University honors Professor Li-Chiang Lin with teaching award
Arriving for a routine faculty meeting on Friday, May 7, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Assistant Professor Li-Chiang Lin was surprised to find Senior Vice President Kay Wolf and his own wife and daughter in attendance. He soon learned the reason why: he had been selected to receive a 2021 Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching.
"It was a surprise," Lin said. "My wife told me that she was informed secretly two days before the meeting."
Lin was one of ten faculty to receive the prestigious award this year - the highest teaching honor bestowed at The Ohio State University. Honored for their superior teaching, faculty members are nominated by present and former students and colleagues and are selected by a committee of alumni, students and faculty.
“I am deeply honored to receive this recognition. This award is also a reminder that I should continue doing my best in teaching and education to make more positive impacts on students’ professional development," Lin said.
Students rave about Lin’s efforts to create a welcoming environment, his willingness to help and mentor them, and for his high level of availability. He is credited with making dense, difficult, technical material understandable, accessible and engaging via his simplified but meticulous explanations and by infusing lectures with real-life examples to aid in understanding.
“Li-Chiang Lin’s passion for teaching is made apparent every day. His students are always his top priority, no matter how busy he gets,” wrote one student nominator. “Every class he teaches is meticulously planned and well thought out, and his lectures are engaging and interactive. Even in online classes, he still handwrites the notes for every class to keep students involved and avoid the common disconnect in virtual teaching brought on by passive presentations. The effort he puts into making his classes meaningful and understandable is unmatched.”
Colleagues and students alike praised Lin’s efforts to adapt and be flexible while teaching during the pandemic. He developed pre-recorded lectures and created special discussion forums for each lecture. He quickly communicated with students and continued to provide his hallmark assistance remotely, prompting one student to share that “Despite teaching in an online environment, I don't feel as though I'm learning any less in this class than I would in person.”
Lin also mentors students who are interested in pursuing a career in science and has inspired several students to pursue further study in their field.
“Professors like Dr. Lin are the reason why my career goal is to become a professor; the feeling of inspiration he has instilled in me is something I would like to be able to share with others,” wrote another student nominator. “As an educator, he is fair, passionate, and inexhaustible. As a person, he is genuine and kind. I am a better person for having the opportunity to learn and work under him, and you would be hard-pressed to find a student who did not have good things to say about this incredible professor.”
A member of the Ohio State faculty since 2016, Lin has also received the College of Engineering’s student-nominated Charles E. MacQuigg Award for Outstanding Teaching.
He has recently enjoyed a number of other successes - this spring, he was selected as an “early career editorial board member” for the Elsevier journal Separation and Purification Technology and last fall was chosen as a Scialog Fellow - Negative Emissions Science by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement.
Lin is currently serving as an adjunct associate professor within the William G. Lowrie Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering since accepting a position as an associate professor at National Taiwan University in August of this year.
