Three instructors in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering have been recognized among the most effective teachers of 2021 at Georgia Tech. Brendan Saltaformaggio, Linda Wills and Nivedita Bhattacharya have been awarded with the Student Recognition of Excellence in Teaching: 2021 CIOS Award by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL).
The award winners are recognized for exceptional response rates and scores on the Course Instructor Opinion Survey (CIOS). Specifically, recipients are selected based on the sum of the following three CIOS items: instructor’s respect and concern for students, instructor’s level of enthusiasm about teaching the course, and instructor’s ability to stimulate interest in the subject matter. The CIOS is completed by students at the end of each semester to provide feedback to instructors about the learning experience in their respective courses
“Awards based on student feedback like the CIOS Award are always special, but during these times of unforeseen obstacles and changing demands, they have even more significance,” said Arijit Raychowdhury, Steve W. Chaddick School Chair and Professor in ECE. “I, along with all my colleagues in ECE, could not be prouder of Brendan, Linda and Nivedita for their outstanding teaching and commitment to student learning in these hard times.”
Courses taught during Spring 2021, Summer 2021, and Fall 2021 were considered for the award. Each semester, instructors who met the base criteria of 70% response rate and placed in the top 25% of the composite CIOS scores for each size group were eligible for recognition on the CIOS Honor Roll. The 50 members of the Honor Roll with the highest response rates and CIOS scores are then recognized with the 2021 CIOS Award.
Bhattacharya was recognized for teaching ECE2040 (Circuit Analysis), Saltaformaggio for teaching ECE4117 (Introduction to Malware Reverse Engineering), and Wills for teaching ECE2035 (Programming for Hardware/Software Systems).
Funds for the award this year were provided by the Class of 1934 and the Jack and Frances Mundy endowment accounts.
Bhattacharya, Saltaformaggio and Wills all won in the College of Engineering’s large classes size group (40 or more students). All of Georgia Tech’s 2021 CIOS Award winners will be recognized at Celebrating Teaching Day on March 15.