2024-ENG-I3-Magazine_ISSUU

USD ENGINEERING 20

Faculty

Marissa Forbes, PhD, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, traveled to Barbados to advance biofuel research in partnership with teams from USD and the University of the West Indies. She published two publications, including Hands-On Engineering Design in an Undergraduate Thermodynamics Learning Context , and Celebrating and Leveraging Classroom Geographic and Cultural Diversity to Enhance Student Learning . Saturnino Garcia, PhD, associate professor of computer science, participated in an NSF-funded project to develop content for an introductory computer systems textbook, Dive Into Systems . He was awarded the inaugural Faculty Champion Award for his mentorship of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) club and nominated for the 2023 Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Award. Melissa Gibbons, PhD, associate professor of mechanical engineering, was promoted and awarded tenure in Fall 2024. She published five journal articles, created a first year student orientation called Launchpad: Taking Flight into the World of Engineering at USD and served on the executive committee while completing her second University Senate term.

Bringing Great Accolades to USD Academic Leaders

Achievements

Odesma Dalrymple, PhD, associate professor of industrial and systems engineering and director of USD’s ExSJ, and Perla Myers, PhD, received a $195,676 grant from the San Diego Foundation Level Up Project supporting summer enrichment programs for middle- and high school students and welcomed their first cohort of middle-school teacher-scholars for climate change-related summer research. Paulina Díaz-Montiel, PhD, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, received an NSF grant to study diversity in the composites field and support underrepresented STEM students to attend the 2024 American Society for Composites Technical Conference. She presented her research on the progressive failure of sustainable composites at the ASME Aerospace Structures Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference and co-authored a paper for the AIAA SciTech Forum.

Mark Chapman, PhD, associate professor of integrated engineering, was promoted and awarded tenure in Fall 2024. He published multiple research articles and taught an Engineering and Science of Exercise and Sport course at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm during Summer 2024 and continued his research there. He was awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for research on developing advanced artificial intelligence and data science tools aimed at understanding, predicting and preventing disease. Diana Chen, PhD, associate professor of integrated engineering, gave a research talk at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, titled “Humanizing Engineering: Evolving the Status Quo,” with Dr. R. Jamaal Downey. She also serves as the founding faculty advisor for the new Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers chapter.

DIANA CHEN, PHD

ODESMA DALRYMPLE, PHD

SATURNINO GARCIA, PHD