Marko Budišić, Ph.D., assistant professor of mathematics, was announced as the Clarkson University 2019 Outstanding New Teacher Award winner during University Recognition Day last month. Established by the University Committee on Improvement in Teaching in 1991, this award recognizes an outstanding teacher within his or her first four years at the university. Criteria for selection include excellence in the classroom, capacity to motivate and challenge students and creativity in teaching methods and curriculum development.
Dr. Budišić will receive the Outstanding New Teacher Award during the “Last Lectures” on May 8.
“I was pleasantly surprised,” Dr. Budišić said of being chosen for the award. “I appreciate the recognition because I do work hard to improve and develop my teaching. At the same time, I am humbled as a lot of my colleagues are excellent teachers, many of them also assistant professors, instructors, lecturers and adjuncts, and I think many of them could have easily been awarded the same recognition.”
A native of Croatia, Dr. Budišić, joined Clarkson in July 2016 after serving three years as a visiting assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Mathematics. He earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Dr. Budišić’s research involves working with models of ocean currents. While he does not develop these models himself, he does take the resultant equations and attempts to determine the possibility of spilled oil reaching land on the coast and if two populations of plants or animals can naturally be brought together by the ocean. The complexity of such problems requires him to communicate with engineers, oceanographers and mathematicians to ascertain how the mathematics being worked on at Clarkson relates to various human and natural processes.
Dr. Budišić acknowledged his department and the Institute for STEM Education for actively supporting faculty who want to try new teaching techniques and attend professional development programs, such as MAA Project NExT. “I appreciate working at a place where teaching is not thought of as merely a chore, but is rather valued and highlighted,” he said.
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