Northwestern Engineering Names Winners of 2023 Cole-Higgins Awards
Mike Edmonds, Kyoo-Chul Park, Abigail Stringer, Zachary Wood-Doughty, and Chamille Lescott received awards
Five members of the Northwestern Engineering community have received the school’s annual awards for outstanding teaching and advising.
Mike Edmonds, Kyoo-Chul Park, Abigail Stringer, and Zachary Wood-Doughty received the 2023 Cole-Higgins Award for Excellence in Teaching, while Chamille Lescott earned the Cole-Higgins Award for Excellence in Advising.
Mike Edmonds
Edmonds, adjunct lecturer in the Segal Design Institute’s MMM Program, Master of Product Design and Development Management (mpd2) program, and MS in Engineering Design Innovation program, was cited “for crafting and delivering a course cited by many as the highlight of their MMM experience.”
“Professor Edmonds is one of the most engaging and empathetic professors I've had across both my undergraduate and graduate academic experiences,” a student nominator said. “Not only is he passionate and knowledgeable about the subject he's teaching, but he thoughtfully designed the course in a way that provided us the opportunity to learn from him, other experts in the space, and our classmates, while also learning about ourselves in the process.”
Kyoo-Chul Park
Park, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering who teaches GEN_ENG 205-3: EA3, MECH_ENG 377: Heat Transfer, and MECH_ENG 395: Bio-Inspired Surface Engineering, was cited for “extraordinary efforts making himself accessible to students to support their learning.”
“One time I had a page worth of questions that I brought up after class, and Professor Park stayed after class and answered every single question, which took an hour-and-a-half. He didn't just answer them, either. He makes you understand why the correct answer is correct,” a student nominator said.
Abigail Stringer
Stringer, an adjunct professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering who teaches CHEM_ENG 275: Molecular and Cell Biology for Engineers and CHEM_ENG 321: Fluid Mechanics, was recognized for “skill and caring in teaching multiple core chemical engineering classes.”
A student nominator said, “[Abbie] was incredibly kind and understanding and motivated us to learn and come to class every day. I feel like I really have a strong grasp of the fluids content because she taught it so well and I enjoyed the class so much. It is my favorite chemical engineering class that I have taken. I wish Abbie could teach me every class in the ChBE sequence.”
Zachary Wood-Doughty
Wood-Doughty, an assistant professor of instruction in Northwestern CS who teaches COMP_SCI 349: Machine Learning and COMP_SCI 449: Deep Learning, was cited for “responsiveness to student needs and feedback while teaching machine learning.”
A student nominator said of Wood-Doughty, “This is now the second course I’ve taken with this professor in the realm of machine learning, and his ability to explain difficult concepts at an intuitive level has helped me to significantly to learn the subjects he covers. Furthermore, his class structure reduces stress on students and encourages learning as opposed to memorization and/or performance of mundane tasks.”
Chamille Lescott
Lescott, an undergraduate first-year adviser and assistant professor of instruction in the Segal Design Institute, was cited for “excellence in helping students navigate their first year of study in McCormick.”
A student nominator said of Lescott, “I am extremely satisfied with the guidance provided by my academic adviser. I found her to be an invaluable resource. Her depth of knowledge about the academic programs, course options, and other resources available at our University is phenomenal.”