Engineering Professor Receives $25,000 Bucknall Excellence in Teaching Award

Maria-Isabel Carnasciali, an associate professor of mechanical engineering who specializes in thermal-fluid science especially as it relates to wind turbines and deceleration devices (such as parachutes), was recognized for providing outstanding instruction.

She is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Georgia Tech.  She is one of 10 women on the engineering faculty.  Twenty percent of the 51-member Tagliatela College of Engineering at the University of New Haven is female.

The award, named for William L. Bucknall Jr.,'63AS,'65, vice chairman of the University's Board of Governors, was made possible by Bucknall and his two daughters, Elise Bucknall and Kristin Loranger.

"The award is exceptionally generous for a mid-sized university like the University of New Haven," President Steven H. Kaplan said. "It helps make the Bucknall Excellence in Teaching Award especially meaningful and demonstrates how important we feel good teaching is. Oftentimes, faculty members are honored, and deservedly so, for their research. Thanks to the Bucknall family, we are able to reward a faculty member for developing extraordinary courses and exemplary instruction."

Carnasciali, known for her interactive classes, has also been instrumental in implementing a grant the university received from the Kern Family Foundation designed to help revolutionize engineering education in the United States.  Only 24 universities are part of the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN), which emphasizes entrepreneurial thinking and learning outcomes.

She also runs a summer engineering camp, sponsored by Sikorsky, for high school students. They employ 3-D printers to produce parts such as helicopter wings, truck tires and windmills used in a competition that gauges the most effective design.

Founded on the campus of Yale University in 1920, the University of New Haven is a private, top-tier comprehensive institution recognized as a national leader in experiential education. The university enrolls nearly 5,000 undergraduates and about 1,900 graduate students.