Jacob Adams is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering who has received the 2022 William F. Lane Outstanding Teaching Award. The William F. Lane Outstanding Teacher Award recognizes excellence in teaching or educational leadership in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). The award is presented annually by ECE along with a certificate and a $500 cash award. Winners of the Lane Award are automatically considered by ECE for the NC State Outstanding Teacher Award.
Adams is committed to excellence in teaching and has taught required junior-level courses in electromagnetics as well as several graduate courses, including courses on antennas and RF design that he introduced. Electromagnetics is an abstract mathematical topic that students find challenging. To help engage students and deepen their understanding, Jake makes extensive use of software simulations and animations to illustrate abstract concepts.
He has also generated support for educational innovation projects, such as a $250,000 educational grant from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to increase student engagement in topics such as RF systems. He was subsequently co-PI with David Ricketts on a follow-on $600,000 ONR grant on STEM education to expand their hands-on lab concepts and deliver them at national venues.
Adams received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Ohio State University in 2005 and 2007, respectively. He received a Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2011. From January 2011 until December 2012, he was an Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Electromagnetics Laboratory at the University of Illinois. He joined the faculty at NC State in 2013.
Congratulations to Adams for this outstanding recognition!