The College of Engineering is pleased to announce that Engineering Professor Theo de Winter was named the recipient of the 2002 Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching. Professor de Winter was chosen from more than 3,000 faculty members at Boston University.

The Metcalf Cup and Prize and the Awards were established in 1973 by a gift from the late Dr. Arthur G. B. Metcalf to create "a systematic procedure for the review of the quality of teaching at Boston University and the identification and advancement of those members of the faculty who excel as teachers." The Cup and Prize and the Awards are presented annually at Commencement.

Since the era of the first moon landing, Professor Theo de Winter has been dispensing down-to-earth wisdom to generations of engineering students at Boston University. Practical, tough-minded, and witty, he has earned a reputation for energizing student interest in the subject of manufacturing engineering and enthusiastically guiding them as they pursue careers in the industry where he had already earned his spurs before entering academia. His appreciation for the realities of the business world and deft ability to convey them through humorous anecdotes has equipped his students with both the technical skills and ethical grounding needed to succeed.

"Professor de Winter taught me the meaning of manufacturing engineering and how it relates to 'real life' applications," says a former student. "He showed me what it meant to be an engineer and most importantly what it meant to become a good engineer using knowledge, common sense, and a good set of ethics." Another student recalls that "His office was always filled with students.... We left with a better understanding of resources available to us in the manufacturing arena, a newfound appreciation for the values and professionalism with which we should carry ourselves, or a clearer picture of our responsibilities to the industry."

Professor de Winter received a BA in math and physics from Bowdoin College and three advanced degrees in mechanical engineering from MIT. He began lecturing at BU in 1962, joining the faculty in 1969. His previous professional career began at Pratt & Whitney Aircraft in 1956 and included top engineering posts at Dynatech Corporation and AVCO before he cofounded the Magnetic Corporation of America in Waltham, MA, of which he was vice president and head of engineering for sixteen years. He also spent twenty-nine years working in superconductivity.

De Winter's experience is one of the best tools he can offer his students. "This allows me to relate to what engineers are really expected to do in industry," said the grandfather of ten. "The students can relate to the fact that I have been in industry and that I'm not just an academic who has been in the ivory tower all his career." Several alumni have sought his expertise in the start-up of their companies, including Etec Inc., where Professor de Winter serves on the board of directors (see BIG SUCCESS IN SMALL TECH).

Interview With Professor De Winter

by Carlos Gieseken

The thing I couldn't live without:

My farm. It's a 200-year-old farm in southern New Hampshire. I have an orchard and chickens, ducks, and pheasants there. It's almost like I'm on vacation when I'm at home, fifty miles from Kenmore Square.

Worst part of teaching :

It's irritating when a student is dissatisfied with the grade that they've earned and comes back and debates for a better grade. What it takes to do the work is clearly spelled out.

My mentor or life inspiration:

My father. My father and grandfather were both mechanical engineers so it was almost preordained that I would be one. I never considered anything else.

Worst excuse from a student:

Three decades ago, a student appealed for a grade that would allow him to graduate. He said his dog had been mauled, the door in his car had been sprung open going sixty miles an hour. It was just a litany of bad luck. I think, in the end, he did enough work to survive and to pass.

Most embarrassing moment:

One day a student fell asleep in the middle of my class. I asked the student sitting next to him to wake him up. This kid looked me straight in the face and said, "You wake him up. You put him to sleep." I thought, "Well, I'm never going to do that again."

Later, in a much smaller class, there was a student that was sleeping throughout the entire class. At the end of the class I said to the other students, "Look, I'd like your cooperation. Could you very quietly put your books and things away when the lecture is over, and let's see if we can get out of the classroom without waking Sleeping Beauty." I don't think he came to until about a half hour into the next course, where he didn't recognize the professor, subject, or the students. "That time I won," I thought.

How college students have changed: Engineers have always been a fairly focused and serious lot. You get very few cases of students sitting there and chatting through the entire lecture and not paying attention. I wouldn't say they're nerdy necessarily, but they know they have to get themselves ready for a career and be marketable in four years.

That focus has persisted through the years. Other than them carrying Palm Pilots and many of them carrying cell phones--I have a rule that if somebody takes a cell phone call, they have to make another call to order pizza for the entire class. That usually keeps that activity curtailed completely.

[Another change is students'] access to computers, and they can now turn out very professional-looking reports and papers. I think that's the big difference. Their productivity has increased, and the quality of their work and presentations has increased.

Latest book read:

The Family, by Mario Puzo.

Hobby or interest when not teaching:

I'm a fly fisherman. I make my own rods and tie my own flies.

This interview was reprinted with the permission of the Boston Herald.