Faculty receive innovative teaching grants
The USC Stevens Institute awarded six $2,000 innovative teaching grants.
Kyla Segala
Issue date: 2/8/08 Section: News
The USC Stevens Institute for Innovation has awarded grants of $2,000 each to six classes to help promote an original classroom experience in the first ever Innovation Inside curriculum awards.
The Stevens Institute helps faculty and students in the USC community make innovative decisions and promotes new, diverse ideas as a strategic priority, said Krisztina Holly, vice provost for innovation and executive director of USC Stevens.
The institute awarded the grants at the beginning of the semester to recognize faculty who have added innovation to their classrooms. As a result, they hope to see more developments in the next few years, Holly said.
"Our approach tends to be very experimental," she said.
USC Stevens asked professors to propose ideas to a panel of faculty who then chose to whom the grants are awarded.
The professors who received the grants were Judith Mussel and Emily White, professors of architecture; Karen Halttunen, professor of history; Krishna Nayak, Murali Annavaram, Bhaskar Krishnamachari and Steve Cronin, all professors in electrical engineering; and Janet Owen Driggs, professor of fine arts.
Annavaram and Krishnamachari teach Engineering 579, a class that focuses on mobile applications and mobile application development.
They are using the grant to bring guest speakers to the classroom from companies such as Motorola, Nokia, Yahoo and Qualcomm.
The speakers will discuss what type of problems they face in the industry and give students perspective on the class, Annavaram said.
Some of the grant money will be used to provide transportation costs for the speakers.
The grant will also be used to purchase a prize for the student in Annayaram and Krishnamachari's class who creates the best end-of-the-semester project.
Cronin's class will use the funds to purchase nanomaterials, which were not commercially available until just a few years ago. Commercial applications of these materials, which might include carbon nanotubes or gold nanoparticles, are still lacking, he said.
"In this course, the students will generate their own ideas as to how to make use of these new nano-scale systems," Cronin said.
Cronin believes the grant will make a significant difference in his classroom.
"In research, most grants come with many restrictions," Cronin said. "The good thing about the Innovation Inside award is that the funds are unrestricted. Therefore, it can be used to support a project that has yet to be defined by the students."
Annavaram also said the grant will make a difference in his class.
"If we didn't have this grant, we wouldn't be able to reach all these people," he said, referring to the many guest speakers that will be visiting his classroom.
Innovation Inside will impact more than 100 students this semester, Elisa Wiefel, the director of communications for the Stevens Institute, said.
"USC is known for its innovation," Holly said. "We would love to see what people come up with."
The Stevens Institute helps faculty and students in the USC community make innovative decisions and promotes new, diverse ideas as a strategic priority, said Krisztina Holly, vice provost for innovation and executive director of USC Stevens.
The institute awarded the grants at the beginning of the semester to recognize faculty who have added innovation to their classrooms. As a result, they hope to see more developments in the next few years, Holly said.
"Our approach tends to be very experimental," she said.
USC Stevens asked professors to propose ideas to a panel of faculty who then chose to whom the grants are awarded.
The professors who received the grants were Judith Mussel and Emily White, professors of architecture; Karen Halttunen, professor of history; Krishna Nayak, Murali Annavaram, Bhaskar Krishnamachari and Steve Cronin, all professors in electrical engineering; and Janet Owen Driggs, professor of fine arts.
Annavaram and Krishnamachari teach Engineering 579, a class that focuses on mobile applications and mobile application development.
They are using the grant to bring guest speakers to the classroom from companies such as Motorola, Nokia, Yahoo and Qualcomm.
The speakers will discuss what type of problems they face in the industry and give students perspective on the class, Annavaram said.
Some of the grant money will be used to provide transportation costs for the speakers.
The grant will also be used to purchase a prize for the student in Annayaram and Krishnamachari's class who creates the best end-of-the-semester project.
Cronin's class will use the funds to purchase nanomaterials, which were not commercially available until just a few years ago. Commercial applications of these materials, which might include carbon nanotubes or gold nanoparticles, are still lacking, he said.
"In this course, the students will generate their own ideas as to how to make use of these new nano-scale systems," Cronin said.
Cronin believes the grant will make a significant difference in his classroom.
"In research, most grants come with many restrictions," Cronin said. "The good thing about the Innovation Inside award is that the funds are unrestricted. Therefore, it can be used to support a project that has yet to be defined by the students."
Annavaram also said the grant will make a difference in his class.
"If we didn't have this grant, we wouldn't be able to reach all these people," he said, referring to the many guest speakers that will be visiting his classroom.
Innovation Inside will impact more than 100 students this semester, Elisa Wiefel, the director of communications for the Stevens Institute, said.
"USC is known for its innovation," Holly said. "We would love to see what people come up with."
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