The Nanotechnology Engineering Program is proud to announce that Professor Pendar Mahmoudi is the 2025 recipient of the Faculty Teaching Excellence Award and the Boyce Family Teaching Award.
“I feel truly honoured and humbled to win these awards. Getting rewarded for a job I enjoy doing is a blessing. I am extremely thankful for the support of my colleagues in the department who will happily listen to new ideas or issues and offer assistance or advice.”
Mahmoudi’s passion for teaching emerged during her graduate studies at the University of Waterloo. She arrived at the university at just twenty-two, focused on completing her PhD.
Mahmoudi began doing teaching assistant positions during her PhD and soon realized that she enjoyed explaining concepts and helping students understand challenging material. She went on to further develop her skills through instructional courses at the Centre for Teaching Excellence.
Mahmoudi’s teaching philosophy is shaped by her own experiences as a student. She remembers what it feels like to be a student trying to figure out life and stay focused in lectures. With that in mind, she uses a variety of teaching methods.
“I really like to see that comprehension in their eyes. That's my favorite part! Especially for a student that comes into a course already struggling with the content or carrying a self-perception that they are not good in a certain area,” says Mahmoudi. “I always say in the upper year courses, if you think or perceive that you are weak at this topic, I want to meet with you in the first week.”
Mahmoudi teaches math-heavy courses with strong programming components, including core programming such as NE 111 - Introduction to Programming for Engineers and NE 113 - Introduction to Computational Methods.
The concepts taught in these courses are important for nanotechnology engineering students, many of whom apply for co-op positions shortly after completing these courses. By connecting theory to application, Mahmoudi helps students gain confidence to be able to transfer these skills to their co-op jobs.
Mahmoudi credits a professor she had at Sharif University of Technology, Iran for shaping her perspective on education. His use of experiential learning left a lasting impression. He took her class on field trips and showed them real industrial equipment.
For Mahmoudi, the experience of actually standing in front of huge pieces of equipment used in real manufacturing settings allowed her to understand the scale of what she was learning in class.
“I break things down as much as I can. So that students are not just memorizing things. When teaching the curriculum, I provide logical ideas and examples of why something is done,” says Mahmoudi.
Mahmoudi feels honoured to receive both these awards. The Faculty Teaching Excellence Award is adjudicated by program chairs and directors, whereas the Boyce Family Teaching Award is a student-driven award.
As part of the Boyce Family Teaching Award, she will be delivering an “And one more thing” speech to the 2026 graduating class.