11/26/2012 Lyanne Alfaro
Written by Lyanne Alfaro
She stood before an ME 460 class as 24 undergraduate seniors and first-year graduate students peered back. She was only six years older than many of her students. Not too long ago, she was herself a student in the class.
"Industrial Control Systems was the course that I took during my first semester at the University of Illinois," she said. "I built upon the way other professors had previously taught the course but also put a spin on it based on the way I wanted to convey the material after six years of doing research in the controls field."
Neera Jain, a graduate research assistant in MechSE, is passionate about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education. She taught ME 460 after ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) awarded her an external fellowship to teach last fall.
Last year was not the first time Jain worked as an educator. As an undergraduate at MIT, her desire to share her enthusiasm for STEM education led her to pursue a teaching certificate in secondary (8-12) mathematics during which she student-taught at a high school in Boston.
"There is something very fulfilling about having the opportunity to teach the next generation," Jain said. "Students can always point out a professor (or teacher) that was very influential in their lives."
Beyond teaching, Jain took an interest in working with and encouraging women to pursue science and math careers, such as engineering. During her first three years at Illinois, she mentored freshman women in the College of Engineering. “I gave them advice on how to secure summer internships and how to manage their course load,” Jain said.
Following her mentoring experience, Jain continued to work with girls interested in math and science through the GAMES (Girls’ Adventures in Mathematics, Engineering, and Science) Camp in 2008. She taught two chemical engineering sections in which she was a laboratory instructor.
She graduated from MIT in 2006 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Later that year, she enrolled in the MechSE graduate program at Illinois and joined the Alleyne Research Group where she developed dynamic models for a commercial refrigeration system as a part of her Master’s Degree research. As she transitioned to MechSE’s PhD program in 2009, she became aware of the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science Graduate Fellowship (SCGF) Program and decided to apply.
"We were interested in developing a framework for optimizing and controlling energy systems to improve their efficiency and performance by utilizing tools from both fundamental thermodynamics and control theory," Jain said. "Control systems are used to literally ‘control’ a system’s behavior. By doing this in an optimal way, with respect to energy efficiency, we have an opportunity to significantly reduce energy consumption across a large range of systems which is major priority for our nation."
She is now in her third and final year with the fellowship and plans to graduate in May 2013.
"Right now, I am primarily focused on completing my research and defending my dissertation," Jain said.
While Jain is currently pursuing research positions in the area of control of energy systems, she has a long-held interest in the areas of science and education policy.
"Winning a DOE Office of Science Graduate Fellowship has given me an opportunity to learn more about how organizations like the DOE affect science policy," she said.
Jain hopes to play a role in improving STEM education and policy throughout her career.