Bioengineering’s Saterbak elected ASEE Fellow

By Shawn Hutchins
Special to Rice News

Bioengineering’s Ann Saterbak has been elected a fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) for her widespread contributions to undergraduate engineering education.

Ann Saterbak

ASEE is the largest U.S. engineering education society. Election to its Grade of Fellow is conferred to one-tenth of 1 percent of its members in any given year for outstanding contributions to engineering or engineering technology education. ASEE currently has 262 fellows.

Saterbak, a professor in the practice of bioengineering education and associate chair for undergraduate affairs in the Department of Bioengineering, has for 15 years taught challenging and innovative engineering courses that are based on solving real-world problems. Most of her courses have project-based learning or hands-on experiences as hallmark features.

“Mastery of engineering curriculum can be challenging for many students,” said Rebecca Richards-Kortum, chair of Rice’s bioengineering program. “Dr. Saterbak’s teaching methods bridge the gap between science and engineering fundamentals and the application of that knowledge to find workable solutions. Along the way, students learn to think critically and not to be discouraged if they don’t get the answer right away.”

Saterbak’s outstanding teaching has been recognized with universitywide and departmental teaching awards, including the George R. Brown Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 2011 and being named a founding fellow of Rice’s Center for Teaching Excellence. She has also been distinguished within ASEE for her accomplishments, including with the 2007 Robert G. Quinn Award and the 2013 Theo C. Pilkington Outstanding Educator Award.

–Shawn Hutchins is a science writer and Web specialist for the Department of Bioengineering.