Rate My Professor Barbara Oakley

Barbara Oakley is a Distinguished University Professor and Distinguished Professor of Engineering in the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department at Oakland University’s School of Engineering and Computer Science. She joined Oakland University in 1998 as an assistant professor upon earning her Ph.D. in Systems Engineering there, following an M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the same institution in 1995. Earlier, she received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1986 and a B.A. in Slavic Languages and Literature in 1977 from the University of Washington. Her career prior to academia included serving as a U.S. Army Signal Corps officer in West Germany, rising from private to captain; working as a radio operator at the South Pole Station in Antarctica; Russian translator on Soviet trawlers in the Bering Sea; controls task manager at a laser research firm; product design engineer at Ford Motor Company; and independent consultant.

Oakley’s research specializations include pathological altruism and altruism bias, as well as translational applications of neuroscience and cognitive psychology to enhance learning in math, science, engineering, and technology. She has authored or edited key books such as A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (2014, New York Times bestseller translated into 13 languages with over one million copies sold), Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential (2017, Booklist bestseller), and Learning How to Learn (2018). Notable publications comprise “Concepts and implications of altruism bias and pathological altruism” (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013, described as “revolutionary” in the Wall Street Journal), “Creating a Sticky MOOC” (OLC Online Learning Journal, 2016, top-10 most-accessed paper of the year), and “Turning student groups into effective teams” (Journal of Student Centered Learning, 2004). Her massive open online courses, including Learning How to Learn (over four million students), Mindshift, and Uncommon Sense Teaching, have reached more than five million learners worldwide. Oakley has received major awards including the 2023 Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education (inaugural Lifelong Learning category, $50,000 award), Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year (2018), IEEE William E. Sayle II Award for Achievement in Education (2020), ASEE Chester F. Carlson Award for Innovation in Engineering Education (2015), fellowships from IEEE (2018), AIMBE (2009), and AAAS, and the National Science Foundation New Century Scholar (1999). She holds memberships in IEEE, EMBS, ASEE, HKN, and Tau Beta Pi, and has served on university committees such as the SECS Executive Committee and as co-advisor for Tau Beta Pi, along with editorial review roles for journals including PNAS and IEEE Transactions on Education.