Yash Parikh and Jaskirat Singh Batra Named 2020 Bednarz Award Recipients

The Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning at Texas A&M (CIRTL@TAMU) has named Yash Parikh and Jaskirat Singh Batra its 2020 Bednarz Award Recipients. Bednarz Award winners have demonstrated outstanding commitment and achievement in teaching excellence in their discipline.
 
Nominees are evaluated by CIRTL administrators and Texas A&M faculty based on their “Teaching as Research” (TAR) projects and the depth of their involvement in other CIRTL programming. TAR projects test an innovative teaching technique in the classroom, assessing the learning outcomes as a result of its implementation.  
 
Yash Parikh is a Ph.D. candidate in J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering. He earned his master's degree from Visvesvaraya Technological University and bachelor's degree from the University of Pune, both in India. His research on developing & fabricating a non-lattice-type functionally graded material of a single metallic alloy via Laser Powder Bed Fusion process will have applications across aerospace, energy, oil and gas, motor vehicles, and medical products industries. He has 20 professional publications and is a recipient of the NSF student trave grant 2018, Texas Public Education Grant 2017-18, and Charles W. Crawford '19 fellowship 2016-17.
  
Jaskirat Singh Batra is a doctoral candidate in Materials Science and Engineering. He is actively involved in research (both disciplinary and engineering education), teaching and mentoring. His disciplinary research in developing ‘soft material-based’ medical technologies crosses the disciplines of materials, engineering, and life science. In his engineering education research, Jaskirat has investigated the use Virtual Reality-based instruction and its impact on student motivation to learn complex 3D concepts in materials science. Jaskirat Singh Batra is a graduate of the Academy for Future Faculty and Teaching-as-Research Fellows programs, and he was selected as a Graduate Teaching Fellow in the College of Engineering in 2018-2019. Prior to that, Jaskirat served as a Research Mentor for a research-based lab course and a Teaching Assistant for several classroom-based undergraduate courses. He wants to utilize his diverse teaching and research experience to promote the use of evidence-based educational technology in training STEM students. He has 12 professional publications and is the recipient of multiple honors, including Texas A&M University’s Eppright Outstanding International Student, Distinguished Graduate Student Award, and Phil Gramm Award.

CIRTL’s mission is to enhance excellence in undergraduate education through the development of a national faculty committed to implementing and advancing effective teaching practices for diverse learners as part of successful and varied professional careers.  

The Bednarz Award was established in 2016 to honor the many contributions of Dr. Sarah Bednarz to the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning at Texas A&M University.
 
By Rob Dixon, Office of Graduate and Professional Studies
 
Media contact:
Rob Dixon, Office of Graduate and Professional Studies, at: rdixon@tamu.edu or (979) 845-3631.