Celebrating our teaching assistants: 2025-2026 ECE Teaching Assistant Awards
ECE recently recognized the department’s teaching assistants (TAs) for the critical and significant contributions they make to education, one of the two core missions of the department and the University of Minnesota. Vasisht Natamai was recognized with the Spark of the Year award, and Tonushree Dutta and Navametha Ramkumar were recognized with the Resonant Expert award. They were chosen from more than 100 TAs who serve in the department.
Natamai was recognized for his outstanding leadership in updating the EE 2301 (Introduction to Digital System Design) labs, and as instructor for the course Sharat Batra put it, for ensuring that "technical overhauls translate into successful classroom outcomes." Batra added that a "rare combination of curriculum innovation, peer leadership, and dedicated mentorship makes [Natamai] a cornerstone of the engineering program.”
Dutta was recognized for demonstrating exceptional dedication, expertise, and kindness in highly rigorous technical graduate classes. According to Professor John Sartori, her "willingness to engage with students lowered the barrier for asking questions." Ramkumar was recognized for her outstanding empathy, dedication, and support. According to an ECE student in her class, "They truly feel your needs in learning, even when you are not saying it, or you don’t even realize it yourself."
Teaching assistants are ECE students and valuable members of our teaching team who help fulfill our academic charge. Our Teaching Assistant Awards recognize TAs who go above and beyond their assigned responsibilities and make the department a more effective and welcoming learning environment for students. TAs in the department have to independently operate one or more lab sections, which involves a complex set of responsibilities. They are charged with leading the class, maintaining Canvas pages, tracking student attendance and performance, giving short lectures in the lab (to frame students’ lab work), grading student work, holding office hours, and addressing student queries.
The awards are given on the basis of a selection process that includes self-nominations and recommendations from students, faculty, staff, and peer TAs. Honorees are selected by a committee comprising faculty and staff. Seven other TAs were recognized as honorable mentions. The awards were distributed at the annual ECE TA Feedback and Wrap-up Session.
These awards not only recognize the individual recipients, but also amplify the efforts of all ECE TAs. With every TA empowered to shape the learning environment for the better, their contributions reflect the department's commitment to continuous improvement in the classroom. The awards visibly highlight the best contributions towards that goal. Over the years, TAs have helped us build stronger courses, strengthen our students’ confidence (as learners and educators), and raise a more connected community that reflects the very best that ECE and the University have to offer.