Teaching

Teaching has been a central theme throughout Dr. Michael A. Soderstrand's academic career. During more than three decades as a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, he combined classroom instruction, curriculum development, laboratory innovation, and educational leadership to help shape engineering education for thousands of students.

At the University of California, Davis, Dr. Soderstrand served as Chair of the Department's Undergraduate Programs Committee from 1989 to 1997. In that role, he led the committee responsible for the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of the undergraduate Electrical and Computer Engineering curricula and for maintaining accreditation by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). During his tenure as committee chair, the department underwent multiple ABET accreditation reviews, each resulting in the highest level of accreditation.

The curriculum developed under his leadership became nationally recognized through his landmark publication:

M. A. Soderstrand, "The New Electrical and Computer Engineering Curricula at the University of California, Davis," IEEE Transactions on Education, Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 136–146, 1994.

The article described an innovative approach to integrating electrical engineering and computer engineering into a unified curriculum and became an influential reference for universities across the United States as they redesigned their own engineering programs.

Dr. Soderstrand's excellence in the classroom was recognized by the students themselves. He received both the College of Engineering Outstanding Teacher Award and the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Outstanding Teacher Award, honors based on student voting and reflecting his commitment to clear instruction, high academic standards, and genuine concern for student success.

Among the many courses he taught, Engineering 100 held special significance. This required electrical engineering course was taken by engineering students from numerous disciplines and served as an introduction to the practical principles of electronics and measurement. Dr. Soderstrand developed the laboratory program for the course and authored its laboratory manual. With periodic revisions, that manual remained the standard laboratory text for more than twenty years, providing generations of UC Davis engineering students with a hands-on foundation in electrical engineering.

Throughout his career, Dr. Soderstrand viewed teaching as extending beyond the classroom. He developed new courses, authored textbooks and laboratory manuals, mentored graduate students, and continually sought more effective ways to present difficult technical concepts. His educational contributions were recognized at the highest professional level when his citation for elevation to Fellow of the IEEE specifically included his contributions to engineering education, acknowledging that his influence extended well beyond his own university to the broader engineering profession.