Concordia Journal Home > Archives > June 12, 2008 issue >

Tribute to a teacher 

At the Engineering and Computer Science convocation ceremony on June 18, a teaching excellence award will be given to electrical engineering professor Yousef R. Shayan.

In 1990, Shayan got his PhD from Concordia. Between 1988 and 2000, he worked at various wireless communication companies, including his own start-up company.

In 2001, he joined Concordia’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Since then, he has been Graduate Program Director, Associate Chair and the Acting Chair. His areas of expertise include wireless communications, error control coding, and modulation techniques.

His teaching philosophy is based on problem-based learning: Pose a realistic problem, teach the concepts needed to solve it, and then apply the concepts to developing an engineering solution to the problem. He likes to teach large classes, since he feels he’s having a lot of impact, and he enjoys supervising students’ design projects.

The award acknowledges excellence in teaching, sustained commitment to the improvement of teaching and creativity in the development of teaching material and approaches.