During my interview here at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the first question that was asked of me following my seminar was asked by Mr. Lavonia Theriot. The question was a good one and one we should ask of all of our new hires and, if we seek to continually improve ourselves as academics, regularly ask of ourselves, “What makes you think that you are qualified to teach Mechanical Engineering?” During my interview, Dr. G.H. Massiha had thankfully looked at my curriculum vitae, spoke up, and spared me from sparring with Mr. Theriot. However, in my time here at UL Lafayette, I believe that I have proven that I am not just qualified to teach Mechanical Engineering, but that I am effective as both an educator and as a researcher. I have positively impacted the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the College of Engineering, and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, as a whole. In this application, I provide support for these statements, the three core components of which can be accessed via the buttons at the top right of this page or via links in its footer.
Support for my effectiveness as a researcher begins with the number of grants that I have been awarded, representing over $780,000 in cash funding, plus an additional $240,000 of in-kind contributions through those grants, totaling over $1,000,000 of cash + in-kind funding. In addition, I have been a part of almost $150,000 in donations, including a significant donation in support of my lab’s entry into the 2016 Maritime RobotX Challenge. I have been personally responsible for equipment donations to that project, in addition to a large equipment donation in support the MCHE 201: Introduction to Engineering Design. The work either partially or fully enabled by these grants has resulted in two awarded patents, one pending patent application, one book chapter, three journal articles published or accepted, seven journal articles under review or revision after initial reviews, and 29 peer-reviewed conference papers and presentations.
Through this research, I have advised and served as committee chair for eight M.S. Thesis graduates and four non-thesis M.S. graduates. Two additional M.S. Thesis advisees are expected to graduate in May 2018. In addition, I have served on two completed Ph.D. dissertation committees, two completed M.S. thesis committees, and am serving on two in-progress Ph.D. dissertation committees. I have also hosted a visiting Ph.D. student from the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan. The research work has also included 47 undergraduate students, including visiting undergraduate researchers from South Korea, Brazil, and France.
I have also greatly expanded the international visibility of the department, the college, and UL Lafayette. I have hosted visiting researchers from Brazil, China, Japan, and Korea. I have also sent our students abroad; graduate students from my lab have spent significant time working at labs in Japan and Korea. I’ve been invited to and have given lecture series at Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan, in Shandong Province, China, at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, in Wuhan, China, and Kumoh National Institute of Technology in Gumi, South Korea. The latter two of these universities continue to express interest in forming a more-formal partnership with UL Lafayette, but, unfortunately, no such partnerships have materialized to date.
In recognition of my and my lab’s research work here at UL Lafayette, I have been twice selected for the Rising Star Award in the College of Engineering by the Office of the Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Economic Development. I am also a two-time recipient of the Innovator Award for the College of Engineering by Office of Innovation Management. In 2015, I was named the Young Researcher of the Year within the UL Lafayette College of Engineering.
I believe that I have also proven myself to be an effective teacher. I have developed new courses like MCHE 201: Introduction to Engineering Design and made significant contributions to many others, most notably MCHE485: Mechanical Vibrations. In MCHE201, I introduced programming and hands-on, project-based learning to teach the mechanical design process, supported by nearly $25,000 in combined grants and donations. I have developed extensive supplemental materials to help the students, including over 5000 lines of example code. I have also offered 15+ of weekly open lab hours during the final project of the class, covering, to date, a minimum of half of those hours myself. In MCHE485 and other classes like MCHE513: Intermediate Dynamics, I have also introduced code to enhance student understanding of lecture material. In MCHE485 in particular, I developed Jupyter Notebooks for the entirety of the core lecture topics, representing a total of 32 notebooks. For all my classes, I post all of my lecture notes to the class webpage, in addition to a live recording of audio from the lecture session, typically within an hour of the end of the class. I have also produced nearly 30 video lectures, covering a variety of topics across the classes that I have taught.
I have also taken UL Lafayette students to two major competitions. In every September from 2014 to now (and continuing this fall), I have taken 3-4 students to the ARLISS competition in Nevada. Each of these student teams built a robot that got launched to approximately 12,000 feet and was tasked with autonomously navigating to a predetermined location on the Nevada desert. In 2016, I also took four students to the Maritime RobotX Challenge. This team developed the hardware and algorithms necessary for an Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV).
During my time at UL Lafayette, I have also contributed in service of the University, College, and Department, through Professional Services and Activities, and to our Community. I have served on numerous faculty search committees, was a Faculty Senator representing non-tenured faculty from the College of Engineering, and served as the chair for the committee developing a robotics minor within the College. I have also served on both the Department of Mechanical Engineering Graduate Advisory Council and System Engineering Ph.D. Executive Committee for nearly all of my time here. I also regularly provide tours and demonstrations in my lab as part of recruiting events and high-school on-campus summer camps. I have also traveled to local high schools to introduce and demonstrate robotics and controls. Within my research area, I am an active reviewer for both journal and conference publications and regularly chair conference sessions. I have also organized several invited, special-topics sessions for conferences.
Returning to Mr. Theriot’s question with a slight extension, the question that I think tenure application packet answers for those tasked with its official review is “What makes you think that you are qualified to teach Mechanical Engineering as a tenured faculty member?”. As summarized above, I think the information contained in this application demonstrates that I am capable of fulfilling that job. More important to me, however, is that even with what I have accomplished here, I am not satisfied. I know that my research group and I are capable of better work and higher output. I know that our department can continue to improve. I know that the College of Engineering can continue to grow. I also know that I am both motivated and excited to be someone who is helping to drive that growth and continued improvement.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Dr. Joshua Vaughan
joshua.vaughan@louisiana.edu
@doc_vaughan
http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~jev9637/
PDF of complete curriculum vitae
PDF of all annual reviews