Congratulations to David Hurwitz, an assistant professor in the School of Civil and Construction Engineering, for receiving the prestigious ASCE ExCEEd (Excellence in Civil Engineering Education) New Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award. Hurwitz was selected from a large pool of highly talented candidates and will be presented with a plaque during the ASEE Annual Conference in June in Indianapolis, IN.

The award recognizes Hurwitz’ outstanding teaching record as a new faculty member, his contributions to the academic and surrounding community, and his proven commitment to education.

His nominators cited his sustained dedication to engineering education. With funding by the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Research Consortium, Hurwitz developed learning activities to help students understand the implications of human characteristics and behavior on transportation system performance. More recently, he received funding from the National Science Foundation TUES program to study differences in how undergraduates and engineers in practice learn about and understand traffic signal systems. One significant project outcome is the design of conceptual questions related to traffic signal systems that are currently being demonstrated at 30 universities around the country. Hurwitz also played a leading role in organizing and conducting a National Science Foundation workshop for 60 professors from across the U.S. that focused on transportation engineering education.

In addition to his work in engineering education, Hurwitz has gained national media attention for his work in the OSU Driving and Bicycling Research Lab. He has published widely on transportation user behavior and transportation safety to help improve the built environment.

–Abby P. Metzger