Trevor Elliott: Ralph Teetor Educational Award

Faculty: Exceptional Engineering Educator

by Shawn Ryan

Trevor Elliott, UC Foundation associate professor in mechanical engineering, has been chosen as a recipient of a 2022 Society of Automotive Engineers Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award.

The international award recognizes exemplary teaching by younger engineering educators worldwide. Past winners include faculty from Harvard University, Rutgers University, The Ohio State University, and dozens of others.

“Reflecting the firm belief of its donor that early career engineering educators are the most effective link between engineering students and their future careers, the SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Fund’s major program is focused on these engineering educators. Its objective is to provide an engineering atmosphere where these teachers can meet and exchange views with practicing engineers,” according to the organization’s website.

Elliott began his teaching career at UTC in 2012 as an adjunct professor in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. He said he’s honored to be chosen for an award given to only five to eight educators each year and said it is “a true blessing that all of my supervisors have been the best and most quality people to work for and with.”

James Newman, head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, said winning the Teetor award “places Dr. Elliott in an elite class and brings international recognition to the Mechanical Engineering Department, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.”

“We are all very proud of Dr. Elliott and appreciative of his unwavering commitment to teaching, research, and development of our students,” Newman said.

Elliott earned both his bachelor’s and master’s in mechanical engineering at UTC and has been connected to the University in one way or another since 2000, when he was a part-time student worker.

The Teetor award is not his first professional recognition.

In 2020, he was one of 132 people nationwide selected to be a 2021 associate fellow in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

That same year, he authored a research proposal that won $542,000 in funding from the National Science Foundation. The proposal focused on 3D printing and developing a deeper understanding of how that manufacturing process works and how to make it more efficient.

During the first surge of COVID-19 in 2020, Elliott and UTC engineering students worked on concepts to make filters for masks similar to the N95 respirator masks which, at the time, were in short supply nationwide for healthcare workers.

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