This spring, the Graduate School recognized 10 graduate students with its annual Teaching Awards for their exceptional work as instructors. Honorees in engineering were Elizabeth Mieczkowski and Patrick Park.
Students were honored at the Palmer House at an April 21 event hosted by Rodney Priestley, dean of the Princeton Graduate School. Priestley noted that the Graduate School is celebrating its 125th anniversary this academic year, and that much of its “transformational impact” takes place through teaching. “The impact of teaching, at its best, is felt by both those who are learning and those who teach,” Priestley told the crowd of students, advisers, faculty and campus partners. “It is that shared transformation that our annual teaching awards are meant to recognize.”
Elizabeth Mieczkowski
A fourth-year graduate student in the Department of Computer Science, Elizabeth Mieczkowski was recognized for “going above and beyond expectations in every way possible” as the head teaching assistant for “Computational Models of Cognition.”
Mieczkowski’s students gave her a 5.0 rating as precept for the course, which was taught by Tom Griffiths, Henry R. Luce Professor of Information Technology, Consciousness and Culture, and Brenden Lake, associate professor of computer science and psychology. Mieczkowski was not only a caring and dedicated teacher but also a responsible and dedicated head teaching assistant, Griffiths said.
Students said they appreciated the effort Mieczkowski put into her teaching and advising students on class research projects, one of which was submitted to a conference. Students wrote multiple letters recommending Mieczkowski for the award. One student said Mieczkowski created a classroom environment that was “respectful, engaging, and supportive.”
Patrick Park
Patrick Park, a third-year student in mechanical and aerospace engineering, was recognized for his work as a teaching assistant for professor Alexander Glaser’s Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) course “Science and Global Security: From Nuclear Weapons to Cyberwarfare and Artificial General Intelligence.” Glaser is a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and SPIA, and co-director of the Program on Science and Global Security.
Glaser said Park was a “spectacular” teaching assistant who excelled at “highlighting the role of science and technology in their societal context.”
Six students wrote letters of support for Park’s nomination. “Even at a place like Princeton where everyone is exceptional, Patrick stands out,” one student wrote, “and not just because he is brilliant, but because he is endlessly enthusiastic about learning, human-centric, empathetic, and kind while doing it.”
