Steer named one of the South’s Most Creative Teachers

Michael Steer, Lampe Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at North Carolina State University, has been named one of the “Most Creative Teachers in the South” by Oxford American magazine.

Steer “used his expertise in electrical engineering to develop a method of detecting the cell-phone triggers used to detonate roadside bombs,” the magazine said. For his efforts, Steer was awarded the US Army Commander’s Award for Public Service in 2010.

“9/11 affected people tremendously,” Steer told the magazine. “Everybody wanted to do something to make a difference and that certainly drove me. I knew where my skills were the strongest. I knew how circuits and radio waves interacted. And I believed there must be something I could do. And I just kept working.”

Steer received his bachelor’s and PhD degrees from the University of Queensland in Australia in 1976 and 1983, respectively. He joined the NC State faculty in 1983.