Dr. Brian A. Floyd, winner of the William F. Lane Teaching Award
Dr. Brian A. Floyd, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at North Carolina State University, has been awarded the William F. Lane Outstanding Teacher Award. The award recognizes excellence in teaching or educational leadership in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Since he joined the faculty in 2010, Dr. Floyd has received exceptional evaluations from his students, who describe him as a “passionate teacher,” possessing a “tremendous amount of energy” and “zealous to innovate.”
His teaching responsibilities include ECE 511 (Analog Electronics) and ECE 712 (Integrated Circuits for Wireless Communications). “These are both difficult courses for students,” commented a colleague, adding that “Dr. Floyd has done a stellar job turning these classes into courses sought out by our students, and the graduates of these courses into graduates sought out by industry.”
Prior to 2010, Dr. Floyd worked at IBM Research in Yorktown Heights, NY, where his work included the demonstration of some of the world’s first 60-GHz transceivers in silicon and the development of 60-GHz phased-array transceivers, antennas, and packages.
His background in industry and research has contributed to his successful mentoring of students. “When we solved problems in class, Dr.Floyd constantly emphasized breaking a complicated circuit of transistors into known sub-circuits to understand its working. I was able to apply this technique during an interview for my current job, in which I was asked to describe the working of a transistor level oscillator circuit. Figuring out the circuit was critical for the subsequent interview questions,” commented one of Dr. Floyd’s former students.
To recognize the work of such exemplary faculty, The William F. Lane Outstanding Teacher Award is presented annually by the ECE department along with a plaque and a $500 cash award.
Dr. Floyd’s other honors include a NCSU Chancellor Innovation Fund Award in 2015, an IBM faculty award in 2014, and a DARPA Young Faculty Award in 2011.