University of Illinois honors Rovey for excellence in undergraduate teaching

3/21/2023 Debra Levey Larson

Written by Debra Levey Larson

Joshua Rovey
Joshua Rovey

In an educational environment such as the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, it is particularly prestigious to be recognized for excellence in instruction. Professor Joshua L. Rovey is the 2023 recipient of the Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.

As a 2018 graduate, Patrick Drew was a senior during Rovey’s first year as a member of the faculty of the Department of Aerospace Engineering. Today, Drew is a lead structures engineer at SpaceX and said he still keeps the classroom notes from AE 433 Aerospace Propulsion on his desk at work.

“In Dr. Rovey’s course, I was challenged to be present and focused in order to retain course content,” Drew said. “Rather than regurgitate information or repeat calculations, I was challenged to understand how the first principles determined the behavior of propulsion systems. This approach made for a fair but rigorous classroom, where no homework assignment could be completed without returning to fundamentals for thermodynamics or electromagnetism. By the final exam, I had a thorough understanding of the assumptions and efficiencies surrounding propulsion which I maintain today.”

AE senior Miron Liu said Rovey’s aerospace propulsion class was his favorite course in his four years at Illinois.

“Dr. Rovey conveys to students the excitement and significance of engineering innovations in the field,” Liu said. “For example, when explaining methods of increasing the specific thrust of airbreathing propulsion systems, he not only explained the theory behind the topic as a part of the standard curriculum, but he went above and beyond by also explaining, in great depth, the coolest, most cutting-edge solution engineers have implemented to increase the maximum allowable burner temperature, and thus, specific thrust: film-cooling of the turbine blades. It is difficult to adequately convey in writing the atmosphere of the room during each one of these reveals, but I will say I have never seen a lecture hall more attentive and in awe and appreciation of the ingenuity of engineers.”

Rovey earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor in 2006. Before coming to Illinois, Rovey was a research engineer at Starfire Industries for two years. He became an assistant, then an associate professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology for almost 10 years.  Rovey joined the faculty at Illinois as an associate professor in 2017 and was promoted to full professor in 2022. In addition, Rovey has served since 2019 as the director of the Illinois Space Grant Consortium.


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This story was published March 21, 2023.