Graduate teaching assistant prize awarded at annual Faculty event

The Faculty presented its Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) of the year award at the annual staff BBQ last week.

Christoforos Panteli from the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering was named overall winner of the award for 2017, while other shortlisted nominees also received a certificate in recognition of their contributions.

The GTA of the year award recognises the integral role GTAs perform within the Faculty and offers an incentive for GTAs to strive for excellence in their teaching.

Each year, all engineering departments are invited to select the best GTA and from these nominees the Faculty chooses an overall winner.

The departmental nominees were:

• Jan Rose (Aeronautics)
• Octave Etard (Bioengineering)
• Alexandros Nordas (Civil & Environmental Engineering)
• Anouk Zeeu van der Laan (Dyson School of Design Engineering)
• Christoforos Panteli (Electrical & Electronic Engineering)
• Sam Brooke (Earth Science & Engineering)
• Sammy He (Mechanical Engineering)

The panel was particularly impressed with all the nominations, though Christoforos stood out enough to win the overall award.

His departmental nomination was full of praise, citing the quality of his teaching and impact on student learning as major factors in his success.

Dr Kristel Fobelets, the Department’s Director of Undergraduate Studies, explained:

"Christoforos’ dream for the future is to become an academic. In order to reach this goal he works hard on his PhD research and also volunteers for all teaching opportunities related to semiconductor devices.

"What is nice about this is that he is really good at what he does. Students love him and like his honest, student-focused approach."

Recalling an occasion when he was running late for a lecture with 2^nd year students, Kristel said: “I was 10 minutes late and Christoforos was already in full swing. When I entered the lecture theatre it went completely quiet, whereas seconds before there had been lots of activity with questions and answers. I felt very unwelcome and was kindly asked to leave the room and let Christoforos get on with it!"

Congratulations to Christoforos for his exceptional contribution and overall excellence in teaching.

Find out more about graduate teaching assistants.