Comly wins Outstanding Undergrad TA Award

Nick Comly '19 has been awarded the 2017 Chen Outstanding ECE Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Award. Comly was a teaching assistant for ECE 2300, Digital Logic and Computer Organization, a sophomore level course, and one of the first ECE classes students take. Comly's TA duties included grading homework, labs and tests, and running one of the weekly lab  sections.

"In preparation for each lab, I worked through the assignment to make sure I understood exactly how the solution worked and to recognize the common mistakes students might make," said Comly in his award application. "During the lab, when students asked for help, I asked them questions that allowed them to reason through their challenges themselves, instead of just explaining how to solve the problem. I focused on describing things in the way I would want them to be described to me, using analogies from other classes that I knew would be fresh in their minds. My ultimate goal, however, was always to make sure every person understood how and why their solution worked; in some cases that meant me staying in the lab until after midnight to help the last group of students finish their design."

"Nick’s take-charge, positive, attitude rubbed off on all of us, especially the students with whom he interacted in office hours and lab," said Professor David Albonesi, Instructor for ECE 2300. "He is always smiling and patient with students; all I received was extremely positive feedback about him. He is super smart and knowledgeable about the material, mature, reliable, confident, and showed great leadership skills."

Comly will receive a cash award and an engraved plaque.