Mark Paul, Professor and Associate Department Head for Faculty Affairs in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, has been awarded the 2025 William E. Wine Award for Teaching Excellence.

A member of the department for more than twenty years, Paul directs a research group in computational science and engineering. He is a dynamic educator and leader, and enthusiastically teaches a broad range of undergraduate and graduate courses that attract students from across campus. He has taught courses including fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, heat transfer, nonlinear dynamics, chaos, pattern formation, and micro and nanoscale physics.

His educational approach is grounded in providing long-lasting insights into fundamental ideas, facilitating creative approaches to solving new problems, sharpening understanding of the edge-of-knowledge in a field of study, and fostering students’ growth of life-long learning in science and engineering. He actively engages students to discover their interests as an essential part of his teaching philosophy. Over the years, Paul’s teaching has had an influential and positive impact on numerous students.

The William E. Wine Award was established by the Alumni Fund Council in 1956 in memory of William E. Wine, Virginia Tech class of 1904, who served on the board of visitors for 11 years (rector from 1948-52) and as president and member of the board of directors of the Alumni Association. The award is presented to only three faculty members per year selected from the entire university. The William E. Wine Award recognizes a “history of university teaching excellence” over a period of at least fourteen years at Virginia Tech. The Wine award includes induction into Virginia Tech’s Academy of Teaching Excellence and an award of $3000.