Dr Corsi standing with grads

June 21, 2016

Department Chair and Professor Richard Corsi has been selected to receive a 2016 Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, the highest teaching honor bestowed by the University of Texas System Board of Regents.

Established in 2008, the awards are offered annually in recognition of faculty members of the University of Texas System academic institutions who have demonstrated extraordinary classroom performance and innovation in undergraduate instruction.

Candidate selection is based on a series of rigorous evaluations by students, peer faculty members and external reviewers. The review panels consider a range of activities and other criteria in their evaluations including outstanding teaching, mentoring, personal commitment to students and motivating students in the classroom.

“The starting point for any teacher should be to care about his or her students, to truly care for the educational experience and future of each and every one of them,” said Corsi.  “When that’s the case, being a great teacher comes naturally.  It just happens.  Students know when professors care, and when they know that it is much easier to inspire them, to challenge them to do great things.  I want to inspire my students because they inspire me, and I care for them.  I feel as if I am standing on the shoulders of giants-to-be.  And I am honored to have that opportunity. “

Also a world-renowned expert on indoor air quality, Corsi has served as principal investigator on more than 70 research projects, totalling approximately $13 million. He researches sources and control of indoor air pollution and human exposure to toxic chemicals indoors. He has studied a wide range of indoor sources of air pollution, from dishwashers to paint, microcomputers to moth crystals, and methamphetamine residue to motor vehicle interiors. Their recent studies focus on human exposure to, and control of, ozone and its chemical reaction products in buildings.

He and his students also study innovative control strategies to improve the health of buildings, including the application of materials that passively remove harmful pollutants from indoor air, without the energy penalties associated with conventional air pollution control technologies. Corsi and his students have published more than 300 journal/conference papers, reports and book chapters.

Corsi teaches undergraduate courses in fluid mechanics and courses related to indoor air quality at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and has received numerous awards for teaching and mentoring.