Imperial News

Faculty of Engineering students win teaching prizes

by Helen Wilkes

The John Lever Memorial Award and Graduate Teaching Awards were presented at the Faculty of Engineering’s summer barbecue on 22 September 2023.

The awards were presented by Professor Jason Riley, Vice Dean (Education) for the Faculty.

John Lever Memorial Award

The Faculty of Engineering presents the Professor John Lever Memorial Award to recognise and reward current students (individuals or small teams) who have contributed significantly to teaching, learning, outreach, public engagement, enterprise or student experience achievements in the Faculty.

Anjali DevadasanThis year’s winner is Anjali Devadasan from the Department of Materials. Anjali was commended for going above and beyond to enhance student experience with the Department of Materials. She has organised careers events, supported department representatives in organising wellbeing events and has organised and delivered valuable outreach activities within the department and in secondary schools.

Her enthusiasm and commitment has also seen her share revision notes and experiences with peers to aid their revision and learning in labs. In addition, she has ventured into entrepreneurship with her startup, Treeva, to turn engineering ideas into reality.

Graduate Teaching Assistant Awards

These awards recognise and reward research students who have acted as a graduate teaching assistant (GTA) and have contributed significantly to teaching, learning and student experience within the Faculty of Engineering.

This year’s joint runners-up are Harry Coppock (Department of Computing) and Jonah McLeod (Department of Earth Science and Engineering).

GTA of the Year was awarded to Ed Rattner from the Department of Chemical Engineering.

Ed was highly commended for his continued teaching support over his four years in the Department of Chemical Engineering. His role teaching 150+ students in the Reaction Engineering 2 module has repeatedly received outstanding student feedback. His contributions also extend to the final year design project’s coaching scheme, where he has supported two groups of students, as well as organising the entire scheme in 2022-23.

Ed has also supported multiple colleagues with teaching, outreach activities, applicant interviews and assessment marking, and many of the students Ed has helped have highlighted him as a major part of their success during their projects and degrees.