Teaching Science and Engineering in a Rapidly Evolving World: How to Stay Relevant

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Speaker

Recipient of 2021 UGC Teaching Award (Early Career Faculty Members)

Her teaching philosophy video link.

Professor Rhea Patricia LIEM

Assistant Professor

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

School of Engineering

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Rhea Liem is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). During her academic career at HKUST, she has been twice awarded the School of Engineering Teaching Excellence Appreciation Awards (in 2018 and 2021). In 2021, she won the UGC Teaching Award for the Early Career Faculty Members category. Her research and teaching are focused on aeronautical engineering and aerospace computation, particularly in aircraft design and air transportation applications. She is also a 2012 Amelia Earhart Fellow, which is awarded to women in aerospace research. She has received two teaching development grants from the Center for Education Innovation (CEI) at HKUST to develop an integrated aerospace education platform to support multidisciplinary air transportation vehicle design; the project has been presented at several teaching and learning symposiums.

Abstract

The world is in a constant state of change, with multidisciplinary innovations now common in engineering. This fast-changing landscape of science and technology, whilst important, can impose challenges in teaching science and engineering nowadays. Engineering education needs to strike a balance between teaching the current state-of-the-art (which is always heading to obsolescence) and strengthening students’ understanding of the scientific principles behind those technological breakthroughs. Despite this shift, the role of a university as a place to learn how to learn and a platform for students’ self-discovery does not change. After all, the main goal of science education is to teach students how to think critically and not just to transfer knowledge. Albert Einstein once said, “Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.” I cannot agree more.

Moderator

Dr Beatrice CHU

Head of Professional Development

Center for Education Innovation