Laci Brock is the recipient of the PTYS Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) Award for Fall 2016. Laci was awarded for her GTA with Dr. Steve Kortenkamp in the PTYS/ASTR 206 General Education course (Natural Sciences Tier II). The nominations from her students reference her passion for helping students understand the material, not simply memorize it, her encouragement, understanding, patience, responsiveness, and availability. Laci was instrumental in designing and implementing an experimental grading structure for the course and in gaining approval from the Institutional Review Board to seek consent from students to use their records and feedback for research on the effects of the new grading structure. Laci also helped to design a new term project offered to the 206 students for fall 2016.  Moreover, her handling of the more typical GTA duties (grading, office hours, and extra workshop sessions for paper writing) was exceptional. 

Laci is a first-year graduate student currently working with Associate Professor Travis Barman. As a recipient of the Outstanding GTA Award, she will receive funds of up to $1,000 to support travel to a professional meeting of her choice.