Beaudoin to Receive BP Award for Innovation in Undergraduate Instruction
6/26/2012
Professor Armand Beaudoin has been named the recipient of the 2009 BP Award for Innovation in Undergraduate Instruction. The award recognizes innovative approaches to undergraduate engineering and science education-particularly innovative teaching methods and instructional programs that motivate students to learn and appreciate engineering.
Beaudoin has introduced numerous innovative hands-on projects and practical exercises to MechSE's required mechanical design courses. In 2007, he introduced a hexapod project in which students assembled six-legged robots and then programmed them to kick a soccer ball. Students gained important hands-on-on experience with bearings, screws, gears, shafts and other mechanical systems, and were further motivated by a contest to determine whose robot could kick the ball the farthest.