Recognizes an exemplary contribution by an
individual
in the areas of engineering and/or geoscience
education
Awarded to Dr. Leonard Lye, P. Eng.
Leonard received his undergraduate degree from the Bolton Institute of Technology in Manchester, England, now Bolton University. He came to Canada in 1983 to do his doctorate at the University of Manitoba with Cas Booy, a well known and well respected figure in water resources engineering.
In 1987, we were fortunate that he accepted a position here at Memorial University. It was shortly after his arrival that I first met him, and was impressed in a few conversations with his knowledge and ideas. So when he offered a short course in Probability and Statistics through the Continuing Education program, I took it, and was immediately struck by his thorough knowledge of the material, his excellent preparation and notes, and his ability to explain probability and statistics in ways that made it clear.
And for those of you who have never taken a course in Probability and Statistics, let me assure you that making it clear is easier said than done; most of us who took the required undergraduate course breathed a sigh of relief when we passed it, having perhaps never quite understood those problems about defective lightbulbs.
I later took his graduate course in statistics, and when I commented to him on how impressed I was with his clear explanations of these usually troublesome concepts, he replied that he had had to learn it all from scratch himself. In so doing, he had not only completely mastered the material, including borrowing concepts from other fields like economics and applying them to engineering, but I suspect even as he was learning it himself he was thinking of ways that he could make the material clear to others.
All Leonard’s student and colleagues say similar things. One former student said "He’s always available, well-prepared, easy to talk to, organized, knows the material well, explains things well, active with the students, always knows the answers" - in less than 10 seconds naming many of the qualities that we ought to expect in all teachers, but don’t always find. He has too much respect for his students to simply sail into a class and try to wing it. No matter how busy he is, he is always scrupulously prepared and absolutely reliable. And all of you can imagine how much dedication that takes, day after day, class after class.
Yet he never seems to get stale, or to present the material the same way year after year; he’s always bubbling over with new ideas, both for his teaching and his research. We’re here to honour him for his teaching, not his research, but I can assure you that he has a list of publications as long as your arm, and is frequently invited to present his work all over the globe.
Despite his considerable technical knowledge, he is modest about his achievements, and claims no special talent in either teaching or research. It is probably thanks to his modesty and his respect for the students, that they find him approachable. Rather than putting them off with his expertise, he inspires confidence.
As one former student said, you would go into Leonard’s office pulling your hair out about some problem that you thought was the end of the world, and when you walked away later, not only would you have what you needed to solve the problem, you would also have a completely different attitude. Leonard would have put the problem in perspective, and left you feeling that yes, if you kept working you’d do all right.
By the way, not only does Leonard teach engineering, but he and his wife Brenda started teaching Tai Chi when they first came here, and interest in Tai Chi has continued to grow ever since. He is also a champion badminton player, and, as with his engineering, he shares his expertise with others through coaching.
I began this citation by giving you a few facts about where Leonard acquired his formal education. But where did he learn to teach? He says he has always loved teaching, so perhaps to some extent he is an example of a teacher who is born, not made. But I think his love of teaching has led him to love doing it well, and he has constantly striven to improve. He is not satisfied simply to do a good job, but always seeks excellence.
It is thus entirely appropriate that his excellence be recognized. Mr. Chairman, on behalf of all those who have benefitted from his teaching, I present Dr. Leonard Lye to you for the this year’s APEGN Teaching Award.
Susan Richter, M. Eng, P. Eng.
