Spring 2002
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Spring 2002 |
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The Face of Teaching Roger Lautzenheiser had never heard of calculus before
being asked to help a classmate with a homework assignment during his freshman
year at Indiana University. Intrigued, the pre-medicine major spent the next summer
taking his first course in the mathematics subject.
He was quickly attracted to the relationships between numbers and
theories to solve problems. That adoration still resounds nearly 40 years later with
Lautzenheiser being a popular mathematics professor at Rose-Hulman Institute of
Technology. A member of the
college's faculty since 1975, Lautzenheiser earned the Dean's Outstanding
Teacher Award in 2001 and has been named the Outstanding Faculty Member by
Rose-Hulman students in an annual poll conducted by The Thorn student newspaper. "In class, it was clear that he really loved the
subject he was teaching and loved teaching it," concedes former student
Ozgur Ozkaya, a 1996 electrical engineering graduate.
"It was impossible not to get caught up in the excitement." This winter, during a differential equations class,
Lautzenheiser took several minutes out of his class to make sure each of his
students understood the mathematical concepts needed to solve a problem. "Sometimes, it's hard to show the 'why' in a
problem. You need to step back and
take five or 10 minutes out of a classroom session to make sure the students
understand the concepts that solve a problem," he states, revealing that
his daily classroom notes can consist of four handwritten statements on an index
card. "Each student has spent
$80 on a textbook that explains things in a much more organized way.
They're in my classroom to understand how those mathematical concepts are
applicable in problems they're going to encounter as future engineers,
scientists or mathematicians." It's that ability that stands Lautzenheiser above his
peers, according to John Williams, a 1977 mathematics alumnus who now is a
mathematics professor at the University of Hartford. "Roger has the uncanny ability of understanding
where the student is having trouble and then illuminating the path to
understanding the concept with the perfect example," Williams says.
"Mathematics can be understood as just a logical connection of
theorems and ideas, but it can also come about naturally.
I remember, in the point-set topology course that Roger taught, he was
able to get us to see what theorems should be right and how the proofs should
proceed. It is easy to teach theorem/proof, but it is harder to convey
paradigms and structure." In his own words, Lautzenheiser states "The
mechanics of teaching aren't difficult or challenging.
To be good you have to develop a relationship with students.
You need to know when you're getting the message across.
They have to feel comfortable with you." And, many times, those relationships extend outside the
classrooms in Crapo Hall. Roger and
his wife, Gretchen, have welcomed many Rose-Hulman students into their home to
celebrate Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter. "This ties into Dr. Lautzenheiser's teaching style:
He creates a feeling of camaraderie and community between his students.
This is what makes Rose-Hulman such a special place," said Ozkaya,
now an engineer with Texas Instruments (San Jose, Calif.)
"I have not met another professor with more office hours than Dr.
Lautzenheiser. He made students
welcome, and took as long as was needed for them to understand the concepts. He did all of this with a smile on his face because he really
cared for you." Lautzenheiser specializes in the area of numerical linear
algebra, a course he will teach this spring.
He also instructs classes regularly in calculus, statistics and
differential equations, and edits a new online journal (www.rose-hulman.edu/mathjournal)
that draws attention to research papers and other educational projects by the
nation's top undergraduate mathematics students. In two years, the journal has published reviewed papers by 17
undergraduate authors and one high-school author from institutions such as the
University of Michigan, Duke University, North Carolina State University and
Denison University. "Roger's contributions to undergraduate engineering
go beyond teaching," admits Mathematics Department Chair Allen Broughton.
"He's an excellent scholar, faculty colleague and, of course,
mathematician." Lautzenheiser, who twice has served as Rose-Hulman's
Mathematics Department chair, admits his classroom techniques have been
influenced by a year (1998-99) teaching advanced calculus with a Japanese
colleague at Kanazawa Institute of Technology, and two technical sabbaticals in
industry. Obviously, that calculus class is still paying off big dividends - to him and his students.
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