Dual role as teacher and mentor earns faculty member a prestigious international award that honors decades of dedication to engineering education

Rochester, New York – For more than three decades, Marca Lam has worn many hats in the world of engineering education—professor, mentor, adviser, leader, and friend. At the Rochester Institute of Technology, she is as likely to be found guiding students through complex classroom topics as she is overseeing late-night projects, mentoring future engineers, or coordinating high-pressure racing events. That kind of balance between teaching and mentoring has now earned her one of the most prestigious international awards in her field.

This October, Lam will be presented with the Distinguished Engineering Educator Award, an honor given by the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) at its annual international conference. The recognition is reserved for educators who have made lasting contributions to the advancement of engineering education over more than two decades. For SWE, the award is not simply about honoring professional accomplishments—it is about celebrating role models whose teaching, leadership, and advocacy have reshaped the path for future engineers, particularly women.

A Career Rooted in Innovation and Service

Lam first joined RIT in 2006, arriving as a visiting associate professor. Her career trajectory since then has been defined by continuous growth. She advanced to become undergraduate program director for the Department of Mechanical Engineering, all while building a reputation as an educator dedicated to developing and improving courses across the engineering curriculum.

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Her teaching portfolio has been remarkably wide-ranging, covering optimization, system dynamics, engineering vibrations, and more. Yet her focus has always been on making the material approachable, relevant, and directly tied to real-world engineering problems. Students remember her classes not simply for the technical content but for the interactive learning environments she created.

“It is a privilege to have been nominated for this award. It reflects all the work I have done to support students in general, and women specifically. This is truly the career award for me,” Lam said. “My teaching philosophy has always been that you create an interactive learning environment by asking good questions of the class, paying attention to answers, and covering theory but also working through exercises that are tied closely to real-world problems.”

Beyond the Classroom

Lam’s contributions extend well beyond traditional teaching. She has long believed that meaningful education comes from blending classroom learning with real-life experiences. At RIT, she coordinated student trips to major engineering firms both in the U.S. and abroad, exposing undergraduates to professional environments early in their academic journey. She also played a key role in managing Rochester’s demanding SAE Baja Racing competitions, which challenge students to design and build off-road vehicles.

Her influence has been equally strong within professional organizations. Since joining SWE in 2009, Lam has taken on a variety of leadership positions in the Rochester professional chapter, serving as secretary, webmaster, and eventually president. In 2010, she stepped into one of her most enduring roles—adviser to RIT’s student chapter of SWE. For the past 15 years, she has mentored generations of young engineers, building bridges between current students and alumni while promoting advocacy and professional growth.

A Lasting Impact on Students

The scope of Lam’s mentorship can be seen in the careers of her former students. Many credit her with guiding them through the challenges of engineering school while also showing them how to thrive in their professions. Among those is Amanda Weissman, a double alumna of RIT and now a principal systems engineer with Lockheed Martin in Australia. Weissman was one of the nominators for Lam’s award and spoke about the professor’s impact with both gratitude and admiration.

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“It’s Marca’s personal investment in students that’s always impressed me,” Weissman said. “Not only knowing their names, but building relationships with them, encouraging them, and helping them understand how an organization like SWE can help them in their careers. I am thrilled to see Marca recognized with this award.”

Lam’s attention to personal connection has been a defining trait throughout her career. Students describe her as approachable, invested, and genuinely committed to their success. For many young women entering a field historically dominated by men, her example has been particularly important.

Building on a Strong Foundation

Before coming to Rochester, Lam taught at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City. There, she played a critical role in expanding the engineering curriculum, adding new courses in control systems, materials science, and dynamics. Her efforts opened up more elective choices for students and set a precedent for the type of curriculum development she would later continue at RIT.

The pattern of innovation followed her into the Kate Gleason College of Engineering, where she collaborated with colleagues to revise and update courses across multiple departments. She also led honors courses for second-year engineering students, placing strong emphasis on product design cycles and global exposure through study trips.

Recognition of a Career

The Distinguished Engineering Educator Award is not Lam’s first recognition from SWE. In 2015, she received the organization’s Outstanding Faculty Advisor award, underscoring her long-standing impact on the student chapter at RIT. But the 2023 honor holds a special place for her because of what it represents—the culmination of a lifetime spent teaching, mentoring, and advocating for the next generation of engineers.

“This is truly the career award for me,” Lam reflected. Her words capture the sense of full-circle achievement for someone who has spent more than 30 years pushing boundaries in education while never losing sight of the students at the heart of it all.

Looking Ahead

As she prepares to receive the award in New Orleans from Oct. 23–25, Lam shows no signs of slowing down. Colleagues and students alike expect she will continue to blend her unique style of rigorous teaching, creative curriculum design, and personal mentorship for years to come.

Her story demonstrates how one individual’s dual role as teacher and mentor can transform not just a classroom, but an entire community of learners. For RIT and the broader engineering world, Marca Lam’s recognition is a reminder that excellence in education is as much about compassion and connection as it is about technical expertise.