(l. to r.) Rebecca Dylla-Spears, Paul Albertus, Dan Briggs, Paul Hudson and Fuat Celik are chemical engineering's outstanding teaching assistants for 2006.

The Department of Chemical Engineering has announced its 2006 outstanding teaching assistants. The winning TAs are Paul Albertus, Dan Briggs, Fuat Celik, Rebecca Dylla-Spears and Paul Hudson. The grad students were presented with their awards by vice chair John Newman in a ceremony in 120 Latimer Hall.

"Graduate student instructors add vitality to the educational process," says Newman. "Being closer in age and recent experience to the classroom students, they provide role models and can present the material in a way that the students understand."

More information on the students and the classes they taught follows below:

	Paul Albertus Hometown: Rochester, MI Undergraduate degree: University of Michigan Course: ChE 246, Principles of Electrochemical Engineering "I enjoy seeing ideas and understanding take form in the minds of students, myself included. Teaching is the best form of learning."
	Dan Briggs Hometown: Syracuse, UT Undergraduate degree: Brigham Young University Course: ChE 230, Mathematical Methods in Chemical Engineering "I love the opportunity to try to make classes enjoyable by demystifying the material and sharing my experiences as a student."
	Fuat Celik Hometown: New York City, NY Undergraduate degree: Princeton University Course: ChE 160, Chemical Process Design "The greatest reward in teaching is bringing students to that eureka moment when they realize that they understand the topic."
	Rebecca Dylla-Spears Hometown: St. Hedwig, TX Undergraduate degree: University of Texas at Austin Course: ChE 140, Introduction to Chemical Engineering Analysis "It is challenging to reach students, especially those who learn very differently from you. Teaching motivates me to step outside of my comfort zone and to view things from a different perspective."
	Paul Hudson Hometown: Washington, NC Undergraduate degree: North Carolina State University Course: ChE 170, Biochemical Engineering "I enjoyed teaching this course because of the diverse subject matter; the course requires students to revisit and reuse concepts from previous classes in biology, chemistry and chemical engineering."

The award winners ponder their next problem set.