Olin College : About Olin : Press Release

October 18, 2011

Olin Faculty Receive Award for Conference Presentation

Sherra Kerns and Mark Somerville, faculty members at Olin College of Engineering, and David Goldberg and Russell Korte of the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, have received the Helen Plants Award. The award is given for the best non-traditional session at a Frontiers in Education (FIE) conference.

The recipients were honored for a session they presented at last year's conference entitled "A War of Words: Using Sticky Language to Effect Change in Engineering Education." The presentation examined the power of language to both frustrate and encourage change in engineering education, and considered the role of "sticky language," or memorable expressions, in helping to frame the debate.

The judging criteria for the Helen Plants Award include originality, session content and presentation. The use of written materials and visual aids, as well as participation of session attendees, is also considered.

Since 1971, the Frontiers in Education Conference has promoted the widespread dissemination of innovations in engineering and computer science education. The conference is sponsored by the Educational Research and Methods Division of ASEE, the IEEE Computer Society and the IEEE Education Society.