Professor James Stubbins has been named the 2022 winner of The Grainger College of Engineering Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring.
Stubbins is the first NPRE faculty member to win the award at any level since 2004, when the late Dr. Roy Axford received it on the campus level.
“My approach to graduate mentoring is an activity carried out on a highly individualized basis,” Stubbins said in his philosophy statement. “Successful graduate research mentoring is accomplished by helping each student identify a particular research challenge and allowing them to develop their own capabilities to address the challenges.
“This transformational approach relies heavily on students’ own individual development supported by challenging them to become independent critical thinkers and researchers. Guidance along the way comes not from directing them, but rather from actively challenging them to properly define and address their research topics and to defend their findings.”
Stubbins has been at the U of I since 1985 and has held the rank of full professor since 1991. He was also NPRE’s department head from 1999-2017.
“Jim has already won national recognition for his dedication to educating next generation of nuclear engineers,” NPRE professor and department head Rizwan Uddin said. “It is great to see Jim's long and impactful mentorship of graduate and undergraduate students being recognized.”
“Dr. Stubbins is an inspiring mentor and advisor,” PhD alum Xiang Liu, now at Idaho National Laboratory, said. “He always encouraged me to think critically and gave me the freedom to pursue the scientific questions and try my best in research. He is a role model for me, and I am constantly impressed by his passion and dedication in research and also his respectfulness and kindness.”