When the lights switch on

As director of the Vehicle Safety Research Team for Transport Canada, Baird gives students experience outside the classroom when researching subjects such as car safety. (Abriel photo)

Even with 45 years of teaching experience at Dalhousie, Robert Baird canÕt quite tame the butterflies he feels while in front of a classroom.

TheyÕre not really from nervousness though. ItÕs more like excitement.

ÒI just enjoy the give and take with students; itÕs an enjoyable mental experience,” says Dr. Baird, adjunct professor in electrical and computer engineering. ÒI also enjoy seeing that they are actually learning stuff and, if I do it right, they appreciate what IÕm trying to teach them.”

Dr. Baird teaches control systems and circuit theory. While he hopes his students grasp the sound theoretical underpinnings of practical devices, he sees the value in continually pointing out the uses for the systems and circuits they are building. For instance, he might be doing a problem on the board and say, ÒWe just came up that elevator; let me tell you how that elevator actually works.”

Dr. Baird brings his own industry experience to the classroom, too. He might be called to consult on a forensic case involving an electrical house fire. ÒThatÕs just fundamental circuit theory,” he says, adding it requires an examination of Òhow and why it broke down and what you look for.” He has also redesigned control systems for local companies to improve their production.

He adds: ÒThe guy who patented that application of this simple circuit made tens of millions of dollars.”

And thatÕs when the lights switch on. Students begin to understand what they are learning means they could Ògo away and design one of those rascals if they wanted to.”

Dr. Baird also provides students with learning experiences outside the classroom. As director of the Vehicle Safety Research Team for Transport Canada, first established at Dalhousie University in 1973, he hires undergraduate students each summer to do data collection and computer research.

ÒLots of students are interested in cars Ñ some of them build their own Ñ and they are highly aware of safety considerations. The work we do is about the safety of Canadians and thatÕs an easy connection for the students to make. If you can make a car one per cent safer, thatÕs 25 lives.”

Recently, his team hired a student to research accidents involving people who are sitting sideways in fast moving vehicles such as fire trucks, ambulances and military vehicles.
ÒThe student has searched all over the world to see whatÕs going on and got right into it. ThereÕs not very much out there thatÕs very profound; most of it is military and itÕs hard to get at.”

In the classroom, Dr. Baird mostly lectures in his courses because itÕs Òthe only way to get through the course at a good speed.” But he prefers meeting with students in small groups and always attends his own labs.

ÒStudents get the impression that you might actually know what you are doing from a practical perspective and that helps and makes me more believable in the class.”

Dr. Baird has seen many changes in engineering education and feels that students have to work a lot harder today than when he was a student. The most significant change he sees involves a shift over time away from a broad engineering education. It used to be, for example, that electrical engineering students would take more elective courses in mechanics and thermodynamics. Now students are more limited to courses in the specific disciplines, where they have a lot more to learn. His concern with this trend is that a narrowly focused curriculum will not prepare students for the broader professional responsibilities of engineers.

Looking back over his career, Baird believes his accomplishments as a teacher lie in the impact heÕs made on a lot of engineers.

ÒI hear from a lot of them. IÕve got a nice binder full of letters and photos IÕve received. Seeing that they are doing well after all these years is kind of fun.”

Then he laughs. ÒI like having them come back, sit in my office, and call me ÔBobÕ because theyÕre making twice as much as I do now Ð and weÕre both happy about it!”  

For more information on CLT workshops and programming, visit: learningandteaching.dal.ca