Academic Adviser of the Year

After reviewing well over 40 nominations, the Office of Advising announces that the winner of the 2nd annual Academic Adviser of the Year award is Yih-Choung Yu, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering.

One of his advisees, Lia Chrysanthopoulos ’21, says Yih-Choung has been one of her biggest advocates over the past four years at Lafayette.

“As a freshman, I came into Lafayette deciding between electrical & computer engineering (ECE) and computer science,” she says. “The first week of school, I scheduled a meeting with Professor Yu to discuss the ECE department, its demands, and if it was the right major for me. Professor Yu sat with me countless times helping me weigh my interests and creating my semester schedules. With all his help and support I decided to pursue ECE as my major.”

Yih-Choung’s support continued to be valuable for Lia during her sophomore year as she faced the challenges of her workload and from being the only woman ECE major in her graduating class.

“I would often meet with Professor Yu to discuss my struggles and self-doubts,” she says. “Professor Yu would always reassure me that I was more than capable of understanding the material, completing the work, and graduating on time. He would help build my confidence and encourage me to meet with my professors. I always left his office with the weight of the world lifted off my shoulders and ready to tackle my course load.”

Opportunities provided by Yih-Choung changed Lia’s career, starting with brain-computer interface research in summer 2018.

“Following that summer, Professor Yu always offered me the option to conduct research or work on a project with him in the case where I was unable to find an internship,” Lia says.

While she was serving an internship last summer at Lockheed Martin in Orlando, Fla., Lia’s department manager was so impressed with her work that he asked her to stay an extra two weeks to continue with her project. . Unfortunately, she couldn’t afford to do so.  After learning about her situation, Yih-Choung reached out with the news that the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department would reimburse her expenses for the additional two weeks. Soon after, the company offered Lia a full-time job as a manufacturing engineer, which she accepted.

“Professor Yu has gone above and beyond to help me succeed,” Lia says. “I would not be where I am today without his incredible mentorship and support.”