NIU’s College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (CEET) announced that Professor Nicholas Pohlman, Ph. D. was named its 2022 Faculty of the Year for Excellence in Undergraduate Education. The goal of the award is to recognize a faculty member that has excelled in teaching effectively, educational research, lab innovations, and much more. Faculty are nominated for the award by their peers.
Professor Pohlman has been on the faculty of the Mechanical Engineering Department since 2008.
His research has contributed to last spring’s landmark finding at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, which released first results from the Muon g-2 experiment that made headlines worldwide. Professor Pohlman p in 2022-2023.
“Dr. Pohlman has excelled in undergraduate education and the College Council is proud to recognize him as CEET’s Faculty of the Year. The College Council faced a very formidable task in selecting an awardee from a distinguished group of nominees and my sincere appreciation goes out to all who participated in this process,” said CEET Dean Donald Peterson. “I am sure that the students, faculty, and staff will extend their own personal congratulations to Dr. Pohlman on receiving this coveted award.”
Professor Pohlman is recognized for his many, and varied, contributions to undergraduate education and is regarded as a high-quality teacher who makes significant contributions to the student experience as is evidenced in his evaluation scores. For example, he recently completed the ACUE 
Program, which offers an opportunity to explore and implement research-based approaches to teaching that are designed to improve student engagement and persistence and promote deeper learning. Through this program, he was able to validate his instructional practices, such as group work with frequent feedback and engaged examples with think-pair-share. In addition, he actively integrated new methods to refine his course learning outcomes to be more student-centered.
Professor Pohlman also received the prestigious NIU Presidential Teaching Professor award this
Spring, which recognizes professors who have demonstrated their commitment to, and success in, the many activities associated with outstanding teaching.
He has received $41,000+ in external and internal funding this past year, where undergraduate
students continue to participate and learn under his mentorship within these research experiences. Professor Pohlman has also been very active in publishing articles from his high-energy research work, where he recently published four journal articles in 2021.
