Dan Petrescu Speaker Series: Presentation by Dr. Sanjay Sarma

Host: SciLearn Program, Office of Science Education
Presentation: Rethinking Learning
Date: Friday, October 21, 2022, 1:00 - 2:00 pm

Registration for this event has closed. View the session recording here. 

The way we teach today is based on practices handed down to us that are historical rather than scientific in their evolution. Dr. Sarma will present a series of facts about learning from the scientific literature and argue that the way we teach today is neither optimal nor sustainable. He will discuss the history of the science in the field of pedagogy, and opportunities to reinvent pedagogy. Dr. Sarma will argue that online education has been misunderstood for the most part, and it is best used as an aid to in-person education rather than a replacement. He will offer suggestions on how higher education can reinvent its practices for the post-COVID world.

Profile: Sanjay Sarma is the Fred Fort Flowers (1941) and Daniel Fort Flowers (1941) Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. He co-founded the Auto-ID Center at MIT and developed many of the key technologies behind the EPC suite of RFID standards now used worldwide. He was also the founder and CTO of OATSystems, which was acquired by Checkpoint Systems (NYSE: CKP) in 2008. He serves on the boards of GS1US and Hochschild Mining and several startup companies including Top Flight Technologies. Dr. Sarma received his Bachelors from the Indian Institute of Technology, his Masters from Carnegie Mellon University, and his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Sarma also worked at Schlumberger Oilfield Services in Aberdeen, UK, and at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories in Berkeley, California. He has authored over 100 academic papers in computational geometry, sensing, RFID, automation and CAD, and is the recipient of numerous awards for teaching and research including the MacVicar Fellowship, the Business Week eBiz Award and Information week's Innovators and Influencers Award. He advises several national governments and global companies.

If you have questions, please reach out to Hilary (hilary.sweatman [at] mail.mcgill.ca).