In a class of his own

ASEE Prism, Feb 2002

First Class Cadet Brendan Gavin, a senior in mechanical engineering at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, was initially a bit wary when he got Commander Vince Wilczynski as a professor this fall. "Something like Experimental Methods of Fluid and Thermal Systems doesn't have the most inviting sound to it," he explains.

He said his apprehension about the classes was for naught, however. "Commander Wilczynski taught them in a way that made sense to me and everyone else. He is one of the best instructors I have ever had," Gavin said.

Wilczynski was selected from more than 400 nominations to win the Outstanding Baccalaureate College Professor of the Year award-and even more impressive is the fact that he is only the second engineering professor to win the award in its history. The annual award is sponsored by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Wilczynski helped develop the Academy's mechanical engineering program six years ago and has held administrative positions as both department head and associate dean. He reports, however, that his heart lies with his interactions with the students. Although he has been asked to take administrative positions again, he has turned them down. "I suspect that it would cut down on my chance to work with cadets building autonomous submarines, table top robots, and thermal measurement systems, so I'm holding out a bit longer," he says.

In addition to his work at the Academy, Wilczynski is involved in FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a nonprofit organization created by famed inventor Dean Kamen that brings high school students together with professionals in the fields of science, mathematics, and engineering.

Wilczynski donated his award money to the Academy's alumni association "to be used to help provide a margin of excellence to cadet learning," he said, another way for him to give back to the community he so clearly works to develop.