Engineering Unleashed Faculty Development

Dr. Cheryl Bodnar is an Associate Professor in the Experiential Engineering Education Department at Rowan University. She is a recent KEEN Rising Star Award winner and has been the KEEN leader on Rowan’s campus since it became a partner in 2016. Both the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Kern Family Foundation have funded her research. Her research interests relate to the incorporation of active learning techniques such as game-based learning in undergraduate classes as well as integration of innovation and entrepreneurship into the engineering curriculum. In particular, she is interested in the impact that these tools can have on student perception of the classroom environment, motivation, and learning outcomes.

Dr. Heather Dillon is Professor and Chair of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington Tacoma, where her research team is currently working on renewable energy systems, solid-state lighting, energy efficiency in buildings, fundamental heat transfer studies and engineering education. She is the Chair of the Council on Undergraduate Research Engineering Division and recently served as the Fulbright Canada Research Chair in STEM Education at the University of Calgary, Alberta. Before joining academia, Heather Dillon worked for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) as a senior research engineer working on both energy efficiency and renewable energy systems, where she received the US Department of Energy Office of Science Outstanding Mentor Award. During her time at the University of Portland she received the Provost’s Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Research Faculty Member (2017) and the Outstanding Scholarship Award (2020).

Glenn R. Gaudette, PhD, is the inaugural John W. Kozarich '71 Chair of the Department of Engineering at Boston College. Working together with his colleagues, they have developed the first Engineering program in the history of BC. His research has pioneered the use of plants as scaffold for heart regeneration. This work lead to significant recognition, including Prof Gaudette and his colleagues being featured throughout the world including Bill Nye Saves the World (on Netflix), CBS’s Innovation Nation, the BBC (live interview) and Popular Science. The work was displayed at the Centre Pompidou (Paris) as part of an exhibit entitled “The Factory of Life”. Recently, a children’s book (From Plant to Human: The Extraordinary Spinach-Leaf Heart by Oscar Silver) was published about this inspiring work. His recent research aims to develop cost-effective methods for growing meat in the laboratory setting, which could reduce our reliance on conventional animal agriculture. Dr. Gaudette also teaches engineering mechanics, design and innovation, biomechanics and physiology. He promotes the development of a mindset for helping others, especially in the technical courses he teaches. He was named the 2015 Faculty Member of the Year by the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network and was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and the National Academy of Inventors.

Jennifer O’Neil is an Assistant Professor of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Technology at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in thermal fluid sciences. She actively promotes the integration of entrepreneurial mindset into engineering curriculum through faculty development. Her research interests are in the area of spray physics, focused on effectively treating pediatric pulmonary diseases.

Dr. Horne has taught at the University of Wisconsin Platteville for five years; prior to this he also taught at the University of North Texas and Utah State University. His doctoral work was completed at Utah State University but included on-site collaborations with the University of Toronto (~1 month) and Ecole Centrale de Paris (~9 months). An additional research collaboration took him to Sopron, Hungary. His PhD is in Mechanical Engineering, and his research work has included thermal experiments and simulations ranging from the nano-scale all the way up to entire buildings. He has experience with a number of programming languages including the following: C/C++, Fortran, Ada, Python, Java, Julia, Javascript, Rust and others. He has built distributed memory cluster computers and written simulations on the using MPI for Monte Carlo simulation, sensitivity analysis, PDE solution, and more. Current research projects include Ab initio Uncertainty Quantification of Particle-image Velocimetry, Rheological Model Fits of ASME Polymer Data, and Mirror Pinhole Defect Identification. Dr. Horne's teaching experience includes Thermal Systems Laboratory, Fluid Dynamics, Introduction to Computational Methods, Computational Methods in Engineering, and Computational Fluid Dynamics. In 2019 he we selected for the Early Career Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence by the University of Wisconsin Platteville, and in the same year was recognized for Excellence in Teaching by the National Society of Leadership and Success. His current pedagogical efforts include KEEN on Stories and integrating Entrepreneurial Minded Learning into his classes.

Anna Howard graduated from the Penn State Rotorcraft Center of Excellence before beginning a teaching career at North Carolina State University. She has championed flipped classrooms and teaching with technology in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department with a special focus on how to teach Engineering Statics. She has developed extensive materials for Statics including short concept videos, example videos, quizzes, full class-notes, and demonstrations. She uses gamification, student-response activities, and teamwork built on Scale-Up principles in class to teach almost 600 students per year. She is currently converting these materials for open-source use. Howard is active at ASEE at both the national (Mechanical Engineering Division and the Mechanics Division) and regional levels (Southeastern Section). She is the Campus Rep for ASEE and is one of the campus leaders for KEEN at NC State.