me a sense of accomplishment. It is by far the most prestigious one I have received and the one I am most proud of.” He went on to say that the award represents “the best certificate of English proficiency I could get.”
What is Friends of Davis International Center?
Friends of Davis International Center is the volunteer wing of Davis International Center and provides programs that offer international graduate students and their spouses an opportunity to make friends with Americans, as well as to practice their conversational English. Friends volunteers help over 250 international visitors each year.
If you are interested in finding out more about volunteering with the Friends, click here.
E-mail comments to Hanna Hand or call (609) 258 -1170...