A New Generation of
Generators
H O W T H E N E W L E A D E R O F S T E A M I N I T I AT I V E P L A N S T O C U LT I VAT E
A C U LT U R E O F D E S I G N , C R E AT I V I T Y A N D C R I T I CA L T H I N K I N G
BY L AU R A P H E L P S
When you first meet Dr. Murat
Tiryakioglu, his affable nature and
diploma-studded office walls might
conjure visions of him as a happy
engineering student absorbing laws,
rules and formulae of the physical
world. But as he will tell you, Dr.
Tiryakioglu didn't enjoy his college
experience at first. In fact, he says his
undergraduate engineering education
was dull. “It was all pretty analytical
and theoretical, and I got bored
to death,” he recalled. “I was not
motivated to do that kind of thing. I
wanted to do more.”
He earned his degree and went on to
enjoy his graduate school experience.
But Dr. Tiryakioglu believes he could
have been a much better student if he
had been given the chance to apply
what he was learning and test theories
in a project-based setting earlier in
his college career. That experience
strongly influenced his perspective
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F E AT U R E S
on STEM education and inspired him
to change the way he incorporated
design thinking and hands-on
opportunities into his own teaching.
Now, as the new Vice President of
STEAM Initiatives at Jacksonville
University, Dr. Tiryakioglu oversees
the integration of the arts with
science, technology, engineering and
math — STEAM for short.
“I call it creativity-infused STEM
education,” said Dr. Tiryakioglu,
who is fascinated with the process
of solving complex problems and
passionate about teaching others how
to do just that. He refers to himself
as a sort of internal consultant —
someone who will work closely with
faculty and University administration
to enrich STEM education by
infusing it with the arts, humanities
and social sciences.
His vision is rooted in adding more
project-based learning to JU programs
with STEM components. And he’s
setting the bar high. For context,
ABET — a highly respected STEM
accreditation organization — requires
students to complete one major
design project before they graduate.
Dr. Tiryakioglu wants students to
participate in four design projects.
“If we’re going to do this well, we
have to offer major design experience
every year to engage the students to
think differently, to think creatively,
to train them how to ask the right
questions,” he said.
Project-based learning has proven
to be an effective teaching method
for Dr. Tiryakioglu. He swears by it.
As a young professor in Pittsburgh
a decade ago and throughout his
academic career, he witnessed
average students become class