Dr. Tom Grizzard is a professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department as well as the director of the Occoquan Watershed Laboratory. Dr. Grizzard’s interests, water quality issues in an urban environment, makes Manassas ideal for research but less so for teaching. Through the CGEP classrooms in Northern Virginia, Dr. Grizzard has been able to pursue his research interests as well as fulfill what he believes to be the mission of the land grant program: reaching out to non-traditional students.
Dr. Grizzard is an exceptional professor in that he tries to visit each receive site throughout the semester. Though some are harder to visit than others, he likes that he has this option. Dr. Grizzard also enjoys teaching the working and part-time community because of the real-world perspective these students bring as well as the feedback professors are able to get on their instruction from working professionals.
While Dr. Grizzard enjoys these experiences, he knows that the distance learning program has much room for growth and improvement, particularly in terms of the technology used and how it affects student-teacher interaction. Software programs like Centra and DyKnow are certainly a step in the right direction, but Dr. Grizzard would like a better way to see the students’ faces during class. He says that any good teacher will look for the visual cues that students give to indicate that they are confused or are having problems following. The lack of this non-verbal communication creates a barrier in the distance courses according to Dr. Grizzard.
In order to encourage student interaction, Dr. Grizzard requires team projects in his classes for which he splits teams across sites. Some students complain about this inconvenience at first, but Dr. Grizzard knows that being able to work in a distributed environment is often important in real-world situations. Dr. Grizzard has spent the last 10 years working with the Republic of Singapore on water supply and resources. He travels there once a year.
Previously Featured CGEP Faculty
Scott Midkiff
Professor and Head, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Mark Pierson
Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Leigh McCue
Assistant Professor, Aerospace and Ocean Engineering Department
Kathleen Meehan
Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Joseph G. Tront
Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Andrea Dietrich
Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Kimberly P. Ellis
Assistant Professor, Industrial & Systems Engineering
Luiz A. DaSilva
Assistant Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering
L. Kenneth Harmon, Jr.
Associate Professor, Industrial & Systems Engineering
Timothy Pratt
Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering
Printer-friendly version
Send by email