manufacturing and design division (M&D) outstanding teaching award

The Manufacturing & Design (M&D) Outstanding Teaching Award (OTA) recognizes M&D Division members for excellence and innovation in manufacturing or design education and training. This includes curriculum development, instructional innovation, and the effective dissemination of educational materials and courses in either area. The award will be presented annually during the M&D Townhall Meeting at the IISE Annual Conference.

Eligibility Criteria

  • Nominee must be a member of IISE and the M&D Division at the time of submission.
  • Nominee may not have won the OTA during the previous three years.
  • The course for which the nominee is being recognized must be a manufacturing or design course within an engineering program.
  • Candidate must have developed at least thirty percent (30%) of the course curriculum, content and learning materials.
  • Candidate must have taught the course at least three times during the five calendar years prior to the year in which the OTA will be presented. The period of performance is from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2025.
  • Nominations are due by February 15, 2026 at 11:59pm ET

Application Process

The candidate must be nominated by either a:

  • Faculty member in the college/school/department responsible for the administration or presentation of the course.
  • Professional colleague with first-hand knowledge/experience of the nominee’s contributions to the course.
  • A student who is currently or was previously enrolled in the course when the nominee is (currently) or was (previously) the student’s instructor.

Nomination Package

The nomination package must include in a single PDF file A nomination letter [1 Page] that is written and signed by the nominator that includes the full name and contact information of the nominator.

The letter should include:

  • The nominee’s name as it should appear on the certificate if awarded
  • The nominee’s email address.
  • The nominee’s contributions to the developing and/or teaching the course that satisfy the applicable eligibility criteria.

Other Nomination Items

  • The nominee’s teaching philosophy [1 Page].
  • A copy of the nominee’s current curriculum vitae or resume [6 Pages max]
  • Most recent course description with a hyperlink as a citation to the institution’s course catalog or equivalent.
  • Course Syllabus from an offering during the period of performance.
  • Course material samples, not to exceed 15 pages in total, such as:
    - Lecture notes and/or instructor guides.
    - Instructional materials provided to students
    - Presentation materials, charts, slides
  • Sample student work (anonymized)
  • At least two copies of student evaluation of teaching during the period of performance.
  • One letter of support from academic or professional colleagues (distinct from the nominator) highlighting the impacts of the course.

The nomination package shall be submitted to the OTA Selection Committee Chairperson, David Vance at laxoff13@gmail.com no later than Febraury 15, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. ET

Evaluation Process

The OTA selection committee will verify compliance with the eligibility criteria.

Nominees will be evaluated by the committee based on the following criteria:

  • Innovation: Innovation in teaching course content and the methods of delivery to the students.
  • Impacts: Broader impacts on teaching the course; including but not limited to publications, presentations, industrial collaboration, etc.
  • Quality: This is the relevance that the course content has in educating the target audience.
  • Applied Learning: The development and use of materials to empower students to apply and implement lessons learning into manufacturing or design (e.g., games, simulations, assignments, projects)
  • Leadership:
    - Demonstrating or fostering excellence in students, or
    - Evaluations from students or other faculty

The evaluation criteria will be weighted as follows:

  • Innovation: 30%
  • Impacts: 20%
  • Quality: 20%
  • Applied Learning: 20%
  • Leadership: 10%

The selection committee will: (1) Evaluate each nominee against the evaluation criteria. (2) Assign a final score to each candidate based on the evaluation criteria and their weighting.

The nominee with the highest score will be declared the winner. In the event of a tie, the committee will deliberate to determine the winner.

Important Dates (Deadlines)

  • Nomination package due: February 15, 2026 by 11:59 p.m. ET
  • Winners notified by March 13, 2026

Recognition

  • First prize winner(s) will receive a certificate with a hardback cover at the M&D townhall meeting at the 2025 Annual Conference.
  • Second and Third prize winners will receive a digital certificate and be recognized at the M&D townhall meeting at the 2026 Annual Conference, May 16-19, 2026, Austin, TX.
  • First, second, and third prize winners will be recognized on the M&D webpage and in the M&D newsletter
  • First, second, and third prize winners will be recognized in ISE magazine.

Committee Chair

David Vance

Conflict of Interest Policy

Societies and divisions must follow standard conflict of interest guidelines. Those guidelines include, but are not limited to:

  • Officers and Board members of the Division should be ineligible for awards during the period of their service, without approval by the Senior VP for Technical Operations (SVP). Exceptions may only be made by the SVP when awards are time sensitive, and the impacted board member(s) or officer(s) must recuse themselves from the award process. For awards that are not time-sensitive, the nominee should wait until their Officer or Board service is complete to be nominated.
  • The awards committee (or judging committee) should not include members who have either a personal or professional relationship with the nominees. For example, a faculty member should not be judging a paper competition where a participant from the same university is a nominee for best paper award.
  • The awards committee (or judging committee) should actively change its membership on a rotating basis from year to year to ensure fairness, equity, and diversity. That is, some members of the judging committee should roll off the committee and new members should roll on.

2025 Winner

Dr. George Zhuo Tan
University of Houston

Past Winners