Robert Fovell

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How do you get non-science majors interested in the sciences? Bring in cheap props.

That method has worked beautifully for Robert Fovell, associate professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences. To explain centrifugal/centripetal force to a large class of undergraduates, for example, Fovell spins a yo-yo. His students are riveted. “I think they’re waiting to see if I hit myself in the head,” he joked.

Honored with the Eby Award for the Art of Teaching, Fovell teaches all levels — from incoming freshmen to graduate students — and earns raves from all corners. “As a student of social sciences, I was not looking forward to studying about weather for a quarter, but this class ended up being one of the best I have taken,” wrote one undergraduate.

Fovell’s office-hours policy is “whenever my door is open” and students take full advantage of his generosity, lining up in the hallway for one-on-one time. As the department’s undergraduate adviser, Fovell accommodates them all. “We’re a research-oriented department, but we haven’t lost sight of teaching,” said the meteorologist, whose own research focuses on simulating thunderstorms. “I’ve been at places where, quite frankly, teaching is not considered to be very important at all. It’s nice that this department is much more concerned about those things.”

— Wendy Soderburg, UCLA Today