Janet Y. Tsai

COEN1400 is a team-based, hands-on engineering projects class for first-year students. Shown is part of an introductory project for the 5-person "Lock & Key" team, the circuit and Arduino which powered, moved, and illuminated their team's nameplate.

GEEN1400 is a hands-on projects course for first-year engineering students. Shown is the Ace Team demonstrating their final project at the Spring 2015 Design Expo. Each semester I choose a new theme for the class and their projects, often related to assistive technologies and helping out the local community. 

A gateway course at the outset of Mechanical Engineering's core curriculum, Statics is fundamentally concerned with equilibrium in 2D and 3D. I transformed the course in Fall 2012 with a stellar instructional team to incorporate Active Learning recitations with this previously lecture-based course. While student outcomes varied, developing lessons which utilize a spectrum of real-world, tangible examples, provided valuable experience and deeper understanding of how engineering students learn. 

A seminar-style course for graduate students in Mechanical Engineering, I organized and administrated the course in Fall 2012, inviting guest speakers from the College across graduate students, faculty, and staff, to assist in developing excellent research and an unparalleled graduate student experience. 

Drawing on my professional experience as a manufacturing engineer producing Roombas in China, I've served as a Teaching Assistant (2010) and Guest Lecturer (2011-2016) for this course, sharing lessons learned and insights into factory life for designers. I emphasize the fractal-like nature of manufacturing, as zooming in on any one process or product reveals endless complexity.

I became a registered yoga therapist at the 200-hour level in 2008, teaching vinyasa flow classes at yoga studios in Boston initially and subsequently Boulder. I started a series of "Yoga for Engineers" classes for the CU Engineering community as a graduate student, using spare classrooms, stairwells, and the outdoors for space. Being in the front of students, yoga or engineering, demands both poise and humor.