Biography
Mr. Shuwan Jawdat Barzanjy
University Professor at Salahaddin University - Engineering College - Water Resources Engineering - Erbil - KURDISTAN Region - IRAQ
Scientific Title : Assistant Lecture
Date and place of birth : 25th of February 1973, Kirkuk, Iraq
Languages : Kurdish, Arabic and English
Home address : Zanko , Erbil, Iraq Kurdistan
Phone No : 00964 750 4272368 (Mob)
E-mail : shuwan.barzanjy@su.edu.krd
Teaching Philosophy:
Engineering design provides the infrastructure necessary to sustain civilization and provide for quality of life. The challenge for engineering education is to invest students with the skills and competencies necessary to design solutions for the challenges and opportunities humanity faces today and in coming generations.
I contribute towards this grand endeavor in two ways:
1. Teaching water resources, hydraulic, and environmental design concepts and their field application to control the movement, distribution, and quality of water.
2. Teaching how to capture the fundamental principles and properties of nature in mathematical expressions, implement these equations in computer models, and use these models to understand physical processes and to design solutions.
The next generation of engineers faces broad global problems in water resources: scarcity issues, balancing the often competing needs of urban development vs. rural agriculture vs. ecosystem function, adaptation to climate change (predicted warmer temperatures with the need for more water and more extreme events), restoration of polluted waters, etc.
Our students are uniquely positioned to deal with such issues with the advent of a plethora of electronic data reserves, computational platforms, and internet connectivity. Engineers must be prepared to wrestle with often seemingly intractable problems, where various alternatives must be evaluated to make the best possible choices.
Throughout courses, I utilize active learning techniques to introduce basic principles and processes using hands-on laboratory apparatus designed and built by teams of students in my classes. Case studies are conducted where teams of students: locate and organize data using modern computer tools, develop and apply computational models, develop design recommendations, and justify their design to their peers in the classroom. These case studies and supplementary material explore how to solve practical problems in both the Kurdistan region and internationally.
Curriculum Reform:
I am reforming curriculum in all courses along three primary directions:
1. Integrating research into the curriculum.
2. Emphasizing a holistic, multi-disciplined approach to water resources engineering.
3. Implementing active learning techniques.
Examples include:
· Exploring real-life case studies with teams of students to emphasize the importance of course work to engineering design. Students work together in teams when exploring these case studies. Field trips are often involved where students visit sites and obtain data.
· Using computer demonstrations during lectures to illustrate application of theory, and to develop student proficiency in state-of-the-art software packages (e.g., ArcGIS, AutoCAD, Visual Basic, MATLAB, 3DFlow, etc.) This fosters understanding for the upcoming tech-savvy generation of students.
· Partitioning lectures into a series of mini-lectures by periodically shifting the mode of instruction/learning throughout a class period. This has been accomplished using computer demonstrations, small group and class discussions, working through examples collaboratively, and pause the lecture to allow time for reflection.
· Introducing help sessions in graduate courses. These sessions provide a forum where students freely ask questions and answers are obtained collaboratively by both instructor and students working out details on the board. This learning environment fosters teamwork and synthesis of course material, and it provides an effective mechanism for evaluating level of understanding.