Saterbak named bioengineering society fellow
Bioengineering professor Ann Saterbak was named one of nine 2012 fellows to the Biomedical Engineering Society on Aug. 27, according to the BMES website.
"I am very honored to be elected a BMES fellow," Saterbak, Associate Chair for Undergraduate Affairs in the Department of Bioengineering, said. "I was also a bit surprised since most fellows are elected due to their technical contributions, and I was elected for my contributions to biomedical engineering education. I appreciate that the society recognized the role of education."
BMES is an international nonprofit professional association of approximately 4,000 biomedical engineers and biomedical engineering students, academics and professionals, according to their website. Founded in 1968, BMES aims to promote biomedical engineering knowledge to improve human health and publishes monthly and quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journals, the website states.
According to the website, nominated BMES members undergo a selective process conducted by the BMES board of directors to become fellows.
"[Fellows must have] a demonstrable record of exceptional achievement and accomplishment in a specific field of interest within biomedical engineering," the website states. "The achievement and accomplishments can be in research, education, industry, public service, new technology or clinical practice."
Other requirements to be a BMES fellow are five or more years as a BMES member and five or more years of active participation as a bioengineer in the private or public sector, the BMES website states.
Saterbak said the accomplishments she is most proud of having made are setting up nationally recognized teaching laboratories and developing courses with significant active learning components, such as BIOE 252 and ENGI 120: Intro to Engineering Design.
"I love working at Rice," Saterbak said. "Because of its size and the very high quality students, I have been able to implement novel teaching methods within engineering. There is a strong community of faculty and staff at Rice who are committed to innovation in teaching, and I have benefited tremendously from that community."
In the ENGI 120 course developed by Saterbak, first-year students must utilize the engineering design process to solve community and global problems. Students are divided into teams that evaluate design requirements and create solutions in the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen, and juniors mentor students in design, leadership and communication, according to the Rice website.
Brown College sophomore Brian Cera said he thought the ENGI 120 course was helpful in his education as a bioengineer.
"[The course] taught me a lot of practical knowledge about what being an engineer really was, understanding problems and designing solutions to those problems," Cera said. "It wasn't too technical but it helped me understand how those technical skills could be put to use in practical applications. [Saterbak] cared about the students and did her best to help us in any way."
Wiess sophomore Wei Shi said he was originally skeptical about taking the ENGI 120 class, but said the course was rewarding.
"Solving a problem that has no 'correct' answer is something I hadn't done in any of my other classes, so I think of her class as the first real problem I'd worked on," Shi said. "I think of Dr. Saterbak as a strict yet humorously sarcastic and entertaining professor. Her ENGI 120 class taught me what being an engineer is really like, which isn't something most freshmen classes can teach, so I found it very rewarding."
Brown College senior Lemuel Soh said the selection of Saterbak as a BMES fellow shows society's recognition of those who invest in education.
"Dr. Saterbak's pioneering work in education and her passion for teaching is only surpassed by the fact that she clothes everything she does with a deep, genuine care for students," Soh said. "Out of that deep genuine care, flows a work that truly benefits the next generation."
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