Mechanical Engineering Assistant Professor and Director of the Chemical Energy Conversion Laboratory, Bret Windom, was one of eight educators recently recognized for the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Ralph R. Teetor Education Award.
The award honors exemplary young educators who are successfully preparing the next generation of engineers to meet the real-world challenges of their industry. It was established in 1963 by SAE International, a global association committed to being the ultimate knowledge source for the engineering profession. The award is named after former SAE president, Ralph R. Teetor, who firmly believed that engineering educators are the most effective link between engineering students and their future careers.
Earlier this summer, SAE International honored all eight awardees at the annual awards ceremony during the SAE International WCX World Congress Experience in Detroit, Mich.
“As part of the award, SAE setup a full day tour of the Ford R&D facility where we were paired up with Ford researchers and scientists with similar research interests,” said Windom. “Not only did this allow us to forge new relationships within the industry, but it also helped highlight the values and critical thinking skills that as educators we need to instill in our students for them to become successful engineers in the rapidly changing automobile industry.”
As director of the Chemical Energy Conversion Laboratory at the Energy Institute, Windom oversees research projects encompassing applied and fundamental topics ranging from the characterization of alternative fuels to the analysis of reacting flow systems using advanced diagnostics and state of the art CFD tools. Currently, Windom is the principal investigator on a Honda R&D research project relating to modeling the complex fluid dynamics in an automobile refueling system. His work will be used to support the future R&D of these systems by Honda Engineers.
As an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, his strong presence makes continuous impacts.
“Dr. Windom has been an outstanding addition to our ME team,” said Sue James, head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. “His passion for education comes through in everything he does and his students truly appreciate that. This award is well-deserved.”
Windom is also in the process of revamping Colorado State University’s SAE chapter. As its faculty advisor, he wants to revive the idle club, providing students with an automobile engineering extracurricular option. Engine teardown events have sparked student and public interest, and several other events and meetings are in the pipeline.
Past CSU Teetor winners include Bryan Wilson, Azer Yalin and Tom Bradley.
