Fall 2000

Interdisciplinary Connections

The University Teaching Fellows Program aims to help our most intellectually sound and successful junior faculty members develop into exceptionally fine teachers. Thus the selection committee-comprised of award-winning faculty-seeks to choose each year junior faculty members who show promise of becoming both eminent researchers and inspiring teachers. In existence at the University of Virginia since 1992 and now funded by the Provost, this Program remains true to the original goals of these fellowships as created at the Lilly Endowment: we provide support to impressive junior faculty as they refine their teaching expertise while pursuing strong research agendas. The University Teaching Fellows Program centers around ongoing conversations about how faculty communicate their academic disciplines to undergraduates, the applicability of various teaching approaches to one's courses, and how research enlivens and inspires teaching. The 2000-2001 winners of University Teaching Fellowships plan to focus their conversations in the following ways:

Cassandra Fraser, Chemistry:
My teaching plans involve three initiatives in the Chemistry Department that also strive to build bridges between disciplines at the University. First, I will design a new advanced seminar on biomaterials. This course will explore synthetic materials that are used in biomedicine, as well as those of natural origin that are beneficial in synthetic contexts. Secondly, I will continue curriculum development for CHEM 281, part of the honors interdisciplinary introduction to chemical reactivity. Finally, through the Careers in Science Forum, I will continue to provide opportunities to learn about different science-related professions and their unique contributions to society.

Deborah Lawrence, Environmental Sciences:
"Conservation Ecology" is an exploration of the scientific basis of environmental conservation in its broadest sense: maintaining environments, not simply maintaining species.  The course will focus on essential ecological concepts for sustaining populations, species, ecosystems and the biosphere.  Investigation of the biodiversity crisis will go beyond the functioning of individual species to interactions among species and influences of species on critical ecosystem functions. The effect of environmental changes that do not threaten particular species, but substantially alter the nature and services of ecosystems, will also be stressed. Case studies from around the world will demonstrate links between human-driven environmental change and the health of the biosphere at all levels from the individual organism to the entire planet.

Jerrol Littles, Civil Engineering:
In order to prepare civil engineering undergraduates to conquer their expanding number of potential challenges, the undergraduate "Properties and Behavior of Materials," CE 323, will be revised. This revision will not only introduce students to a substantially broader range of material systems, but will also change the way in which traditional information is presented. Demonstrations and lab experiments that reveal specific types of material behavior will be presented prior to the introduction of mathematical descriptions of material behavior. In this way, the mathematical representations will not be abstract concepts to be memorized by rote, but will simply be a means of describing physical acts that the students have observed first hand. Later in the course, mechanisms that cause material damage and failure will be discussed.   Examples that impart the importance of obtaining a thorough understanding of a material's behavior, including failure case studies, will be emphasized.

David Luebke, Computer Science:
This new interdisciplinary course will explore the artistic and technical underpinnings of computer-generated animation and special effects, exposing students to advanced concepts in computer graphics, digital media, film, and computer art. Working in small teams that bring together artists and programmers, students will propose, storyboard, film, and edit three short video segments incorporating three-dimensional computer-generated special effects. Lectures will explore computer graphics concepts including particle systems, physically based modeling, programmable shading, and non-photorealistic rendering. Lab will focus on using and writing plug-ins for software tools such as Premiere and AfterEffects (Adobe), Renderman (Pixar), and Maya (Alias/Wavefront).

Sara Myers, Classics:
As a University Teaching Fellow I will concentrate on a new course I have been developing jointly for the Classics Department and for Studies in Women and Gender entitled "Women and Gender in Ancient Greece and Rome." The aim of the course is to examine the cultural identity or ideal constructed for women in Ancient literature. The course will also compare those constructs with the historical evidence to analyze how the cultural categories of male and female were delineated and deployed in various social, political, and literary contexts. Subjects addressed will include sexual stereotypes, power-relations of gender, familial roles, social and economic status, social and political history, artistic representations, medical theory, philosophy, and religion.

Sarah Turner, Education:
My objective is quite simple: to be more effective in conveying to students the power of economics in asking-and answering-important questions related to education policy. The key organizational challenge presented in teaching "Economics of Education" is the need to build a clear methodological framework (without a textbook), while also engaging students with interesting policy questions. Among other strategies, I will employ a wide range of current policy topics such as the potential shortage of teachers or the consequences of increasing federal financial aid available to undergraduates.