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When the Plain Dealer’s Sunday Magazine recently announced its “Ohioans of the Year,” one of the University’s own was among the nine honored — Mike Cheung.
A professor of chemical engineering, Cheung was recognized for more than a decade of service to AirLifeLine. The nonprofit group, based in California, has organized a national network of 1,500 pilots who volunteer their time and planes to quickly transport medical patients for specialized care.
“My selection by the Plain Dealer was a ‘bolt out of the blue’ so to speak — I was quite surprised,” says Cheung, who joined UA in 1984. “To me, being involved with AirLifeLine is a win-win situation. I love to fly and when my schedule permits, this allows me to do some good with it.”
Cheung and his Mooney 231 flew 15 of the more than 650 flights in and out of Ohio in the past year. He’s transported patients, and often their family members, to and from states as far away as Tennessee, New York and Massachusetts. According to AirLifeLine statistics, Ohio is the third busiest state for missions — ranking behind only California and Washington.
In March 2002, Cheung took on an additional role — AirLifeLine Team Leader for Ohio — to enhance the organization’s visibility and recruit more pilots for the cause. Cheung arranges for himself or other AirLifeLine pilots to speak to pilot groups as well as social workers, medical personnel and others to raise awareness of the organization’s services.
On campus, Cheung is just as active.
Along with his teaching duties and research in such areas as polymerization in microemulsions, supercritical fluid processing and light scattering, Cheung is involved in curriculum reform.
With a recently awarded $100,000 grant by the National Science Foundation, Cheung and Edward Evans, assistant professor of chemical engineering; Francis Broadway, associate professor of education; and Rex Ramsier, an associate professor of physics, chemistry and chemical engineering; are working to improve the engineering curriculum and establish the Center for Engineering Learning.
Cheung and Evans also have been awarded a $99,948 NSF grant to target curriculum reform at the department level for undergraduate engineering education.
“Both are planning grants and exploratory at this point,” says Cheung. “With the first, we are trying to enhance the awareness of what engineering is all about in K through 12 classes. We also want to help those who might be potential engineering students with the career decisionmaking that will lead them to us.”
The second grant is providing the resources to build on a program that has already been in place for chemical engineering majors for several years. Students at all class levels are teamed together on projects with outside mentors who are chemical engineers.
“By crossing classroom boundaries, we’re giving our students opportunities that mirror real world experiences,” explains Cheung. “Engineers often work on teams with people who have different capabilities. It’s been very good for our students to work with practicing engineers — many of whom are alumni who are very enthusiastic about being involved.
“What the National Science Foundation is interested in is if what we’re doing can be replicated by other departments and at other universities,” adds Cheung. “Can it be used as a vehicle for changing or modifying curriculum topics in a less disruptive way?
“It has been a lot of work, but it has been exciting to be involved in this project,” says Cheung. “Now, with NSF resources, we can do the work necessary to make it a formal part of the curriculum.”
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