Pi Tau Sigma Announces Award Recipients

Nikolas Beratlis, best MechE teaching assistant.

During their Spring 2008 awards ceremony, the student members of Pi Tau Sigma (PTS) honored Associate Professor Tien Mo Shih, Dr. Munther Hassouneh and graduate student Nikolas Beratlis. The organization gave Shih its Purple Camshaft Award, Hassouneh the Faculty Appreciation Award and Beratlis the award for Best Teaching Assistant. Pi Tau Sigma is the Mechanical Engineering honor society at the University of Maryland.

Pi Tau Sigma cited Shih with an award granted each year to a professor who offers a challenging course from which students benefit. Shih received the Camshaft Award for teaching ENME 271: Introduction to Matlab.

The group commended Hassouneh for teaching ENME 350: Electronics and Instrumentation I and ENME 351: Electronics and Instrumentation II. Members cited his excellent teaching ability and the rigor with which he taught the material as factors in their selection.

As a teaching assistant for ENME 331: Fluid Mechanics, Pi Tau Sigma noted Beratlis’ willingness to help students with availability beyond office hours and dedication of a considerable amount of his time as reasons for his award.

“This year, a number of the members of the organization happened to be members of my class,” Beratlis said. “I think they appreciated my availability during my office hours and outside of those hours, and also the time I put into preparing my lab studio and the project.”

Pi Tau Sigma gave Beratlis a certificate and a $500 check at the induction ceremony, and his name was added to a plaque outside of the ME office.

Students interested in joining Pi Tau Sigma can visit their website at www.eng.umd.edu/organizations/pts/.

Published June 9, 2008