Q&A with Dr. Krishna Narayanan, Teaching Excellence Award winner
Dr. Krishna Narayanan discusses teaching excellence and being selected to receive one of the highest faculty honors at Texas A&M University.
Dr. Krishna Narayanan
For nearly three decades, Dr. Krishna Narayanan has dedicated his career to helping students understand complex engineering concepts, discover their potential and develop the skills needed to solve tomorrow’s challenges.
That commitment to teaching excellence has earned him one of Texas A&M University’s highest faculty honors — the Presidential Professor for Teaching Excellence (PPTE) Award. The award recognizes faculty members who demonstrate sustained excellence in teaching, mentorship and innovation in education.
As the associate head for artificial intelligence in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Narayanan works to shape how students prepare for an increasingly AI-driven future. Through curriculum development, experiential learning opportunities and faculty collaboration, he is working to create pathways that help students integrate AI into their engineering disciplines.
What does receiving the PPTE award mean to you?
I was thrilled to receive this recognition, which will be a highlight of my career. It also gave me an opportunity to reflect on my journey as an educator and how much of a privilege it has been to teach and mentor students at Texas A&M for the past 28 years. I feel a sense of pride and satisfaction in knowing that I have inspired students.
What fundamental principles develop a teacher’s excellence in the areas outlined in this award?
Effective teaching integrates multiple qualities, including the ability to distill complex concepts into clear, interactive lessons, meeting students at their current level to elevate their understanding and recognizing that education extends beyond lecturing to include intentional course design.
It also requires designing clear, non-trivial examples and providing decisive, focused answers to student inquiries. Most importantly, it requires the ability to convey your passion for the subject to inspire students to learn new things on their own.
Why is it important to uphold a standard of excellence as a professor?
Excellence is a Core Value of the Aggie community. As a professor, I feel a deep sense of responsibility towards our students. For most students and their families, college is seen as an integral part of their development into productive members of society. How can you enable that if you don’t strive for excellence?
How do you help engineering students navigate an increasingly AI-driven world?
AI is perhaps the most consequential technology impacting our students, requiring more than just a course or two to master.
As associate head for AI, my goal is to build an AI ecosystem for our students where they experience AI in many forms and learn to integrate it within their domain of interest. This ecosystem is designed as a horizontal capability connecting theory, hardware, software, systems and deployment rather than treating AI as a standalone topic or a single course sequence.
We are facilitating experiential learning through sprint courses, hosting workshops for faculty to integrate AI into their curriculum and fostering a community of practice through initiatives like our weekly “Sparks” sessions within the department.
By creating these pathways, we ensure our students view AI as a powerful companion, preparing them to lead in an increasingly AI-driven world.
Are there any student success stories that have been particularly meaningful to you?
Every student who learns something new is a success story, so it’s hard to pick out a few. But a recent one comes to mind — a student who is passionate about baseball analytics took a deep learning class and landed a job with an MLB franchise.
He wrote to me saying my course was helpful to him. Those are the most satisfying moments.
What role does collaboration within the electrical and computer engineering department play in fostering teaching excellence?
It plays a huge role. I have been fortunate to collaborate with several excellent colleagues at Texas A&M and in the electrical and computer engineering department.
It has introduced me to new ideas and helped me discover my blind spots. I imbibe their best practices, experiences and wisdom. I want to credit my two long-term collaborators, Dr. Arun Srinivasa from mechanical engineering and Dr. Jean-Francois Chamberland in electrical and computer engineering, for generously sharing their expertise and wisdom with me and for making me a better instructor.
What distinguishes the Texas A&M Engineering educational experience?
The variety of opportunities available for students. Texas A&M is an excellent engineering school where students are exposed to a wide variety of topics, cultures and opportunities — from courses to research. There is so much to learn at every corner of the campus.
What do you hope students take away from your courses beyond the technical material?
I hope students see my passion for engineering and are inspired to understand the world better when they take my course. I hope they pick up a growth mindset and realize that if they work hard and grapple with new ideas that they have not seen before, their understanding expands. I hope they get a sense of satisfaction from that.
