Professor Matt Cooper Elected Chair of the ASEE Chemical Engineering Division

Professor Matt Cooper has been elected Chair of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Chemical Engineering Division. Founded in 1893, the ASEE is a nonprofit organization of individuals and institutions committed to furthering education in engineering and engineering technology.

Dr. Cooper earned his B.S. degree from West Virginia University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Ohio University, all in chemical engineering. He joined the department in 2011 after having worked in the private sector, and is a teaching associate professor.

Students in Dr. Cooper’s classes know he’s an outstanding teacher. That excellence has been recognized both outside the department and outside the university. At the university level, in 2014 he received an NC State Outstanding Teacher Award and is a member of the NC State Academy of Outstanding Teachers. That same year he received the Outstanding New Teacher Award from the ASEE Southeastern Section.

One of Matt’s current projects is developing laboratory and process safety content for chemical engineering courses. The new content integrates concepts regarding safety throughout the ChE curriculum. He hopes the coverage will help to reduce the number of safety incidents at engineering and laboratory facilities across the country.

Matt is also interested in the application of plagiarism screening software. He’s investigating the effectiveness of the software in identifying plagiarism, and in identifying attitudes of undergraduate CBE students toward their instructors using the software.

Dr. Cooper is the recipient of the 2013 Joseph J. Martin Award from the Chemical Engineering Division and previously served as the Division’s newsletter editor. His position as Chair brings with it a 3-year commitment to leadership in the Division and its Executive Board.

Congratulations Dr. Cooper!