Graduate Student Awards

Harold L. Olesen Award

Established 1978

Harold Olesen
Harold Olesen

Harold L. Olesen graduated from the University of Illinois in 1918 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and maintained an active interest in the University throughout his lifetime. After serving his country in World War I, he joined Pan American Marconi Company. Later, he became associated with Weston Electrical Instrument Corporation in Newark, New Jersey and retired as general sales manager in 1951. He was also an inventor and earned a number of patents.

Mr. Olesen was presented with the University of Illinois Alumni Association's Loyalty Award in 1969. He received the first Distinguished Alumnus Award ever to be presented by the University of Illinois Department of Electrical Engineering in 1970.

Mr. Olesen had an abiding interest in the continued improvement of undergraduate education at UIUC. For that purpose he established the Harold L. Olesen Fund for Undergraduate Instruction Improvement. In making the bequest, Mr. Olesen asked that the fund be used "for course improvement, including development of curriculum and upgrading personnel and equipment, primarily at the undergraduate level."

Mr. Olesen died in 1976.

DESCRIPTION:

The award is made each semester to a graduate student or students teaching in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering to recognize an outstanding effort in undergraduate teaching. The award was set up as part of the Harold L. Olesen Fund for Undergraduate Instruction Improvement.

REQUIREMENTS:

Graduate Teaching Assistants and Instructors who are graduate students teaching electrical and computer engineering classes or laboratory sections or are otherwise involved in direct instruction at the undergraduate level are eligible for this award. They should be judged by the following:
  1. You must be a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, enrolled in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
  2. Motivation of the student to learn
  3. Enthusiasm for the subject and for teaching
  4. Organization of teaching materials to enhance learning; the guidance and encouragement this gives to further learning
  5. Providing additional organized opportunities for learning
  6. Assistance and guidance given to the individual student to help resolve questions and problems

SELECTION PROCESS:

Nominations for the award are to be solicited from undergraduate students in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Upon receipt of nominations, rating forms are distributed to all of the students in the nominee's class. The nomination letters and rating forms are reviewed by a committee comprised of the Student Advisory Committee and the Teaching Evaluation and Awards Committee. This combined committee selects the award recipient.

AWARD:

The award carries a stipend of $1500. Which is presented at the annual ECE Award Banquet in April. The name of the recipient is engraved on a plaque to be displayed permanently in Everitt Lab.

PAST RECIPIENTS OF THE AWARD:

Year Recipient Year Recipient
2007 Geoffrey Herman 1998 Kevin Squire
  Idan Lupinsky
Mike Tompkins
2006 Uttam Reddy
Jay Moorman
  Alexander Spektor
Jacob Janovetz
  Marco Amrhein 1997 Michael L. Kramer
2005 Jonathan Holm   Shamik Mukherjee
  John King 1996 Adam H. Miller
2004 Kyle A. Jones
Rajeev Goel
  Andrea M. Mitofsky   Daniel A. Connors
2003 Bradley J. Griffis 1995 Eric S. Meidel
  Andrew R. Ranck   Daniel R. Scherrer
2002 Julio Urbina   Byron E. Truax
  Eric Dunn 1994 Jay W. Kruse
2001 Jiunn Benjamin Heng
John V. Belmonte
  Jeffery Feng 1993 Hem Satsangi
2000 James Geis
Robert L. Spence
  Peter Leven
Anthony P. Curtis
1999 Shashi Jain
Michael J. Hartig

Michael Palac 1992 Kevin G. Lee

Karen Coperich
Jeffrey L. Schiano

Andrew Smolik
Dane S. Dwyer

Other Past Recipients

Kara MacGregor

For More Information Contact:

Kara MacGregor
kmacgreg@uiuc.edu
153 Everitt Laboratory, MC-702
(217) 333-9706