Teaching

Alessandro Sabato Teaching

Teaching experience and philosophy

I started studying engineering because I was genuinely motivated to make an impact on society by developing technological innovation that can benefit people’s lives while imparting my knowledge to others. The etymology of the word engineer (i.e., ingegnere) in Italian, my native language, provides an excellent synthesis of these skills. The root of this word, “ingenium” (i.e., the Latin for cleverness), emphasizes the thinking process of dealing with new situations on which this profession relies.

As summarized below, I had the chance to serve as a principal instructor and a guest lecturer in a number of undergraduate and graduate level classes offered at the Universities where I was serving as a researcher or a professor.

PRINCIPAL INSTRUCTOR

 

FALL 2019

  • ENGN 2050 – Statics. Section 204. (Sophomore-level class at UMass Lowell)
  • MECH 2000 – Mechanical Engineering Project. Section 201 (Sophomore-level independent study at UMass Lowell)
  • EECE 4991 – Capstone project. Two sections. (Senior-level class at UMass Lowell)

SPRING 2019

  • ENGN 2050 – Statics. Sections 201 and 203. (Sophomore-level class at UMass Lowell)
  • MECH 3810 – Fluid mechanics. Section 202. (Junior-level class at UMass Lowell)
  • MECH 4230 – Capstone design. Section 818. (Senior-level class at UMass Lowell)
  • EECE 4991 – Capstone project. Two sections. (Senior-level class at UMass Lowell)

FALL 2018

  • ENGN 2050 – Statics. Sections 201, 203, and 204. (Sophomore-level class at UMass Lowell)

FALL 2017

  • ENGN 2050 – Statics. Section 201. (Sophomore-level class at UMass Lowell)

 

GUEST LECTURER

  • MECH.5240 Fundamentals of acoustics, Fall 2017, Fall 2015 (Graduate-level class at UMass Lowell)
  • MECH.5180 Signal processing, Fall 2016 (Graduate-level class at UMass Lowell)
  • ENME E6215 Principles and applications of sensors for structural health monitoring, Spring 2014 (Graduate-level class at Columbia University)
  • ING-IND/11 50902583 Noise and electromagnetic pollution, Fall 2014 (Graduate-level class at University of Calabria)
  • ING-IND/11 27000229 HVAC systems, Fall 2012 (Graduate-level class at University of Calabria)
  • ING-IND/11 27000193 Environmental acoustics, Spring 2013, Spring 2012, and Spring 2011 (Graduate-level class at University of Calabria)

Having faced a very heterogeneous student population, I learned that each student responds differently to instructions. The fact that diverse and active teaching techniques are required to optimize the students’ learning curve is the main takeaway from my experience. Working with graduate students who were researching for the first time needed me to guide them to stay focused, perform efficient and comprehensive tests, and successfully analyze data. While working with undergraduate students, I learned that they needed a more structured teaching methodology.

My goal as an instructor is trying to students to successfully take on the challenges they will meet in their future careers. I firmly believe that teaching engineering subjects should emphasize the practical and application side of the topic and not just concentrate on a small piece of the global picture. I believe that the role of a professor goes beyond assisting students in merely gaining knowledge about a specific topic. It also has to focus on helping them to develop study and analyze methods applicable to other subjects, contexts, and circumstances. In all my classes, I tend to replicate scenarios the students could find in their future professional career. For this reason I give strong emphasis to to practical applications and laboratory simulations. I focus my courses on helping students gain an appreciation of engineering problems, thus including in each lecture a theoretical part and its utilization in real-world scenarios to give students their first exposure to the tasks an engineer may be required to address.

Besides my role of an instructor, I also had the opportunity to mentor and advise several undergraduate and graduate students. A summary of this activity (students and research projects) is listed here:

 

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS LOWELL

  •  S. Nash, V. Pasha, E. PierreLouis, and S. Polini,“Wireless inertial measurement unit for damage detection in electric line poles,” for Capstone design EECE.4991, 2019.
  • T. Carter, A. Cordero, D. Hester, and A. LoVuolo, “Wireless sensor board for remotely measuring the trajectory of a rocket,” for Capstone design EECE.4991, 2019 
  • K. Carter, D. Dominguez, A. Korelev, M. Zaiek, “Development of a wireless sensor board for remotely measuring the trajectory of a rocket,” for Capstone design MECH.4230, 2019.
  • S. Khan, N. Reddy, and S. K. Venkatramana, M.S., “Development of an IMU-radar sensor board for localization of remotely paired cameras,” for Independent study COMP 7060 – 731, Co-Advised with C. Niezrecki, 2018.
  • S. Chen, Ph.D., “Airborne dynamic focused ultrasound radiation force and its application as non-contact excitation for modal analysis,” Mentored with C. Niezrecki and P. Avitabile, 2017. (Currently Development Engineer at Toyota).
  • P. Poozesh, Ph.D., “Structural evaluation of utility-scale wind turbine blades using multi-camera three-dimensional digital image correlation,” Mentored with C. Niezrecki and P. Avitabile, 2017. (Currently Mechanical Scientist, Acoustic and Vibration at Corning Incorporated).
  • D. Reagan, M.S., “An unmanned aerial vehicle for structural health monitoring of bridges using three-dimensional digital image correlation,” Co-Advised with C. Niezrecki, 2017.
  • V. Chandrashekar, M.S., “Performance characterization of charge controllers: an experimental comparison with application to developing nations,” Co-Advised with C. Niezrecki, 2016. (Currently System Engineer at Merlin Solar Technologies).
  • R. Martin, M.S., “Transmission properties of infrared electromagnetic waves through ultra-thin slits consisting of epsilon-near-zero material,” Mentored with C. Niezrecki and R. Giles, 2016. (Currently Physics Ph.D. candidate at University of Massachusetts Lowell).

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

  • N. Nanjee and U. Sisunton, B.S., for Student Research Involvement Program (SRIP) at Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, Mentored with M. Q. Feng, November 2013 – May 2014.

UNIVERSITY OF CALABRIA, ITALY

  • M. Liuzzi, M.S., “Analysis of the sound pressure levels generated by vehicular traffic in urban areas,” Co-Advised with Ad. Sabato, 2015.