Jurgensen and Sutherland: Dual Teaching Research Award Winners
In all the years that Michigan Tech has been honoring its finest researchers
and teachers, only one person had ever won both the Research Award and
the Distinguished Teaching Award.
This year, two MTU professors had joined that elite group. Professor
Martin Jurgensen, the 1978 Research Award winner, has been named the 2000
Distinguished Teaching Award winner in the associate professor/professor
category. And Professor John Sutherland, who took the Distinguished Teaching
Award in 1992, is being honored with the 2000 Research Award.
The two educators were recognized at MTU's President's Convocation, Sept.
20 in the Rozsa Performing Arts Center.
"The fact that two of our best faculty have won both of Michigan Tech's
highest awards for teaching and research is astonishing as well as gratifying,"
President Curt Tompkins said. "For years, universities have been fighting
the stereotype that faculty can be good teachers or good researchers,
but not both. Suddenly, we find ourselves honoring one of our best teachers
for his research, and one of our best researchers for his teaching.
"This is a really exciting confluence for the University," Tompkins said.
"We are privileged to have faculty of the caliber of Marty and John at
Michigan Tech."
John Sutherland
Sutherland focuses his research primarily on the application of cutting
fluids in machining. While cutting fluids reduce friction and cool surfaces,
they also pose health problems, since the mist they form can be inhaled.
In addition, used cutting fluids can contaminate water sources. Sutherland
and his fellow researchers have developed models that describe the heat-transfer
and lubrication benefits of cutting fluids, as well as the mist-formation
mechanisms. They are working to identify conditions where dry machining
is possible and ways to suppress mist formation.
In addition, Sutherland is investigating air-quality improvement in casting,
welding, and painting operations; input/output modeling of manufacturing
plants; and product lifecycle analysis. His research has been funded by
the National Science Foundation, Ford, the Environmental Protection Agency,
GM, Caterpillar, the US Department of Education, and CenCITT.
"His work is very visible and important from a national point of view,"
Predebon said. "He was selected by NSF to be part of a team to visit Japan,
Europe, and the US to investigate environmentally benign manufacturing
practices, which will help NSF set its agenda for research in the future.
"And he's also one of the few people I know who can make his research
accessible to industry, so they can readily use it," Predebon said.
If Sutherland were asked to choose between teaching and research, he
would probably say both.
"Obviously, I am very honored to have been selected to receive both of
the awards," Sutherland said. "I do believe that it's important to be
able to balance teaching and research and to do well at both. As a professor
at a research university, that's the whole point. If all I wanted to do
was research, I could be at a lab, or if I just wanted to teach, I could
go to another type of school."
Succeeding in both areas is not a one-person endeavor, he stressed. "A
lot of people have been really helpful to me at MTU: colleagues, administrators,
students . . . My receiving this award is due to the efforts of many."
His department chair has also asked Sutherland to mentor three new ME-EM
faculty members. "He's doing an outstanding job," Predebon said. "It's
appropriate for a full professor to serve as a mentor, but the fact that
he's doing it for several shows the trust I have in him and his ability
to be successful. His efforts have borne fruits already."
Sutherland has a reputation for being affable, gregarious, and a near-workaholic.
"He is demanding and has high expectations, but he's also pleasant to
work with," Predebon added.
"We do try to stay pretty busy," Sutherland noted, smiling audibly.
"Idle hands are the devil's playthings."
Sutherland will receive the Research Award, which includes $2,500 cash,
at President's Convocation this Wednesday.
Martin Jurgensen
Among them is Interim Dean Glenn Mroz. "Marty is one of the best teachers
I've ever had," Mroz said. "He was one of the major reasons I went into
forestry and then soil science. Because of him, I defected from mechanical
engineering. He was a great teacher then, and he's a great teacher now."
Other MTU alumni agree. "I am now a professor at Mississippi State University,
and my time spent as a TA with Dr. Jurgensen in FW333 taught me how to
be a good teacher," says forestry PhD alumnus Andrew Londo.
