teaching experience

i am excited about teaching and lifelong learning. in all my courses, I strive to create a motivating, energetic, and engaging learning experience. at stanford, i have taught the core me undergraduate/graduate courses e14 statics, me309 finite elements, and me338 continuum mechanics. i have also introduced three new multidisciplinary undergraduate/graduate courses, me239 mechanics of the cell, me334 mechanics of the brain, and me337 mechanics of growth. prior to joining stanford, i taught linear and nonlinear finite element methods and linear and nonlinear continuum mechanics at the universities of hannover, stuttgart, and kaiserslautern. at kaiserslautern, i taught the undergraduate courses statics, dynamics, and strength of materials with an enrollment of 314 and 289 students. at eth zurich, i taught the undergraduate course mechanics with an enrollment of 155 students.

in my e14 statics course, students took photographs of themselves, to create free body diagrams, which we summarized in a youtube movie. in my mechanics course at eth zurich, the students wanted to copy this idea, and made a similar youtube movie. in my me337 mechanics of growth course, students work in groups on individual research projects. every year, we publish successful projects as peer-reviewed journal article: bone growth in a stanford tennis player, skin growth in plastic surgery, bone growth in response to gait, muscle growth in limb lengthening, airway wall growth in asthma, and skeletal muscle growth. i have just introduced a new course, me334 mechanics of the brain, which was a tremendous success with both undergraduate and graduate students. within my twenty years of undergraduate and graduate teaching, i have always tried to challenge my students and create a stimulating atmosphere in class. for me, sharing knowledge with others and broadening my own horizon through interacting with students is one of the most rewarding experiences of being a professor at stanford!

spring 2015