Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE- After 20 years of involvement and service to the American Society for Engineering Education, Abulkhair Masoom, University of Wisconsin-Platteville professor of general engineering, was elected chair of the ASEE North Midwest Section.

ASEE is a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering engineering and engineering technology education. The mission of ASEE North Midwest Section is to promote the scholarship of engineering education through fellowship and service. Masoom will support this mission by coordinating ways to share new teaching methods, recruitment efforts, networking and connecting with other colleges and universities.

"There a lot of job opportunities in education throughout the world. The demand is high for young enthusiastic teachers at all levels," said Masoom. "Education is more than teaching. It is also advising, mentoring and nurturing. It's a fun and very rewarding process. By the end of a student's education, you like to hear that they have three interviews and two job offers. You hear of their success and you feel that you've been able to make a difference in their life."

Masoom joined ASEE when it was a young organization. At that time, ASEE was striving to improve student retention and recruitment in engineering programs as well as help current professors improve their teaching and stay aside current trends. This appealed to Masoom and he has since been campus representative for Savannah State University in Savannah, Ga.; and for UWP, program chair for the ASEE North Midwest Conference that was recently hosted at UWP; has attended several conferences; and presented dozens of papers.

As chair of ASEE North Midwest Section, Masoom will continue to attend conferences, including the national ASEE conference in Austin, Texas, in June 2009. Conferences give members the opportunity to learn about the latest research in teaching methods and education in new industry trends. Participants also hear from speakers who are educators and industry professionals and attend many workshops.

Anyone wanting more information about ASEE North Midwest Section may contact Masoom at (608) 342-1732 or masoom@uwplatt.edu.

Contact: Abulkhair Masoom, professor, general engineering, (608) 342-1732, masoom@uwplatt.edu Written by: Krystle Kurdi, UWP Public Relations, (608) 342-1194, kurdik@uwplatt.edu