In recognition of her work in re-envisioning engineering education around the world, IFEES will honor Sheryl Sorby (United States of America) with the 2020 IFEES Duncan Fraser Global Award for Excellence in Engineering Education.
Dr. Sheryl Sorby is currently a Professor of Engineering Educaton at the University of Cincinnati. She was a Fulbright Scholar at the Dublin Institute of Technology in Dublin, Ireland conducting researh in engineering education and is a professor emerita of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics at Michigan Technological University. She is the PI or coPI on more than $14M in grant funding, most for educational projects. She is the former Associate Dean for Academic Programs in the College of Engineering at Michigan Tech and served at the National Science Foundataion as a Program Director in the Division of Undergraduate Education for nearly three years. Prior to her appointment as Associate Dean, Dr. Sorby served as chair of the Engineering Fundamentals Department at Michigan Tech. In this capacity, she was responsible for the development and delivery of the newly adopted First Year Engineering Program at Michigan Tech. She received a BS in Civil Engineering, an MS in Engineering Mechanics, and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, all from Michigan Tech.
Dr. Sorby has a well-established research program in spatial visualization and has been actively involved in the development of various other educational programs. She received her first grant from the National Science Foundation in 1993 to develop a course and course materials for helping engineering students to develop their 3-D spatial skills. She has received numberous follow-up grants from the NSF and the US Department of Education to further her work in developing and assessing spatial skills. Her spatial skills curriculum has been adopted by nearly 30 engineering programs across the U. S. In 2005 she received the Betty Vetter award for Research on Women in Engineering through the Women in Engineering Pro-Active Network (WEPAN) for her work in improving the 3-D spatial skills of engineering students. She received ASEE’s Sharon Keillor award for Outstanding Woman Engineering Educator in 2011. She is a Fellow of the Americaon Society for Engineering Education and is the current President of ASEE. She has published more than 150 papers in journals and conference proceedings and is the author of seven textbooks.
Dr. Sheryl will be honored during our WEEF/GEDC 2020 Virtual Conference held November 16-19 and live during the WEEF/GEDC 2021 Conference in Madrid, Spain. As a recipient, she will receive US $1,000 to support her work and a commemorative medal. Her airfare, accommodations and conference registration are also included.
A special thank you to MathWorks for sponsoring the 2020 Award.
