S&T professor receives Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching 

When Dr. Joshua P. Schlegel envisioned what his career would be like during his youth, he says he didn’t anticipate he would one day be an award-winning educator.  
 
But that’s exactly what he is, as he was recently recognized at Missouri S&T’s annual faculty awards banquet as a 2024 recipient of the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. 
 
“I have always been a science nerd, and I found nuclear engineering especially intriguing when I was in high school and taking classes at a local community college,” says the associate professor of nuclear engineering and radiation science. “But my plan was always to get a degree in nuclear engineering and then work in the field.”  

An exhausting pace 

As an undergraduate student at Purdue University in the early 2000s, Schlegel, who is originally from Wisconsin, had to pay out-of-state tuition, and he also had to figure out a plan to help cover his room and board. As a result, the full-time student also took on some part-time jobs. 
 
One of the gigs had him doing maintenance and landscaping jobs for the university, while another had him working as a cook at a diner. 
 
“I would sometimes work until 2 a.m. and then still need to be awake and prepared for class the next day,” he says. “It was challenging — especially in my fundamentals of nuclear engineering class. I had two partners at different points in this course, and they both disappeared, leaving me to finish our projects all on my own.” 
 
He says he was still earning an A in the course, but he felt exhausted. Eventually, his professor caught wind of the situation, and she was so impressed with Schlegel’s work ethic and abilities that she strongly encouraged him to consider assisting a faculty member with their research. 

A golden opportunity 

Schlegel’s professor arranged for him to meet with another faculty member with expertise in nuclear reactor safety — a topic Schlegel found especially intriguing. 
 
“To say I was intimidated by this meeting would be an understatement,” Schlegel says. “This meeting was with Dr. Mamoru Ishii, who is one of the world’s top experts in our field. But something must have gone well because Dr. Ishii hired me as his only undergraduate researcher.” 
 
Since this was a paid position, it allowed Schlegel to quit one of his part-time jobs and instead work in a role in which he could gain more valuable experiences related to nuclear engineering. 
 
“Some of the experiments were elevated, and I would climb up and down the structures to adjust instruments and check electronics while the graduate students were running experiments,” he says. “Later, I got to do some basic design work. It wasn’t overly complex, but it was eye-opening in that it allowed me to see how a lab functions and do some hands-on tasks.” 

A chance to work with students 

After he earned his bachelor’s degree, Schlegel says he was accepted as a graduate student at Purdue, and he was able to continue working with Ishii. 
 
On top of taking classes and conducting research, Schlegel says he also spent time tutoring undergraduate nuclear engineering students. 
 
“One day, when I was working with a group of students, a university staff member was observing my interactions,” he says. “She told me I needed to go into teaching, and if I didn’t, I would be wasting my talent.” 
 
That message stuck with Schlegel. As he continued his graduate studies, he continued working with students and volunteered to teach classes for professors when they had other obligations.  
 
“I wasn’t especially outgoing, so this sometimes took me out of my comfort zone,” he says. “But like anything, the more you practice, the more comfortable you will feel doing it.” 
 
In 2012, Schlegel earned his Ph.D. in nuclear engineering, and he then stayed with Purdue as a postdoctoral researcher until 2014. 
 
He was then hired as an assistant professor at Missouri S&T. 

A decade at Missouri S&T 

At Missouri S&T, Schlegel says he has sought to create a classroom environment that allows students to have hands-on experiences and see how what they are learning will be valuable to them after graduation. 
 
He says he is constantly watching for student feedback, both verbal and nonverbal, to ensure they understand the course concepts. He also directly asks his students what they think is working well, what could be improved and what they are struggling with in the course. 
 
“Sometimes, students may give you that 1,000-yard stare in class that shows they are just not understanding or engaged with the content,” he says. “And instructors need to be ready to adapt when they see that happening. We need to be comfortable seeking out student input and making immediate changes. If something isn’t working, it’s OK to go with a new approach mid-semester.” 
 
Schlegel’s general setup for his teaching is to have the students work in teams and take part in competitions he organizes related to the content during class. 
 
“This helps students more quickly see and understand what may work or not work when applying a specific concept,” he says. “They will make mistakes, and that’s OK and part of the process.  
 
“I also want to set the expectation that I want them to point out my errors and ask questions,” he says. “They need to be prepared to do this in the real world, so I get them ready for this while still in school.” 

‘A relentless practicality’ 

Schlegel, who was promoted to associate professor and granted tenure at S&T in 2020, says it was his mission to take on a unique approach to teaching from early on in his career. 
 
“When professors first start their careers, they may not take as many chances with their teaching or be as creative,” he says. “They may think it is safer to stick with more basic, traditional approaches and not risk rocking the boat until after they have tenure. But it’s important they experiment early on to see what strategies are truly most effective for their students.” 
 
For Schlegel, being an effective nuclear engineering professor can boil down to three words. 
 
“A relentless practicality,” he says. “When I am in the classroom, I want students to clearly see the practical value of everything they’re doing. They need to get that hands-on experience and put themselves in the shoes of the people applying our concepts outside of the classroom environment.” 
 
By following that approach, Schlegel won the Governor’s Teaching Award, which annually goes to one faculty member in each of the state’s higher education institutions participating in the award. He also won Missouri S&T’s Faculty Teaching Award in 2023 and the Outstanding Teaching Award in 2021. 
 
“Winning awards can be exciting and flattering,” he says. “It’s nice to know my work is being noticed. But as a teacher, what I most care about is how I am helping students be the best engineers they can.”  
 
For more information about Missouri S&T’s nuclear engineering programs, visit nuclear.mst.edu.  

About Missouri S&T

Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is a STEM-focused research university of over 7,000 students located in Rolla, Missouri. Part of the four-campus University of Missouri System, Missouri S&T offers over 100 degrees in 40 areas of study and is among the nation’s top public universities for salary impact, according to the Wall Street Journal. For more information about Missouri S&T, visit www.mst.edu.