Maj. James
C. Squire, assistant professor of electrical
and computer engineering at Virginia
Military Institute, was named Virginia’s
“Rising Star” faculty member, Gov.
Mark Warner announced today (Jan. 21).
Squire received the award during
a ceremony in Richmond honoring him
and 10 professors
from other colleges and universities
who were named by the State Council for
Higher Education in Virginia, or SCHEV,
as outstanding professors. Only one junior
faculty member from the nearly 60 public
and private colleges and universities
in the state receives the “Rising Star”
award each year.
In addition to the award, Squire
will receive a stipend made possible
through
a gift from TIAA-CREF, which has partnered
with SCHEV to sponsor the faculty awards.
The TIAA-CREF group of companies includes
a major retirement system for people
employed in education and research
in the United States.
“[Squire] successfully balances a
fervent commitment to teaching excellence
and
student development, a productive research
agenda in biomedical engineering, and
important service to college and discipline,”
said Brig. Gen. Charles F. Brower IV,
deputy
superintendent for academics and dean
of the faculty. “Because of faculty
like him, VMI’s future is incredibly
bright.”
Squire’s award illustrates the professional
and academic excellence that has resulted
in VMI being named America’s top public
liberal arts college for three years
in a row by U.S. News and World Report,
Brower said.
“This is an example
of our faculty’s commitment to deliver
a challenging undergraduate
experience designed to develop cadets’
abilities to anticipate, |
respond,
and lead in a complex and changing
world,” Brower
said. “Jim has excelled in all the
values the Institute expects from its
faculty members: teaching, scholarly
engagement, professional citizenship,
and cadet development.”
Cadets say
he is innovative in integrating real-world
examples into his classes,
and providing them with opportunities
to address problems creatively in labs
and through projects.
“Rather than teaching by repetition
and busy work... he teaches the concepts
and theory behind the procedure,” one
cadet wrote in support of his nomination.
“This is much more effective in preparing
cadets
for the professional world, because rather
than knowing the steps to solve test-like
problems they have the knowledge and
experience of understanding any problems,
and once one can understand the problem
the solution comes easily.”
Cadets consider his classes to be
fast-paced and enjoyable, and other
faculty members
appreciate his efforts to help students
in his and other departments. He advises
and mentors students, including a team
of students who last year earned VMI's
first student-owned patent pending.
“I try to see my students as
they want to be seen: as young men
and women who
choose to become engineers because they
want to contribute to society by solving
relevant problems,” Squire said. “I
see my role less as a teacher and grader
and more as a coach and disposition-fixer.”
Squire’s research is centered on
the development and characterization
of endovascular
stents, tiny expandable tubes implanted
into coronary arteries of atherosclerosis
patients. He has collaborated in his
research with faculty members from
MIT’s Biomedical |
Major James C. Squire |
Engineering Center and the Harvard Medical
School. He currently holds two patents
and has three more pending review. He
also consults as an expert witness in biomedical
patent litigation cases.
Public service is also important
for Squire. He works with local schools
as a science
fair judge, and he has developed opportunities
to involve cadets in exposing students
in local schools to science. He is active
in his church and in a local service
organization. In addition, he takes
an active part in
the work of professional societies and
the VMI community.
Squire, who joined the VMI faculty
in 2000, is a resident of Buena Vista,
Va.
He earned
his bachelor's degree from the U.S.
Military Academy at West Point, and
his master's
and doctoral degrees from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. |
