Dr. Omar Swei from UBC Civil Engineering has been recognized with the 2023/2024 Killam Teaching Prize. This award is nominated by students, colleagues, and alumni and recognizes exceptional contributions through teaching.
Since joining the department in 2018, Dr. Swei has developed curricula that consider the diverse backgrounds, interests, and career objectives of students—for both undergraduate and graduate students.
His graduate class CIVL 519: Risk and Decision Analysis for Infrastructure Management typically brings together 20 graduate students that are completing programs in environmental systems, transportation, hydrotechnical engineering, geotechnical engineering, project management, and urban systems.
“I address this diversity in the classroom by working with students individually throughout the semester to craft a rigorous term project that directly ties to their interests,” said Dr. Swei.
Dr. Swei also actively promotes equity, diversity, and inclusion competencies for civil engineers within his course offerings and directly ties them to practice. In CIVL 300 I highlight ways to engage with diverse actors and communities to successfully deliver infrastructure work projects. He annually hosts a guest lecture in CIVL 300, where executives charged with delivering important infrastructure projects in BC such as Broadway Extension and Patullo Bridge, discuss with our students the importance of collaborating with local communities, including Indigenous partnership the early stages of construction projects.
When UBC courses transitioned online in 2020, Dr. Swei recognized a need to adapt to meet student needs and course learning objectives. Drawing from his personal startup funds, he purchased the equipment needed to construct a lightboard. Using an Ikea standing desk and some creative repurposing of file folders as blackout blinds, he created a home studio to record short videos that distill the theory underlying their subjects. This technology enabled him to produce visually appealing, self-paced learning materials that students could review asynchronously, allowing him to devote in-class time to problem solving and application exercises in small breakout groups.
His effort to build an effective online learning environment continues with the creation of the YouTube channel, RiskByNumbers. This channel shares educational resources on probability, statistics, optimization methods, algorithms, and programming, presented in an easy-to-understand format. The channel has been well received, attracting viewers from all over the world who appreciate the accessible and high-quality content.
For his efforts, Dr. Swei consistently receives positive feedback from students and achieves high ratings on teaching and course evaluations.
In addition to teaching, Dr. Swei is also the specialty adviser for the department’s graduate program in project and construction management, the faculty adviser for 3 different student design teams and chapters: Smart City Design team, Concrete Canoe design team and American Society of Civil Engineering Student Chapter and a member of our department’s program improvement committee.
“These experiences have allowed me to build strong connections with our students, and many of them see me as an advocate for their academic and professional success,” said Dr. Swei.
Beyond his academic and advisory roles, Dr. Swei hosts events like Chill Hours every other Friday for students to play board games and soccer. These informal gatherings provide a relaxed environment for students to socialize, discuss their experiences, and build a sense of community. By organizing such events, Dr. Swei fosters a supportive and engaging atmosphere that extends beyond the traditional educational setting.
Dr. Swei is one of 24 Killam Teaching Prize recipients from across the campus and one of two in Applied Science. Dr. Davide Elmo from the Department of Mining Engineering is also recognized. We congratulate Dr. Swei and all other recipients on this prestigious recognition and for their incredible contributions to student learning over the years.