Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Professor Receives Campus Teaching Award

Jeff Eldredge, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, has been selected to receive a 2024 UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award. He is the first professor from the department to have received this accolade.

First presented in 1961, the annual award recognizes UCLA faculty who have demonstrated exceptional teaching skills, a proven impact on their students’ success, and who have fostered an inclusive learning environment. Among numerous exceptional nominees from across the university, Eldredge is one of the six awardees chosen by the Academic Senate and the Teaching and Learning Center.

Eldredge regularly teaches both elementary and intermediate fluid mechanics — upper division courses required for the mechanical engineering major. He also teaches graduate courses on fluid dynamics, viscous and turbulent flows, and related topics.

In addition to his teaching, Eldredge leads the Simulations of Flow Physics and Acoustics research lab. He also authored a textbook designed for graduate students and researchers, Mathematical Modeling of Unsteady Inviscid Flows. Published in 2019, the book covers physics-based mathematical models for a variety of flows.

As a recipient of the teaching award, Eldredge will be recognized at the annual Andrea L. Rich Night to Honor Teaching event in fall. The honor includes a $6,000 award and a certificate in recognition of his outstanding contributions. 

Eldredge is a fellow of the American Physical Society and co-founder of the Southern California Flow Physics Symposium. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and his master’s and doctoral degrees from Caltech, all in mechanical engineering. Additionally, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher in engineering at Cambridge University in the U.K. before joining UCLA’s faculty in 2003. 

Current UCLA Samueli-affiliated faculty members who have won the campus honor include Carey Nachenberg, Alexander Sherstov, Amy Rowat, Mark Goorsky, Steven Margulis, Daniel Kamei, Jonathan Stewart, Yahya Rahmat-Samii, Behzad Razavi, Keith Stolzenbach, Joe DiStefano III, Ric Kaner, Leonard Kleinrock and David Smallberg.