Associate Professor Linda Wills has received the inaugural Chair’s Professorship for Teaching Excellence in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). The professorship was announced this summer by Arijit Raychowdhury, Steve W. Chaddick School Chair and professor in ECE. It was established to recognize ECE faculty members who play a significant and sustained role in teaching, course development, pedagogy, and student success.

Wills, an award-winning educator, has been teaching in ECE since 1996. She currently teaches and conducts research in innovative computing systems education, embedded computer vision, and in software reengineering for emerging architectures. Wills was the first recipient of the Demetrius T. Paris, Jr. Professorship in ECE. She has been the recipient of the Institute’s Outstanding Teacher Award, the Women in Engineering Teaching Excellence Award, the Georgia Tech Faculty Award for Outstanding Innovative Use of Education Technology, the Student Recognition of Excellence in Teaching: CIOS Award, and multiple Richard M. Bass/Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Teacher Awards.

The Teaching Excellence Professorship was open to all faculty members (tenured, tenure-track or non-tenure track) who conduct classroom instruction, including teaching laboratory or design classes. Awarded discretionary funds and teaching relief funds will be used to design/re-design any new/existing course and pursue opportunities to enhance the classroom experience.

“I truly could not be more thrilled to recognize Linda through the inaugural Teaching Excellence Professorship,” said Raychowdhury. “It’s no surprise she is the first faculty member in the School to receive this professorship, as she’s won nearly ever teaching award there is at Georgia Tech. ECE is incredibly fortunate to have such a student-focused leader.”

In the below Q&A, learn more about Wills’ passion for teaching and how she plans to utilize the professorship to further strengthen the ECE academic community.

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Why is receiving the Chair's Professorship for Teaching Excellence important to you? 
I am thrilled to have been selected for this professorship! It will allow me to devote time and creative energy toward finding new ways of introducing our students to emerging topics in our field. The fact that Professor Tom Gaylord — whose dedication to engineering education has inspired me and so many others — helped make this professorship possible, makes it all the more meaningful.  

How do you plan to utilize the discretionary funds and the teaching relief to enhance the classroom experience?
I teach ECE students as they first enter our major (ECE2020, ECE2035). During this critical transition, students are discerning their discipline-specific identity and may be asking, "Do I belong? Do I have the 'right' background? How does what I'm learning align with my career interests and personal values?" Fostering a sense of belonging is key to students' academic well-being and success; it reinforces their willingness to participate, engage, and persist. This is critical to creating an inclusive environment for our diverse student population.

Our new threaded curriculum represents a significant step toward giving students a sense of direction and agency in their educational path. Building on this, I would like to give students experience with emerging concepts early in the curriculum — sort of like offering "thread appetizers" — to motivate and prepare students for in-depth exploration in later courses. There is a growing push in our field to weave topics such as concurrency, security, and heterogeneity, throughout the curriculum rather than delaying coverage to advanced courses. This not only instills a robust understanding, but also draws motivating connections to career interests.  

How long have you been teaching? How long have you been at Tech ECE?    
My first teaching experience was as a recitation instructor in graduate school. I've been teaching in ECE since 1996.

I was fortunate to have been influenced by wonderful mentors, especially professors Sudha Yalamanchili, George Riley, Chuck Rich, and Scott Wills. They possessed unlimited energy and dedication to students and their legacy continues to impact our students every day.  

What makes for an engaging ECE classroom experience?
It is key for students to take an active role in learning and self-discovery. I try to create hands-on projects that have real-life relevance and allow students the freedom to bring their own personal interests and background into their projects. Providing these types of opportunities for students to be creative helps ease any doubt in their minds about whether they have the "right" background with the assurance that they each contribute a unique perspective to ECE’s academic community. It also sparks curiosity that carries them toward making important contributions in our field. My goal is for students to leave my course with more burning questions about new areas they’ve discovered and how they can apply what they have learned.

I am grateful for our colleagues at the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) who provide a wealth of resources, expertise, and guidance on best practices for engaging students! I am always energized by participating in CTL programs and interacting with colleagues to trade new ideas in this context.  

How has teaching your courses evolved/changed throughout the years? How do you envision the future?
Since I began, I have gained a deeper awareness of the ways learning and well-being are inextricably linked. Studies from neuroscience and psychology are revealing the importance of sleep, exercise, nutrition, and play in consolidating memories, refreshing neuronal structures, and building abstractions. I'm convinced that the goal for a positive educational environment is to integrate knowledge and skills not only for success in a field of study, but also for nurturing the well-being of ourselves and those around us. This often includes integrating difficult life events into our educational paths with patience and flexibility. The wisdom, resilience, perseverance that we each bring to our community from these experiences enrich us as a whole. Thankfully, at Georgia Tech, we are moving toward this type of educational culture.