Frank Zhang

Nominated by:
Luke Wang

Mentor comments:
I am passionate about mentoring. My decision to pursue an academic career was motivated by the desire to not only conduct research but also teach and mentor. I strongly believe that the ultimate goal of mentoring is not to help students achieve high grades, but to train critical, creative, and independent minds on which our future depends. Having served as a faculty or research mentor for over 25 predoctoral and over 80 undergraduate students, I believe that high-quality student mentoring is one of the most important goals of teaching. I strive to train my students to be adaptable, diverse, and competent engineers and researchers for their future success in today's fast-changing world. Students frequently contact me to tell me how their experience in my research group has helped them shape their careers and forced them to be high-level problem solvers, in both academia and industry. These are the most rewarding moments for me.