Linsenmeier Receives Lifetime Faculty Mentor Award

Northwestern Engineering Professor Emeritus Robert A. Linsenmeier received the inaugural Biomedical Engineering Lifetime Faculty Mentor Award from the Biomedical Engineering division of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). 

The award is conferred by ASEE’s Biomedical Engineering division for strong evidence of excellence in mentoring other faculty to advance their careers in engineering education or related fields, as well as for clear evidence of impact on current or former mentees both within and outside the home institution. The award, which will be given every other year, was presented to Linsenmeier at ASEE’s annual conference held last month.

Linsenmeier, who also is a professor emeritus of neurobiology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, joined Northwestern in 1983 and transitioned to an emeritus role in 2018. His research interests include the microenvironment of the mammalian retina and engineering education research. He currently serves as the director of the Northwestern Center for Engineering Education Research.

Previous honors for Linsenmeier include the 2007 Theo C. Pilkington Outstanding Educator Award from the ASEE, the Bette and Neison Harris Professor of Teaching Excellence (2003-06), and being elected a Fellow of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the Biomedical Engineering Society, and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering.

“It was a great honor to receive this award. I did not know I had influenced so many people until I got congratulations at the ASEE meeting,” Linsenmeier said. “The mentoring of other faculty seems like part of the job that we should all do.”