Georgia Tech’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) has recognized Siva Theja Maguluri, an assistant professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), for his outstanding pedagogy. Maguluri was honored with the CTL/BP Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award, one of only seven that were given across the Institute.

Maguluri describes his pedagogical style as “traditional interspersed with interactivity.” He aspires to develop students’ intuition of important mathematical concepts without losing rigor. He typically does this using a series of increasingly complex illustrative examples. Maguluri’s guiding principal is the saying usually attributed to Albert Einstein: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” He strongly believes that teaching and research reinforce each other.

In Maguluri’s award nomination letter, ISyE School Chair Edwin Romeijn noted that Maguluri’s “passion for research is only matched by his passion for teaching. Since he joined ISyE in 2017, he has taught four different courses, including required undergraduate courses, first year Ph.D. courses, and a special topics course on advanced topics. He uses innovative teaching methods in his class, such as pop quizzes to keep the students engaged and active, card tricks and paradoxes to teach subtle ideas in probability, and projects based on running a simulated manufacturing plant.”

The CTL/BP Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award is given jointly by CTL and BP America to highlight the excellent teaching and educational innovation that junior faculty bring to Tech’s campus. In evaluating candidates for the award, CTL considers the nominee’s impact on students’ lives both in and out of the classroom; their passion for teaching and learning; teaching excellence in core classes, required classes, and large classes; and accessibility to all students, even those who were not performing well in the class.

When asked what receiving this award meant to him, Maguluri said, “I believe that the award is a reflection of students’ response to my teaching, and so I am both honored and humbled to receive it. I consider it a great fortune to have an opportunity to teach and to work with such great students that we have here at Georgia Tech.”