"Marty was the most influential professor in my career as a student,"
said Deborah Page-Dumroese, PhD, a research soil scientist and project
leader. "Having attended Grand Valley State, Michigan Tech, and the University
of Idaho, that really says something . . . I can say unequivocally that
Marty influenced my career decisions and has continued to mentor me (always
the teacher)."
R. Kasten Dumroese, the editor of Native Plants Journal and a research
scientist at the University of Idaho, calls Jurgensen "the best instructor
I had at Michigan Tech," and not only for the knowledge of forest soils
he imparted. "He was instrumental in helping me develop my technical writing
skills," Dumroese said. "Now as an academic, I try to use those same distinguished,
effective techniques on my students and in other facets of my career."
Recently, Jurgensen has added a technological boost to his teaching,
converting his lectures to PowerPoint. "He can be talking about things
in the natural world and at the same time show his students what the beast
looks like, whether its a microorganism or the soil itself," Mroz said.
"It makes the whole thing come alive."
His students concur. "It is pretty difficult to make learning about dirt
interesting, but he does it with flying colors," said one. "He is one
of the few professors who succeeds in finding that balance between keeping
lectures informational and interesting . . . and maintaining the respect
of his students," said another.
Even his exams are interesting, including his "situation comedy" tests.
"Students are given a data set that has been mysteriously scrambled by
a lab tech," Mroz said. "They have to figure out how to interpret that.
It's a real challenge for students who are used to multiple choice. But
he gives people unlimited time to do those tests, and it's not unusual
for some students to be done in forty-five minutes and the others to be
there four hours later."
Jurgensen chalks up his success in the classroom to a dual interest in
both his subject and his students. "If you really enjoy your subject and
think it's important and interesting, you want to share that, and you
are willing to spend the time to make others love it too," he said. "And
I'm also interested in the students as people."
Jurgensen spends hours outside the classroom, not only helping students
master the material, but also organizing the forestry bowling team. "Students
love that opportunity to get together with him outside of class," Mroz
said.
"It helps to be an extrovert," Jurgensen said. "In All That Jazz, Roy
Scheider said, 'It's showtime!' You go into class, and it's showtime.
Some people don't have that, but it does help, especially with students
who are used to being entertained.
"But you can't dumb down," he stressed. "You hone your skills, and the
teaching evaluations are helpful. Good teaching is something you can learn."
Surprisingly, Jurgensen's teaching was jump-started elsewhere. "When
I first came here, I was in the reserves, and worked at Fort Bragg with
Special Forces," he said. "They put me through military instructor school,
and I learned a lot."
As for receiving both the Research Award and the Distinguished Teaching
Award, Jurgensen views the dual honor in the context of his evolving academic
career. "I don't know if I could get the Research Award now," he says.
"Back then, I was young and fired up and full of testosterone. Now, at
this stage of my career, the teaching is more important to me."
But Jurgensen can still do two things at once. "He has never diminished
the importance of teaching, despite the pressures of research," said one
doctoral student. "Contrarily, he has demonstrated tremendous capacity
to incorporate research into his lectures, thereby providing stimulating
and relevant content.
"He is a teacher MTU can be proud of."
Jurgensen will receive the Distinguished Teaching Award, which includes
$1,000 cash and $1,500 for professional development, at Convocation this
Wednesday.
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Department Chair Bill Predebon calls Sutherland "one of the most productive
faculty members of the University in every measure," which goes a long
way toward explaining how he could receive top recognition for both his
teaching and his research. With twenty graduate students working in his
field of environmentally responsible engineering and design, he lives
the marriage of education and discovery.
Jurgensen
joined the faculty of the School of Forestry and Wood Products in 1970,
and a lot students have taken his classes during the past thirty years.
For many of them, he stands out among the finest, if not the finest, university
teacher they've ever known.
