The Brutocao Family Foundation Award for Curriculum Innovation recognizes faculty who have improved the quality of education at Santa Clara University through significant innovations in pedagogy or curriculum development--particularly when those innovations affect a significant number of students--and who have exhibited general excellence in teaching.
Yi Fang was highly praised for his curriculum development work in the School of Engineering as well as his innovative and collaborative projects. Colleagues remarked that Dr. Fang taught several core AI classes to both undergraduate and graduate students and covered a wide range of topics within his courses. He not only teaches, but he actively builds new courses to match the changing needs of future engineers, including spearheading a Data Science track in the graduate program. Recently, Dr. Fang initiated the AI^2 Project aimed at helping faculty members advance their knowledge of AI and incorporating the AI tools into their teaching while also preserving academic integrity and rigor. This project was lauded as one of a kind and met the needs of not only engineering faculty, but across all disciplines of instructors.