Wing Ng receives 2014 William E. Wine Award
Wing Ng, the Christopher C. Kraft Endowed Professor in Engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, has received the university's 2014 William E. Wine Award.
The William E. Wine Achievement Award was established in 1957 by the Virginia Tech Alumni Association in memory of William E. Wine, Class of 1904, who was a former rector of the board of visitors and alumni association president. Following a college-level selection process of candidates nominated by students, faculty, and alumni, each college may put forth one nominee. Three faculty members are selected annually to receive this award by a committee representing all eight colleges at the university. Each Wine Award winner receives $2,000 and automatic induction into the Academy of Teaching Excellence.
A member of the Virginia Tech community since 1984, Ng has been frequently ranked among the best teachers in the Department of Mechanical Engineering over his 30-year career. He teaches both undergraduate and graduate level course on thermo-fluid science.
During that time, Ng has mentored approximately 100 master’s degree and doctoral degree students as their thesis advisor. His students have been very successful in receiving national awards for their research; five have won best paper award from professional societies.
Ng led the effort to restructure the junior-level fluids classes to a large class size format that includes both a lecture and recitation component. Multiple small recitation sessions are used each week to engage the students in a more personalized format. Students have responded to this format enthusiastically, and consistently evaluate him among the best teachers in his department.
“A keystone in Dr. Ng’s pedagogical approach is to have fun teaching,” wrote Warren N. Harder, associate professor and director of the Virginia Tech – Wake Forest University Center for Injury Biomechanics in his nomination letter. “When an instructor has fun teaching, and truly enjoys teaching as his or her core, the benchmarks of successful teaching and transfer of knowledge are attained with relative ease.”
Ng is known to be a touch and demanding teacher, added Harder.
“Despite this, students consider him an excellent teach and he is extremely well liked.”
An entrepreneur who has a 20 employee spin-off company, Ng uses this experience to teach his students what to expect when they enter industry.
He has been recognized for his teaching several times in his career. He received the Ralph Teetor Education Award from the Society of Automotive Engineers in recognition of significant contributions to teaching, research, and student development.
At Virginia Tech, he has received the Sporn Award for Teaching Introductory Subjects in Engineering, the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, and three Certificates of Teaching Excellence.
Ng received his bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
