معرفی
Ann Saterbak serves as Professor of the Practice in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering, where she also directs the Duke Engineering First-Year Experience. She holds an affiliate appointment at the Duke Global Health Institute since 2021. Previously, she was associate dean for engineering education and full teaching professor at Rice University's George R. Brown School of Engineering.
Dr. Saterbak earned her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1995. Her educational background includes four years of industry experience at Shell Development Company before transitioning to academia.
Her research focuses on innovations in undergraduate engineering education, particularly developing pedagogical methods that broaden students' problem-solving skills through real-world problems, inquiry-based learning, and hands-on experiences. She has pioneered first-year engineering design courses that incorporate client-centered, community-based projects, with special emphasis on adapting engineering education for low-resource settings internationally. Her work bridges biomedical engineering education with global health applications, particularly in East Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda).
Analysis of her recent publications reveals consistent focus on project-based learning effectiveness, design instruction transformation in resource-constrained environments, and assessment of educational interventions. Her work demonstrates strong emphasis on practical application of engineering principles through authentic client-driven projects, with increasing attention to global health contexts and low-resource settings.
- AIMBE Professional Impact Award (2022)
- Lois and John L. Imhoff Distinguished Teaching Award (2019)
- Fellow of American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering (2015)
- Nicolas Salgo Distinguished Teacher Award (2015)
- Fellow of American Society of Engineering Education (2014)
- George R. Brown Award for Superior Teaching (2013)
Dr. Saterbak has secured significant grant funding including NIH's KeyScope project for sustainable cancer diagnosis in Uganda (2022-2027), VentureWell-funded medical devices like Hemosave for maternal blood loss quantification and NeoNest for infant warming, and multiple projects addressing medical challenges in sub-Saharan Africa. She has advised numerous student teams developing low-cost medical devices for global health contexts. Her educational leadership extends to serving as editor-in-chief for Biomedical Engineering Education and collaborating with institutions across East Africa including Makerere University and Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology.
She directs the Duke Engineering First-Year Experience program and has developed innovative courses including EGR 101L: Engineering Design and Communication and EGR 102L: Design to Deliver, which emphasize hands-on design experiences from students' first year. Her educational philosophy centers on authentic problem-solving through client-driven projects that address real-world challenges.
