Promotion of Higher Education

Dr. Horace K. Moo-Young Jr.
Assistant Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Lehigh University

By Garland L. Thompson

The measure of a committed minority achiever is the helping hand given other minorities climbing the ladder to success. Horace Moo-Young fits that measure and then some.

Dr. Moo-Young began as an award-winning scholar-athlete at Morgan State University, earning summa cum laude, class valedictorian honors in civil engineering. He won a Graduate Engineering for Minorities scholarship to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, completing master's and doctorate degrees in civil and environmental engineering. Awards kept coming, including the Rensselaer Scholar Fellowship, National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, ASEE Helen T. Carr Graduate Fellowship, Rensselaer Award for Excellence, and Bedford Award for Outstanding Dissertation.

He returned to Morgan to teach civil engineering, then went on a roll at Lehigh University. While producing 12 articles for peer-reviewed journals, with six more under review; publishing 31 peer-reviewed papers with professional societies; contributing to 11 conference proceedings and five technical reports; and compiling a host of conference presentations, articles, and funded projects, Dr. Moo-Young continued to help other young performers climb up behind him.

First, he dramatically changed the teaching of engineering at Lehigh. His Goal Oriented Learning Environments concept permits students to perform tasks they will encounter on the job, in a risk-free environment. Under the Andersen Consulting Faculty Fellowship for Excellence in Education program, Dr. Moo-Young spread his goal-oriented learning approach to six university courses.

Second, he partnered with faculty from Lehigh's College of Education to develop the Lucent Creative Partnership, a three-year initiative under which engineering undergrads and graduate education majors develop computer-based training programs to teach K-12 students microelectronics and fiber optics. Students now help develop training solutions for Lucent Technologies. 

Third, Dr. Moo-Young has served as dissertation supervisor for three Ph.D. students, thesis supervisor for 10 master's candidates, and joined committees supervising two other Ph.D. candidates, in addition to supervising research for 15 undergraduates.

Dr. Moo-Young holds numerous faculty awards, including the Lehigh University Junior Faculty Award, General Electric Minority Faculty Award, Lindback Minority Faculty Award, and Padnos Design Competition Award.
He is a member of 12 professional societies, including the National Society of Black Engineers. Through weekend mentoring programs, he helps at-risk K-12 students master science, math, and engineering concepts in Bethlehem-area school districts. He is a consummate promoter of technology learning, using technology.

Garland L. Thompson is assistant managing editor of The Philadelphia Tribune and a member of the Black Engineer of the Year Awards Selection Panel. He can be reached at GThompson@ccgmag.com.