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SUMMARY OF TEACHING ACTIVITIES FAMU-FSU College of Engineering Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Tarek Abichou, Ph.D., P.E. Courses Taught Teaching Philosophy: I always start my semester by asking how much a student
or a parent is paying for my class. That is, I make sure that I give my
students their money’s worth. My teaching philosophy is based on my belief that
the ability of a student to understand a subject matter is contingent upon
cultivating a student's interest in the subject. Therefore, I try to make the
course material interesting to students by clearly defining the practical use
of class lectures. Specifically, I try to relate the course content to real
world experience before covering the analytical part of the course. Bringing the outside world to the classroom
is essential in our profession. I try
very hard to energize my classroom and communicate to the students how much
passion I have for the field I chose as a career.Industry interaction has also
been achieved through several field trips by the students, use of experts as
guest lecturers, assignment of challenging real life term projects, and showing
real life project videos. There is a tendency in engineering education to focus only
on the technical details and de-emphasize professional issues. In addition to
teaching fundamentalengineering and scientific principles, I always seek to
incorporate economic, societal, and environmental feasibility concepts in all
my courses. I always try to give the
student a feel of where the subject matter falls in the “Big Picture” scheme of
our profession.As a teacher I am still growing.
I am always open to new ideas and willing to test some of the new ideas
that I find reasonable given the available resources. I attend teaching
workshops offered by Florida State University to learn more about effective
teaching techniques. I have developed an
appreciation of how much research is being done in the educational field to
fine tune and assess the effectiveness of teaching. I am also a good ambassador
of the field, and use my teaching to encourage students to consider a career in
engineering. For example, I always make
it a point to encourage undergraduate students to think of pursuing graduate
studies. I have several undergraduate students involved in my ongoing research
activities. In other words, I consider research and teaching as complementary
activities. Other Teaching Activities: On
the national level, I have been involved with a traveling workshop entitled
“Alternative Covers for Landfills and Waste Repositories: Design, Modeling, and
Construction”. This 1-2 day workshop is intended to teach consultants and
engineers how to design and submit quality proposals for ET covers, and to
teach regulators how to evaluate those proposals. As well, I have I taught a section at an NSF
sponsored workshops on sustainable solid waste management, and participated in
workshops on LFG management, and landfill design to regulators and practicing
engineers. The
students performing research on my projects are all learning to conduct field
work, conduct laboratory analyses, data analyses, geo-statistics, and are
obtaining writing skills. I participated in the FSU Young Scholars Program
which placed high school students in my lab for three summers, allowing them to
work with undergraduate and graduate students.
I have developed a monthly workshop for the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection on Geosynthetics in landfill design. I teach the workshop to their Bureau of Solid
and Hazardous permit review staff. Combining Research and Service with Teaching: I sponsored a
service learning course with the Department of Mechanical Engineering to
team-up with the County of Leon and design Methane Oxidizing Bio-Filters. Also,
I am working with two undergraduate students who are participating in NSF REU
Site Program at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. The focus of the research under
the program is sustainable management and beneficial reuse of residual wastes
and byproducts. Furthermore, I have collaborated
with a local high school science teacher to involve her and her students in
research activities, and I have participated with a group of students in Film
School to produce a documentary movie on our research activities at the Leon
County Landfill. My skills were also
used to sponsor a Senior Design Project with FSU Art Department and the City of
Tallahassee to transform a city alley into an Eco-Art Alley. Outreach and Teaching: I have made
overtures to the local community of people who live in the neighborhood
surrounding the landfill, and the Leon County Science Advisory Board. Our project has received coverage in the
local newspaper and local nightly news. I explained in the newspaper story how
our work can reduce the impact of greenhouse gases on the atmosphere and
develop alternative ways to cover landfills. Presentations have been given to
the Florida Center for solid and hazardous waste advisory board and the Florida
DEP.
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