Each spring, the Iowa State University Engineering Student Council honors outstanding Cyclone Engineering faculty, students and staff at the Student Council Awards. One of this year’s honorees was Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECpE) Associate Professor Goce Trajcevski, who was named Outstanding Engineering Faculty of the Year.
Trajcevski came to Iowa State, joining ECpE in the fall of 2017. His core areas of research focus on software systems and mobile data management, and the majority of the courses he teaches involve data management and analytics.
“My main objective is to help the students understand the concepts, abstractions and paradigms, and make sure they do well on their assignments and projects. At the end of the day, we as the faculty are only as good as the “product” that we are putting out into the world, and the fruit of our labor is our students,” said Trajcevski.
Trajcevski works with multiple Senior Design teams. Senior design is a two-part, two-semester required course for ECpE students, designed to help them in their professional fields by providing team-based design, implementation and review experience. The courses are managed by instructors, and evaluated by a senior design committee and an industry review panel. Two of his teams so far have won the Best Project Awards and another team advised by him won the Best Demo Award at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Mobile Data Management in 2019. He is also active in involving undergraduates in research, via the National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (NSF REU) and the First-Year Honors Mentor program at Iowa State. Trajcevski said that two freshmen advisees went on to co-author a scientific paper published at the BDA 2019 international conference, and three more freshmen are continuing to gain research experience this summer.
“Dr. Trajcevski’s selection by the students as “Outstanding Engineering Faculty of the Year” at Iowa State University is a truly deserving recognition of his passion for teaching,” said ECpE Professor and Palmer Department Chair Ashfaq Khokhar.
“He epitomizes empathy in his interactions with students. He has perfected the art of reaching to the level of students and relating to how best they understand and grasp the subject matter,” Khokhar said.
The Engineering Student Council’s mission is to support engineering student organizations. Another one of their missions, as stated in their constitution, is to recognize achievement within their college. Events such as the Engineering Student Council Awards shine light onto outstanding faculty, staff and students each year.
“It’s a very good feeling. At the end of the day, it’s all about the students, so receiving this award from students was very rewarding and flattering,” Trajcevski said.