UVA ECE welcomes new faculty member Caroline Crockett, who brings engineering education research and electrical engineering expertise to the Department's teaching faculty. Crockett earned her Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan in May 2022. It's a homecoming for Crockett, who earned her Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from UVA in 2015.“As a Ph.D. student, I wasn't aware that engineering education existed as a field,” Crockett said. “My co-advisor Cindy Finelli was doing education research. She saw that I had been a teaching assistant and my passion for teaching, and she invited me to join her projects.”
Crockett focused on undergraduate electrical engineering students and how they conceptually understand things. Crockett explained that teaching can be broken down into different types of knowledge. For example, procedural knowledge focuses on skills such as doing the math andonceptual knowledge generally involves bigger picture thinking.
Skills and technical knowledge can be gained through one class, but conceptual knowledge can sometimes take longer to develop. Crockett wanted to know if students “get it” by the time they are fourth-years, and what helped them develop a holistic view on what electrical engineering is all about.
Crockett will continue to ask and answer these questions as a member of UVA ECE's academic general faculty, on the teaching track. Her first class is the fall 2022 offering of FUN III. Harry Powell, UVA professor of electrical and computer engineering, served on Crockett's dissertation committee and will mentor her as a new, full-time instructor.
UVA ECE's pioneering approach to studio teaching, which continues to distinguish the department among undergraduate programs, attracted Crockett.
“In my own research, I looked at the impact of lab exercises on comprehension, and studio is just a really well integrated way to do that,” Crockett said. “When I interview students, they often talk about the lab and studio exercises helped them put it all together.”
Studio teaching is one way to achieve active learning, which is a hot topic in engineering education.
“Active learning is especially helpful for students who don't feel they are the majority in the class, students underrepresented in engineering and students who learn in different modalities,” Crockett said. “It's a very good inclusive teaching practice. Team interaction and small activities that are formative can build a student's confidence.”
The size of UVA ECE's program, which enables close student-faculty interaction, also appealed to Crockett. She looks forward to getting to know her students.
“The great thing about working with undergraduates is that they all have their own interests. I'm never going to get an example that works for everyone, but by including a lot of different examples, every student will see and hear something relatable and useful.”
Crockett discovered her own talents and interests in engineering as a student at Thomas Jefferson High School in Northern Virginia.
“I was lucky enough to take an electronics course in high school,” Crockett said. “I grew up saying, ‘I like math.' Engineering is math for a purpose. It was a natural fit.”
Then, during her undergraduate time at UVA, Scott Acton, professor of electrical and computer engineering and department chair, introduced Crockett to research in signal processing.
“The thing I found fascinating about EE, especially if you go into the digital logic design class, is that you can start with physics, then how a semiconductor works, then how a transistor works, then you can put transistors in logic gates, build a little chip, and from that chip build a computer, and with that computer use algorithms that do signal processing,” Crockett said. “You can see this entire spectrum that's all included in EE and figure out which point you're most interested in, and how one thing leads to another within the whole system.”
Crockett is thankful for Acton's advice to pursue her Ph.D. at another university.
“I went into industry for two years before applying to Ph.D. programs, and asked Scott if I could come back to UVA,” Crockett recalled. “Scott encouraged me to get another perspective, which has been beneficial to my long-term career. As you meet people, you take the best of the people you meet, and that shapes how you want to be as a teacher and mentor.”
Outside of teaching, Crockett is passionate about animal welfare and rescue programs. She looks forward to introducing her rescued border collie, Oreo, to the UVA ECE family.