Carlo Tomasi Wins Brooks Teaching Award
Prof. Carlo Tomasi (center) with grad students Susanna Ricco and Rolando Estrada
Congratulations to Professor Carlo Tomasi, 2010 recipient of the David and Janet Vaughan Brooks Award.
The award is one of Trinity College's four teaching awards which recognize faculty members for teaching excellence and their ability to encourage intellectual excitement, inspire the discovery of knowledge, and foster critical inquiry in the classroom, lab, or studio. The awards affirm professors' commitment to teaching over time and a willingness to invest substantial effort in meeting the College's instructional needs.
The recipients of the awards are chosen based on recommendations from students and faculty colleagues.
Professor Tomasi shared what he loves about teaching and how he helps students develop critical thinking skills that they can use throughout their lives:
"I like the transformation that I see in my students from the beginning of the course to the end. They come in not knowing what it means to state and solve a problem formally and they leave understanding how to go from a problem that is big to a solution that is clear and precise."
"Even though some of my students do not continue in the subject matter I teach, I like knowing they use the skills I teach in whatever they do."
"In any position of any responsibility, the issue is always to take some set of issues that need to be addressed, solve it and offer solutions. Even if the solution is not mathematical, my students learn an ability to extract what is important about a problem and the tools that can be brought to bear on it. I enjoy helping my students succeed, not just in class, but in life."