Faculty Notes n Dean’s Office Debra Larson, dean, appeared in “Four Engineering Colleges and Their Women Deans,” an article posted on StemJobs (http://stemjobs.com/four-engineeringcolleges-women-deans/). Larson was appointed to serve on the national board of governors for the Order of the Engineer and was appointed vice chair of the executive board of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Engineering Dean’s Council. She serves as co-chair of the ASEE Engineering Dean’s Council committee on the undergraduate experience. In recognition of her accomplishments in education, Larson was selected for membership in Michigan Tech’s Presidential Council of Alumnae.
n Multidisciplinary
Kathy Chen (Materials Engineering), Jackie Duerr (Multicultural Engineering Program), Fred DePiero (associate dean), Helene Finger (Women’s Engineering Program), Andrew Kean (Mechanical Engineering), Jane Lehr (Women’s and Gender Studies), Maria Manzano (Multicultural Engineering Program) and Liz Schlemer (Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering) received $600,000 National Science Foundation grant for PEEPS (Program for Engineering Excellence for Partner Schools). The goal of PEEPS is to recruit, retain and graduate academically talented, low-income students. The PEEPS program includes financial support, programming, engineering success courses, advising, coaching, mentoring, and block scheduling of gateway engineering support courses with supplemental workshops. nnn John Chen (Mechanical Engineering), David Janzen (Computer Science), Karen MacGoughey (Statistics), Jennifer Pedrotti (Psychology & Child Development) and James Widmann (Mechanical Engineering) were awarded a three-year, $200,000 National Science Foundation grant for a project titled “Actively Building the Drive
Faculty News
CENG Welcomes New Faculty Robert Bertini
Jean Lee
Ph.D., UC Berkeley Research & Expertise: Sustainable transportation solutions, intelligent transportation systems, and big data for transportation improvement.
Ph.D., Cornell University Research & Expertise: Environmental sustainability, nanomaterials and materials characterization.
Bertini is working on developing a “roadmap” for the introduction of connected and autonomous vehicles at the state level. He said, “I try to connect students with the profession through community-based projects using real data, interactions with professionals, and pursuing scholarships, internships and other opportunities.”
One of Lee’s research projects is the environmental characterization of microscale versus macroscale materials and synthesis processes. “From my experience in industry, I’ve learned that strong technical Jean Lee Materials Engineering expertise is a necessary but not sufficient condition for being an excellent engineer,” said Lee. “Consistent demonstration of qualities such as integrity, initiative and inclusiveness in addition to being facile in ancillary skills such as teamwork, communication and leadership are among the key characteristics that distinguish superb engineers.”
Associate Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering
Professor, Materials Engineering
Robert Bertini Civil Engineering
Andrew Danowitz
Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering/ Computer Engineering Ph.D., Stanford University Research & Expertise: Very-large-scale integration (VLSI) design, computer architecture and embedded systems.
Danowitz is conducting research in energy efficient microarchitectures, system-on-chip integration, engineering education and mental health in engineering programs. With a goal Andrew Danowitz to attract more students of all backComputer Engineering grounds to computer and hardware engineering, Danowitz is embedding hands-on learning into his classes. “As their systems final project, I’m having students build an all-electronic game,” he said.
Aaron Drake
Ph.D., University of British Columbia, Vancouver Research & Expertise: Biomechanics, computational fabrication, computer animation and computer graphics.
Shinjiro Sueda
“I want to get students excited about visual computing,” noted Sueda. “I’m happy to be at Cal Poly because of its great students and many interdisciplinary opportunities.”
Computer Science
Assistant Professor, Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering
Ph.D., Washington State University, Pullman Research & Expertise: Aircraft design, unmanned aircraft and experimental aerodynamics.
to Achieve through Everyday Engineering Learning.” nnn Bruce Golden (Dairy Science), Chris Lupo (Computer Eingineering/Computer Science), and graduate students Trevor DeVore and Scott Winkleblack published
Assistant Professor, Computer Science
Xuan Wang
Associate Professor, Aerospace Engineering
In addition to working on aircraft energy efficiency, Drake is undertaking research in applications of autonomous flight, one of the College of Engineering’s strategic initiatives. “I hope to strengthen this initiative in order to position Cal Poly graduates to be at the forefront of this rapidly growing segment of the aerospace industry,” he explained.
Shinjiro Sueda
Ph.D., UC San Diego Research & Expertise: 3D printing, semiconductor packaging and cloud-based manufacturing information systems.
Aaron Drake Aeronautical Engineering
With extensive industry experience, Wang hopes to help prepare students for success in their professional careers. “I really appreciate the Learn by Doing philosophy because that’s how engineering education should be,” he said.
“A Heterogeneous Compute Solution for Optimized Genomic Selection Analysis” in the Proceedings of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedicine. nnn
Xuan Wang Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering
David Hey (Kinesiology), Brian Self (Mechanical Engineering), Lynne Slivovsky (Electrical Engineering), Kevin Taylor (Kinesiology), and James Widmann (Mechanical Engineering) published “Learning Design through the Lens of Service: A Qualitative Study” in the International
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