Bretl chosen for NAE Frontiers of Engineering Education symposium

Aerospace Engineering at Illinois Associate Prof. Timothy Bretl is among the nation's most innovative engineering educators selected to take part in the National Academy of Engineering’s eighth Frontiers of Engineering Education (FOEE) symposium.

In total, 48 faculty members who are developing and implementing innovative educational approaches in a variety of engineering disciplines will come together for the 2-1/2-day event, where they can share ideas, learn from research and best practice in education, and leave with a charter to bring about improvement at their home institution.

"The goal of the Frontiers of Engineering Education program is to strengthen U.S. innovation by nurturing and catalyzing the insights of education leaders on today’s 21st century engineering education needs,” said NAE President C. D. Mote, Jr. “The program builds this community of engaged engineering educators as a resource committed to the preparation of engineering students for today’s engineering world.”

Bretl has been the recipient of several teaching awards within the College. His lab conducts basic research in areas that include electrodiagnostic analysis of brain and muscle activity and control-theoretic analysis of dexterous manipulation and legged locomotion. By joining these two distinct research areas—robotics and neuroscience—they are developing affordable prosthetic devices, increasing the efficiency and safety of building construction, and lowering barriers to the use of robots for manufacturing automation by small businesses.

Other Illinois faculty selected for the honor were Computer Science teaching assistant Prof. Wade Fagen-Ulmschneider of Computer Science and Mechanical Science and Engineering Associate Prof. Matthew West.

The Frontiers of Engineering Education symposium provides a forum for creative engineering educators to generate novel approaches, share early implementation schemes, establish a national network, and serve as change agents in their home institutions. The attendees were nominated by NAE members and engineering deans and chosen from a highly competitive pool of applicants. The symposium will be held Sep. 25-28 in Irvine, Calif.