Meeting Students Where They Are: Laurent Lessard Given University Excellence in Teaching Award
Provost Beth Winkelstein surprises professor Laurent Lessard with the University Excellence in Teaching Award during Lessard’s class in the Snell Engineering building. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University
MIE Associate Professor Laurent Lessard was given the University Excellence in Teaching Award for his engaging teaching initiatives, using online tools and systems to better help his students understand often challenging content.
Lessard is an Associate Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Northeastern University, with affiliate appointments in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and core faculty status at the Institute for Experiential AI. His research focuses on the mathematical analysis of iterative algorithms, with applications in control theory, optimization, large-scale distributed systems, and machine learning. He is recognized for the rigor, clarity, and innovative pedagogy he brings to his teaching and mentoring, and is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award and the AACC O. Hugo Schuck Best Paper Award.
This article originally appeared on Northeastern Global News. It was published by Cesareo Contreras.
Laurent Lessard honored with University Excellence in Teaching Award
A SpaceX rocket safely landing back on Earth illustrates many foundational engineering concepts related to control theory, thermodynamics and material science.
It might come as no surprise, then, that Northeastern Professor Laurent Lessard assigns undergraduate students in his systems analysis and controls course a project in which they have to model and simulate landing a SpaceX rocket themselves.
One concept students learn is the importance of control systems, which are interconnected components used to ensure mechanical systems like rockets maintain their stability and predictability. They are key in providing the rockets with the precision to stick their landings and not blow up in the process, explained Laurent, a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering.
The rocket project reflects Lessard’s teaching style. He doesn’t teach important engineering theories and rules using an “eight-hundred page textbook,” he said. He prefers to teach through hands-on learning, using real world examples and online web tools to bolster his lessons.
That approach might be part of why he has been awarded Northeastern University’s Excellence in Teaching Award this year, he surmised.
“I feel a great responsibility doing a good job teaching this material,” said Lessard after receiving the award. “It’s definitely a huge honor.”
The annual award honors Northeastern educators who have gone above and beyond teaching and inspiring students.This year, two faculty members were honored with the distinction: Laurent and Northeastern Law Professor Erin Islo.
Since joining the university in 2020, Lessard has focused on using technology to better engage his students.
An example of Lessard’s approach is in his recently launched digital system analysis and control theory textbook, in which he brings together interactive demonstrations he’s developed over the years with his lecture notes.
Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University
One interactive demonstration allows students to maintain a drone at specific altitudes using a proportional integral derivative (PID) controller, a feedback control device, he said.
By offering up experiences like those, Lessard is hoping to flip the script on the traditional ways of teaching on static paper.
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