Some of the important aspects in my teaching philosophy are to prepare students for life-long learning while stimulating them to encourage their originality and challenging them to excel; to encourage team work and critical thinking; to respect students and their own capabilities but always maintaining high expectations.
To be an effective educator, I make the time commitment necessary to prepare for a lecture. A lecture must be focused and organized. Knowledge and love of the material is essential. When designing a lecture, it is important to remember that students are driven by passion, curiosity, engagement, and dreams. To keep students interested and motivated, the information disseminated must be clear and meaningful. In my view, a strong grounding in the fundamentals is still the most important thing we, as educators, can provide. I strongly believe that a well delivered lecture is a wonderful teaching and learning experience. I am a demanding instructor in the classroom; however, in my own experience, I have found that if the student senses your devotion to the topic it will be greatly embraced and they will reciprocate with a sustained effort.
COURSES DEVELOPED AND TAUGHT AT UTEP:
Graduate courses:
- MFG 5321 - Modeling and analysis of manufacturing processes [Fall 07, Fall 08, Fall 09]
- IE 5351 - Linear and combinatorial optimization methods [Spring 08, Spring 09 ]
Undergraduate courses:
- IE 4384 - Industrial Layout [ Fall 08, Fall 09]
- IE 4492 - Operations Research [ Spring 09 ]
Synergistic activities:
- IE 5391 - Individual studies [Spring 09 ] -- I designed this particular individual studies class to meet the needs of graduate students who wish to improve their ability to give research presentations in public. Emphasis of this class was given to present general and state-of-the-art metaheuristic and artificial intelligence techniques as well as to provide an in-depth understanding of the underlying theory behind such methods.
"Education is about people stretching themselves to realize their full potentials"
UTEP President Diana Natalicio
MY COMMITMENT AS AN EDUCATOR
Teaching is probably one of the most rewarding aspects of an academic position. It represents a way to give back to the community. I view teaching as part of my own learning experience and expect that my individual contributions will have an impact on my students in the conduct of their lives. As professors, we all share the responsibility to help those who come after us.
