Murphy Award: Carl Wassgren

Carl Wassgren, professor of mechanical engineering. (Purdue University photo/Rebecca Wilcox) Download image

Five teachers have received the 2017 Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award in Memory of Charles B. Murphy. This week, Purdue Today will feature Q&A's on each of the recipients. This profile focuses on Carl Wassgren, professor of mechanical engineering.

Years at Purdue: Since August 1998, so almost 19 years.

Teaching interests: I enjoy teaching thermo-fluids courses, such as fluid mechanics, gas dynamics and thermodynamics, as well as courses related to my research area of particulate materials.

On using interesting examples (like the example from "The Martian" or "Terminator") instead of textbook-style problems in lectures: Although “textbook-style” problems do have a place, for example to develop mastery of basic skills in an “uncluttered” format, they’re often dry and uninteresting. It’s difficult to get excited about a topic if these are the only problems one sees for practice. Furthermore, students miss the important skill of developing models of real-world situations with these sorts of problems. I hope that students will see the world around them with deeper insight. By using interesting, relevant examples, I can address both of these issues. 

What Wassgren hopes students take away from his lectures: I hope students leave my lectures with a desire to learn more about the topics we’ve covered in class. As an instructor, I view my role as one who provides structure, content, evaluation and feedback. Unfortunately, I can’t force students to learn. However, if I can excite and motivate students, and give them some confidence in their skills, then hopefully they’ll do the hard work of mastering the course topics outside of lecture.

On winning the Murphy Award: First, I’m grateful to the students who nominated me for the award. I’ve been fortunate to work with many hardworking and respectful students over the years and it’s been an enjoyable experience. Second, since the biggest influence I'll have on society is through the education of the literally thousands of students I've had in my classes, it's very satisfying to know that that impact is positive. Lastly, I’m honored to be part of the club of Murphy Award winners. I know several previous Murphy Award winners and have the utmost respect for their teaching dedication and abilities. It’s a great compliment to be part of this group.

What his students say: I was most impressed with the examples Professor Wassgren presented in class. He didn't just 
choose or make up a textbook-style problem: he took real examples with information from articles or other things he was interested in, and showed us how to apply fluid dynamics to them (ie. the tunnel under the Union, the water jet pack, etc.). Professor Wassgren also has a great, subtle sense of humor that often comes up during lecture, which makes the class very enjoyable. … Dr. Wassgren was fantastic. Hands down one of the best professors I have had so far. He 
understands the material exceptionally well and is very effective in communicating that information during lecture. His lectures are very well organized and his notes have been extremely helpful thus far in the semester. 

Writer: Megan Huckaby, 765-496-1325, mhuckaby@purdue.edu