{"id":677602,"date":"2025-11-08T11:22:04","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T16:22:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=677602"},"modified":"2025-11-11T07:58:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T12:58:18","slug":"david-foster-guiding-students-to-find-their-own-path-677602","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/david-foster-guiding-students-to-find-their-own-path-677602\/","title":{"rendered":"David Foster: Guiding students to find their own path"},"content":{"rendered":"

Student advocacy, industry experience, and rigorous theoretical knowledge earned him URochester\u2019s highest award for teaching.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Professor David Foster<\/a> \u201999 (PhD) from the University of Rochester<\/a>\u2019s Department of Chemical and Sustainability Engineering<\/a> first fell in love with teaching while he was a graduate student at URochester in the 1990s, but he never envisioned a career as a professor. He was in the midst of a decorated career at Eastman Kodak Company as one of the principal research scientists responsible for the components used in thermal printing, discovering numerous new materials, and in the process of securing more than 50 patents to his name.<\/p>\n

But teaching kept calling him, first when he offered a class in photographic chemistry at Kodak and again in 2001 when he was invited by the department to serve as an adjunct professor. He dove into teaching fully in 2013 as an instructional track professor.<\/p>\n

Foster\u2019s devotion to the craft earned him this year\u2019s Goergen Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching<\/a>, the University\u2019s highest award for teaching.<\/p>\n

\u201cDave is universally admired\u2014loved <\/em>is not too strong a word\u2014by our students and alumni,\u201d says department chair Darren Lipomi<\/a>. \u201cHe goes out of his way to make their experience in our program special. He advocates strongly for students and trains them to excel in scholarly conferences and presentations. He raises funds for our annual trip to the American Institute of Chemical Engineers meeting, and our students without fail come home with awards for their presentations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Outdoor
David Foster (University of Rochester photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Industry insights in the classroom<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Foster\u2019s teaching style, rooted in industry experience, has evolved to keep up with the times. While he started out on blackboards, he was an early adopter of iPads in the classroom and loves how the Slack channels he sets up for his classes allow him to stay in touch with both students and alumni. He recently was excited when a student who took his course six years earlier messaged him to seek advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know all of our students by name, and it\u2019s great when they keep in touch with us and we get to hear how successful they are,\u201d says Foster. \u201cOur students go to the best grad schools in the world and the first question I always ask them is \u2018how prepared are you compared to your peers?\u2019 And every single one of them tells me no one is better prepared than they are, which is the ultimate compliment.\u201d<\/p>\n

From textbook to classroom<\/strong><\/h3>\n

His students also appreciate that he literally wrote the book Fundamentals of Momentum, Heat, and Mass Transfer<\/em><\/a>. Foster was invited to contribute to the most recent editions of the widely adopted textbook after he submitted particularly constructive feedback to the editor.<\/p>\n

\"Cover
The field\u2019s essential standard for more than three decades.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis textbook has become a staple in chemical engineering programs across the country and has, in many ways, made Professor Foster the most well-known member of our faculty,\u201d says Lipomi. \u201cHis authorship brings tremendous visibility to our department and enhances our reputation for instructional excellence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chemical engineering students typically take Foster\u2019s foundational courses Fluid Dynamics in the spring of their second year and Separation Processes in the spring of their third. He says one of the most rewarding experiences as a professor is seeing how his students grow and mature over that time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe students who come here are excellent to begin with\u2014highly motivated and very smart, which makes teaching these courses much easier,\u201d says Foster. \u201cWhat I like to do is listen to what they\u2019re doing and what they want to achieve, and then try to create a system and atmosphere that can satisfy those goals. Allowing them to evolve on their own and come up with the conclusions that are best for them is the key.\u201d<\/p>\n

What URochester students say about David Foster<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cHis approach to advising gave me the freedom I needed to develop my skills in problem solving while simultaneously giving me the guidance and encouragement I needed to excel. Anytime, for any student after class, in the elevator, or at a poster session, he is there to provide help and advice.\u201d
\n\u2014Paul Williams \u201924, \u201925 (MS)<\/strong>, a chemical engineering PhD student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cProfessor Foster is a remarkable teacher because he connects the technical to the tangible, and he makes you care about it. Every aspect of my professional and personal life is better because of him. I aim to be for other people what Professor Foster was for me\u2014a teacher who inspires, uplifts, and makes you excited about the world around you.\u201d
\n\u2014Hailey Baker \u201922<\/strong>, a process engineer at Javlyn Process Systems<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Student advocacy, industry experience and rigorous theoretical knowledge earned him URochester\u2019s highest award for teaching.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1242,"featured_media":677712,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[42,486,42352,18842,37112,42402,18632],"class_list":["post-677602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","tag-alumni","tag-awards","tag-david-foster","tag-department-of-chemical-and-sustainability-engineering","tag-faculty","tag-goergen-awards-2025","tag-hajim-school-of-engineering-and-applied-sciences"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDavid Foster: Guiding students to find their own path<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Student advocacy, industry experience and rigorous theoretical knowledge earned him URochester\u2019s highest award for teaching.\" 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