Environmental engineering grad student receives prestigious Frances Davis Award

Environmental engineering PhD candidate Sabrina Diemert has been named this year’s recipient of the Frances Davis Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching for a Graduate Assistant in recognition of the outstanding work she has done for students. Established in memory of the late Ms. Frances Davis — who taught mathematics at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM) and at the Leeward Community College for 19 years — this award recognizes excellence in undergraduate teaching.  Each year, the award is presented to an outstanding UHM graduate teaching assistant who demonstrates excellence in instructional activities, and is the university’s top award for teaching assistants.

According to Civil & Environmental Engineering graduate chair Professor Roger Babcock, “Sabrina was one of the top teaching assistants that we have ever had. She was a caring, attentive, and innovative instructor that connected so well with the students. She created recorded lectures for each laboratory experiment along with short preparatory quizzes via Laulima for each experiment – due at midnight the day before their experiment. This ensured that students were ready to conduct the experiments and made lab periods go much more smoothly and efficiently.”