Runkle Honored for Early-Career Teaching Success

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Benjamin Runkle, assistant professor of biological and agricultural engineering.

Benjamin Runkle, assistant professor of biological and agricultural engineering, has been honored for his successful teaching by the American Society for Engineering Education.

Runkle earned the 2019 Early Achievement in Engineering Education Award from the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Division of ASEE.

He will be recognized at the group's annual meeting in Tampa, Florida.

The award is given based on evidence of "outstanding teaching performance and/or scholarship achievements in engineering education that occurs unusually early in a faculty member's professional career," according to ASEE.

Runkle joined the U of A in 2014. He teaches courses in sustainable watershed engineering and modeling environmental biophysics - both senior-level courses in biological engineering. He earned a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development award in 2018, known as a CAREER award, for his success as a teacher and researcher.

Coming from a research background, Runkle said he wasn't sure how he would take to teaching.

"I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoy teaching," he said. "I had more experience on the research side when I came here, but I truly enjoy seeing students grow. I'd say that's thanks in part to the strength of our students - they're very engaged and willing to learn. They tend to be enthusiastic and mature."

"I try to engage with students and show them why this matters," he said. "What I teach is very practical, very apparent in everyday life. I'm teaching them about stormwater drainage, so I ask them to go out into their community and find examples of where it works and where it doesn't."

Runkle said seeing students connect the classroom content with the real-world applications of their work was among the most gratifying parts of the profession. 

"Having students engage with a really local environment makes a difference. It's an incredible feeling to have students say 'You've changed the way I look at the world.'"