Dr. Samar Younes was selected for the 2026 Individual Legacy AIM High Impact Award for her innovative use of Open Educational Resources, UCF Library resources, First Day materials, and instructor-created content across multiple Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering courses. In her submission period, her work has impacted 1,776 students, providing free or discount access to course materials and generating approximately $371,061 in cost savings. What really made her nomination stand out was how she transformed what learning looked like in her courses.
In her own words, her goal has been to redesign her courses “to replace traditional, static, high‑cost materials with dynamic, multimodal learning environments that strengthen both student engagement and professional preparation.”
She created her own free YouTube instructional channel, offering step‑by‑step problem‑solving videos as openly available alternatives to commercial resources. She enriches her courses with free materials such as LinkedIn Learning micro‑courses and AI-generated interactive practice, giving students ways to master complex engineering concepts without purchasing additional materials.
One student said, “Professor Younes is by far one of the best professors I have had the honor of learning under at UCF. She is extremely caring towards her students and does so much to personalize and create her own learning material (even with eight total classes).”
But Dr. Younes’ impact extends beyond her own classroom. As the Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering accreditation coordinator, she champions the same philosophy that drives her course material design. Through presentations and collaborative leadership, she’s building a departmental culture where colleagues look to her example in adopting accessible and affordable instructional materials. Her work demonstrates that affordability and high‑quality learning thrive together.
Dr. Younes would also like to recognize CDL Instructional Designers Tina Calandrino and Roslyn Miller, Assistant Director of Experiential Learning Marika Koch, as well as FCTL Director Kevin Yee and Associate Director Eric Main for their collaborative assistance.
I intentionally design all of my courses to be accessible to all learners by using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles and multimodal instructional strategies.
Dr. Samar Younes (Left), Provost John Buckwalter (Right)