Gregory Triplett’s teaching and learning philosophies are based on the needs of the new era engineering students who will compete in a global market and be required to have expertise that extends beyond their academic major.
Since coming to MU in 2004, he has taught courses on optical electronics and semiconductor device theory, believed by many to be some of the most difficult courses on campus to teach. In spite of this, he is consistently considered by students to be one of the best teachers they have had.
In addition to classroom excellence, Triplett is engaged in student advising and mentoring. He is the official adviser of the National Society of Black Engineers, and at MU serves on the McNair Scholars advisory committee and the Minority Introduction to Engineering Program.
Triplett has taken steps to retain undergraduate students. He led a group of faculty to write and receive a $520,000 grant from the National Science Foundation that he titled IncReaCE (Increasing Retention for Electrical and Computer Engineering). The program provides scholarships for students with financial need, enhances faculty-student interaction, provides private tutoring, and builds relationships and networks that help guarantee student success.
“Gregory brings great energy and enthusiasm to his teaching,” a colleague writes. “His teaching style is interactive and student focused. He goes above and beyond the call to educate, advise and retain students in electrical and computer engineering. Our department has no formal faculty-student advising program, yet Gregory regularly meets with students at all levels in our program to advise and counsel them on their studies.”
The quality of Triplett’s teaching and mentoring has been recognized by his receiving multiple awards from the College of Engineering as well as from MU.