Congratulations to Brenda on receiving the 2019 OUSA Teaching Excellence Award! The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance Teaching Excellence Award recognizes educators who excel at unlocking the potential of Ontario’s young people. OUSA annually presents its teaching awards to professors from each of our member campuses who have taken this role to heart, and who have been selected by their students as examples of teaching excellence.
The news release from OUSA can be found here.
The official biography given is as follows:
Dr. Brenda Yasie Lee is a research associate in the Nanoscale Biophysics Group run by Prof. Zoya Leonenko at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Lee’s field of study is in membrane biophysics, and she uses nanotechnology tools to study lipid-protein interactions related to diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease and pneumonia. She is an expert in atomic force microscopy and her graduate work involved the investigation of antimicrobial peptide daptomycin on different model membranes. Dr. Lee’s teaching experience ranges from teaching courses in biophysics and special topics in medical biophysics, as well as serving as an in-demand instructor for calculus courses in both architectural, mechanical and chemical engineering, teaching over 700 students in 2018. Dr. Lee excels in a traditional lecture style setting, always going the extra mile for student success, creating a question-friendly atmosphere, putting together study sessions and in-depth notes for students. Dr. Lee also goes the extra mile to be available for students, organizing not only traditional office hours, but also having availability for office hours through Skype and driving into campus for specially booked appointments if necessary. Finally, Dr. Lee is the founder, president, and CEO of Tutoring Beyond Borders, a registered Canadian charity providing free tutoring to over 1000 high school students in Waterloo Region, and engaging over 500 post-secondary students as tutors, promoting the importance of quality teaching and dedication to the community not just at the University of Waterloo but beyond. Dr. Lee's student nominators said "Dr. Lee has gone above and beyond to help her students succeed" and "She needs to be recognized for how amazing she is."