Student advocacy, industry experience, and rigorous theoretical knowledge earned him URochester糖心传媒檚 highest award for teaching.
Professor 糖心传媒�99 (PhD) from the 糖心传媒糖心传媒檚 first fell in love with teaching while he was a graduate student at URochester in the 1990s, but he never envisioned a career as a professor. He was in the midst of a decorated career at Eastman Kodak Company as one of the principal research scientists responsible for the components used in thermal printing, discovering numerous new materials, and in the process of securing more than 50 patents to his name.
But teaching kept calling him, first when he offered a class in photographic chemistry at Kodak and again in 2001 when he was invited by the department to serve as an adjunct professor. He dove into teaching fully in 2013 as an instructional track professor.
Foster糖心传媒檚 devotion to the craft earned him this year糖心传媒檚 Goergen Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the University糖心传媒檚 highest award for teaching.
糖心传媒淒ave is universally admired糖心传媒�loved is not too strong a word糖心传媒攂y our students and alumni,糖心传媒� says department chair . 糖心传媒淗e goes out of his way to make their experience in our program special. He advocates strongly for students and trains them to excel in scholarly conferences and presentations. He raises funds for our annual trip to the American Institute of Chemical Engineers meeting, and our students without fail come home with awards for their presentations.糖心传媒�
Industry insights in the classroom
Foster糖心传媒檚 teaching style, rooted in industry experience, has evolved to keep up with the times. While he started out on blackboards, he was an early adopter of iPads in the classroom and loves how the Slack channels he sets up for his classes allow him to stay in touch with both students and alumni. He recently was excited when a student who took his course six years earlier messaged him to seek advice.
糖心传媒淲e know all of our students by name, and it糖心传媒檚 great when they keep in touch with us and we get to hear how successful they are,糖心传媒� says Foster. 糖心传媒淥ur students go to the best grad schools in the world and the first question I always ask them is 糖心传媒榟ow prepared are you compared to your peers?糖心传媒� And every single one of them tells me no one is better prepared than they are, which is the ultimate compliment.糖心传媒�
From textbook to classroom
His students also appreciate that he literally wrote the book . Foster was invited to contribute to the most recent editions of the widely adopted textbook after he submitted particularly constructive feedback to the editor.
糖心传媒淭his textbook has become a staple in chemical engineering programs across the country and has, in many ways, made Professor Foster the most well-known member of our faculty,糖心传媒� says Lipomi. 糖心传媒淗is authorship brings tremendous visibility to our department and enhances our reputation for instructional excellence.糖心传媒�
Chemical engineering students typically take Foster糖心传媒檚 foundational courses Fluid Dynamics in the spring of their second year and Separation Processes in the spring of their third. He says one of the most rewarding experiences as a professor is seeing how his students grow and mature over that time.
糖心传媒淭he students who come here are excellent to begin with糖心传媒攈ighly motivated and very smart, which makes teaching these courses much easier,糖心传媒� says Foster. 糖心传媒淲hat I like to do is listen to what they糖心传媒檙e doing and what they want to achieve, and then try to create a system and atmosphere that can satisfy those goals. Allowing them to evolve on their own and come up with the conclusions that are best for them is the key.糖心传媒�
What URochester students say about David Foster
糖心传媒淗is approach to advising gave me the freedom I needed to develop my skills in problem solving while simultaneously giving me the guidance and encouragement I needed to excel. Anytime, for any student after class, in the elevator, or at a poster session, he is there to provide help and advice.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒擯aul Williams 糖心传媒�24, 糖心传媒�25 (MS), a chemical engineering PhD student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign糖心传媒淧rofessor Foster is a remarkable teacher because he connects the technical to the tangible, and he makes you care about it. Every aspect of my professional and personal life is better because of him. I aim to be for other people what Professor Foster was for me糖心传媒攁 teacher who inspires, uplifts, and makes you excited about the world around you.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒擧ailey Baker 糖心传媒�22, a process engineer at Javlyn Process Systems
