McCormick Names Winners of Cole-Higgins Awards for Excellence in Teaching and Advising

Two faculty members from the McCormick School of Engineering have received the school’s annual award for outstanding teaching and advising.

Michael Jewett, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering, won the 2014 Cole-Higgins Award for Excellence in Teaching, and Irina Dolinskaya, assistant professor of industrial engineering and management sciences, won the Cole-Higgins Award for Excellence in Advising.

Jill Hardin Wilson, clinical associate professor of industrial engineering and management sciences, also received special recognition for teaching and advising excellence from her colleagues and students at McCormick.

Each year, students nominate professors for the honor, and a committee chooses the winners. This year’s awards were announced at a McCormick faculty meeting on September 22.

Jewett, whose research aims to engineer biological systems for applications in medicine and biotechnology, was cited for his role as a mentor and for his unwavering commitment to the success of his students.

“Professor Jewett is incredibly busy, but he still manages to find time to serve as a research mentor,” wrote one student nominator. “He is interested in the progression of my project and served in an advisory role for my honors thesis even though I am not a student in his department. He has also taken time to write countless letters of recommendation for me, which have certainly impacted my academic future.”

Dolinskaya, who conducts research in operations with an emphasis on large scale and computationally demanding, dynamic programming problems, was selected as an outstanding adviser because of her availability to students and interest in their continued success.

“Professor Dolinskaya always makes herself available, whether for school advice or just to see how the students are doing,” one nominator wrote. “She is very knowledgeable about recommending classes based on interests and course load. She kept me on track for graduation, tracking my classes and required paperwork.”

Wilson, who is also the assistant chair of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, was nominated for her commitment to the success of her students and for her effort to be the “best kind of teacher students have ever had.”