Dr. Kelvin T. Erickson, Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor of electrical and computer engineering at Missouri S&T, has won a 2019 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Each year, the Governor’s Award is presented to one faculty member at each institution of higher education in Missouri. This year’s recipients were honored by Gov. Mike Parson during a Council on Public Higher Education (COPHE) luncheon on April 4.

The awards are based on effective teaching, innovative course design and delivery, effective advising, service to the university community, commitment to high standards of excellence and success in nurturing student achievement.

Erickson has been a member of the Missouri S&T faculty for 32 years. He first joined Missouri S&T in 1978 as a graduate research assistant in the Cloud Physics Research Center while working toward his master’s degree. After earning his Ph.D., he later returned to S&T as an assistant professor of electrical engineering. In 1992, he was promoted to associate professor and named assistant chair for laboratory development. In 2000, he was promoted to full professor and named assistant chair for undergraduate studies. After serving as interim chair for a year, Erickson was named chair of electrical and computer engineering in 2003 and served until 2014. In 2018, Erickson was named Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor.

Erickson has brought in over $1.3 million in research grants. His research focuses on manufacturing automation, programmable logic controllers, plantwide process control, model-based predictive control and system identification.

During his tenure, Erickson has received 16 Outstanding Teaching Awards and three Faculty Excellence Awards. In 2004, he received the Dean of Engineering Teaching Excellence Award and in 2015, he received the IEEE Region 5 Outstanding Engineering Educator Award. In 2016, he received an S&T Faculty Teaching Award. He developed a minor in automation engineering as well as six new courses and several software programs for student use. He has authored five books, and numerous chapters, journal articles and conference presentations.

Erickson’s K-12 teaching activities include seven years as a voluntary elementary school teacher, coaching the math team to compete at the state level, and teaching courses for the Boy Scouts of America Merit Badge University.

Erickson earned bachelor of science and master of science degrees in electrical engineering from Missouri S&T in 1978 and 1979, respectively. He earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Iowa State University in 1983.