Tsu-Sheng “Roger” Chang, a physics instructor in the College of Science, has been named the 2009 Virginia Tech College of Engineering Sporn Award winner.
Despite now not being part of the actual College of Engineering, many engineering students must pass through Chang’s class as physics is a required course. Even students who don’t take Chang for physics well may find themselves in his office seeking assistance on a problem of full-fledged project they cannot quite grapple. Chang always is ready to help. “My life really revolves around the students,” he said.
Sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (http://www.ceut.vt.edu/) and the Virginia Tech Academy for Teaching Excellence , the Sporn Award for Teaching Introductory Subjects is presented annually to a Virginia Tech faculty member to recognize excellence in teaching introductory level courses. Chang, selected by the members of the Student Engineers’ Council, will be honored at a Student Leadership Luncheon at noon April 22 in the Owens banquet hall.
Chang is quite familiar with the College of Engineering, though. He has taught several mechanical engineering (ME) and engineering science and mechanics (ESM) courses in the past, including Mechanics of Deformable Bodies. A native of Taiwan, Chang received his master’s and doctoral degrees from the ESM department here in 1992 and 2002, respectively. Upon graduation Chang tuned down the professorial route with research and publishing responsibilities to focus solely on teaching. “I had to choose between what I wanted to do and needed to do, I decided to with the teaching route,” he said.
“Instructors can be valuable to the students, especially the undergraduate students, because they can help out when faculty are too busy,” Chang said. “When I’m not having lecture, I’m in my office to help with questions and provide students needed help. That is my job, and students appreciate that they can get help they need it.”
Indeed Chang has students in his office at all hours of the day and into the night. It’s not all intense work. He also regularly dines with students at restaurants and has gone to the movies with them. Ryan Hubbard didn’t have Chang for physics, but his friends did. When Hubbard needed help, those friends suggested Chang. “A lot of time we get into hard math problems or complex derivations, and often we forget the simple, basic principles that make test reviews, homework or projects easier and Roger will remind us to use those principles when he sees we are stuck,” said Ryan Hubbard, a senior from Collinsville, Va., majoring in aerospace and ocean engineering who helped spearhead Chang’s nomination. “He is certainly a valuable resource to this university and I am honored and proud to have been under his wing during my academic career.”
This is the second time that Chang has won the Sporn award from undergraduate students within the College of Engineering. His first win came in 1999 when Chang was a doctoral student.
Sporn nominations are received from students, and recipients are selected from a committee comprised of student representatives from Omicron Delta Kappa and Golden Key honor societies and previous winners of the faculty award. Recipients are awarded $2,000 and are inducted into the university’s Academy of Teaching Excellence. The award is named for Dr. and Mrs. Philip J. Sporn. Sporn was a Virginia Tech alumnus and president and chief executive officer of American Electric Power Co.
The College of Engineering at Virginia Tech is internationally recognized for its excellence in 14 engineering disciplines and computer science. The college’s 5,700 undergraduates benefit from an innovative curriculum that provides a “hands-on, minds-on” approach to engineering education, complementing classroom instruction with two unique design-and-build facilities and a strong Cooperative Education Program. With more than 50 research centers and numerous laboratories, the college offers its 1,800 graduate students opportunities in advanced fields of study such as biomedical engineering, state-of-the-art microelectronics, and nanotechnology. Virginia Tech, the most comprehensive university in Virginia, is dedicated to quality, innovation, and results to the commonwealth, the nation and the world.
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