Getting to Know: Amir Aslani
Amir Aslani is an assistant professor of practice in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He teaches sophomore to senior level courses for the department and manages its Capstone Design Program. A teacher who is very well-regarded by both his students and peers, Dr. Aslani has won both the ECE department’s Professor of the Year Award and the School of Engineering and Applied Science’s Teaching Excellence Award.
Dr. Aslani aims to develop strong engineering skills in his students, of course, but he wants to do more than that. He also aims to teach them how to develop strong mindsets—the attitudes, motivation, and disposition to learn.
“I believe that I am in a people development business and that I am shaping and forming the next engineers and entrepreneurs. I also believe that as a professor, my job is not simply to deliver the content. I try to promote a growth mindset so students can see opportunities to improve.”
Dr. Aslani focuses on laying a strong base for student learning in the foundational ECE courses, but that does not mean his courses are dry. “I want to bring the “fun” in the “fundamentals” of electrical and computer engineering,” he says.
He follows several principles and approaches to try to keep his classes relevant and to keep students engaged. At base, he sees teaching as an effort to build relationship with the students. “I believe that creating a friendly environment for students and building a good relationship is an effective approach to opening their minds and hearts to active learning,” he muses. As part of that approach, he works to create an environment where students feel safe to share their thoughts with him and their peers, and to discuss concerns and mistakes without the fear of being humiliated or punished, in order to learn and improve.
Also part of his philosophy is the effort to teach students how to find solutions on their own. “I do not want to give a student a fish and feed him/her for a day,” he says, “but rather, I want to teach the student how to fish and feed him/her for a lifetime.”
Dr. Aslani is a natural in the classroom and, in fact, he discovered a love of teaching even while he was an undergraduate himself. He recalls, “When I was in college and university, I was always at the top of my classes, and I loved to teach. I started tutoring my other classmates while getting my bachelor’s degree.”
Despite his natural talent for the job, he takes nothing for granted. “I listen carefully to the feedback I receive from my students and I continuously and actively try to improve the quality of the courses I teach,” he notes. “Being a professor, we all know that learning is a lifelong pursuit. Even though we have a PhD, learning never stops. We need to refresh and renew our skills with the wide range of professional resources that are available to us like, attending conferences, workshops, faculty development programs and such. I always try to take advantage of these opportunities and resources available to us at GW as well as in the professional ECE society.”
Dr. Aslani tries to avail himself of myriad resources for his capstone courses, too, and he brings the same enthusiasm to the capstone course as to the foundational courses he teaches. “I also love and cherish moments I have with my capstone students because every year we are involved in different real-world projects with different stakeholders, and it is a rewarding challenge,” he states. “If done correctly, it’s a win-win for everyone when the stakeholders, sponsors, and students are all satisfied with the results at the end.”
In the capstone course, Dr. Aslani starts by encouraging students to look around and identify the problems that require engineering solutions. By recognizing and understanding the needs of the real world outside the classroom, students can use the classroom and lab time to develop engineering solutions that help people and the society.
Among the departments and external partners Dr. Aslani’s students have worked with are the GW School of Medicine, the US Department of Veteran Affairs, and the Department of Defense Walter Reed National Medical Center. He also stays in touch with graduates who now are working in industry and government—or even in their own start-ups—and engages them in the capstone process.
Some graduates provide ideas; some give expert advice to students who are in the customer discovery phase of their projects; and some even reach out to Dr. Aslani with projects that their companies would like help with. Dr. Aslani says that his former students “are working in government institutions or industry in different locations all the way from California to Florida. They work in companies like, Apple, Intel, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Deloitte, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and more.”
Although he has already had a good deal of teaching success at a young age and has been recognized for these successes with various awards, Dr. Aslani focuses on student success instead. “We don’t teach because we want to win an award; we teach because we want to help the students to grow and flourish to their full potential. I don’t consciously work for awards but it’s nice to see that my efforts are being appreciated by the students and my colleagues,” he says.
And sharing his successes with others, he concludes, “I especially thank Professor Subramaniam. He is very supportive of the capstone design program. It is also important to highlight the efforts of the ECE laboratory manager, Mr. Gordon, and our operation manager, Mr. Baden. My colleagues motivate me and give me energy to continue providing high quality of education to our students.”