Biographical Information on Richard Felder
Dr. Richard Mark Felder is Hoechst Celanese Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina. He is a coauthor of Elementary Principles of Chemical Processes (4th edition, Wiley, 2015), which since 1978 has been used as the introductory chemical engineering text by roughly 90% of American universities and a number of universities elsewhere, and he has authored or coauthored four book chapters, over 150 education-related papers and over 100 “Random Thoughts” columns, and numerous papers on chemical process engineering. Together with his wife and colleague, Dr. Rebecca Brent, he coauthored Teaching and Learning STEM: A Practical Guide (Jossey-Bass, 2016), presented over 600 teaching and faculty development workshops and seminars throughout the United States and abroad, and regularly contributes to their blog.
Dr. Felder received the B.Ch.E. degree from the City College of New York in 1962 and the Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Princeton University in 1966. He worked for the Atomic Energy Research Establishment (Harwell, England) and Brookhaven National Laboratory before joining the North Carolina State faculty in 1969. More information about him can be found in a Wikipedia profile. Dr. Felder discusses some of his personal history and aspects of his teaching philosophy in several references:
- An interview with Richard M. Felder, Journal of Science Education, 3(2), pp. 62-65 (2002).
- Richard M. Felder — An Author, An Educator…A Legend, ChE Thoughts, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, September 2010, pp. 40-48.
- Richard Felder: Traveling off the Well-Paved Career Path, University of Washington Center for Engineering Learning and Teaching (2015).
He can be seen in two videos on active learning:
- Active Learning with Richard Felder. A 12-minute video on YouTube in which Dr. Felder explains what active learning is and why it works and shows several illustrative clips of its use in a 125-student engineering class.
- Creating Partnerships: Active Learning in an Engineering Class. A 32-minute video narrated by Drs. Felder and Brent showing Dr. Felder using active learning to guide students through the solution of a complex problem.
Awards for contributions to engineering education
- R.J. Reynolds Industries Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research, and Extension (1982)
- AT&T Foundation Award for Excellence in Engineering Education (1985)
- Chemical Manufacturers Association National Catalyst Award (1989)
- AICHE Institute Lectureship Award (1991)
- Phillips Lectureship Award, Oklahoma State University (1992)
- Outstanding Engineering Educator of the Century (one of five), ASEE Southeastern Section (1993)
- Donald L. Katz Lectureship Award, University of Michigan (1994)
- University of North Carolina Board of Governors Award for Outstanding Teaching (1997)
- ASEE Chester Carlson Award for Innovation in Engineering Education (1998)
- AIChE Warren K. Lewis Award for Contributions to Chemical Engineering Education (2002)
- ASEE Chemical Engineering Division Lifetime Achievement Award for Pedagogical Scholarship (2003)
- Doctorate in Science Honoris Causa, State University of New York (2008)
- Doctorate in Engineering Honoris Causa, University of Illinois (2010)
- Global Award for Excellence in Engineering Education (inaugural recipient), International Federation of Engineering Education Societies (2010)
- Lifetime Achievement Award in Engineering Education (inaugural recipient), American Society for Engineering Education (2012).
Awards for publications and presentations
- Corcoran Award for Outstanding Paper in Chemical Engineering Education (1986, 1993)
- Wickenden Award for Outstanding Paper in the Journal of Engineering Education (1988, 1989, 1995, 2003)
- Dasher Award for Outstanding Paper at the ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (1989)
- Martin Award for Outstanding Paper in the Chemical Engineering Division at the ASEE Annual Conference (2007)
Send e-mail to Richard Felder at rmfelder@mindspring.com