ENG-23-4200-I3-Magazine_Final Version

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IMAGINE•INNOVATE•INSPIRE

USD ENGINEERING

Faculty

ence, the AIAA SciTech Forum, the U.S.-Japan Joint Symposium for Composite Materials and the ASME Aerospace Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference. Marissa Forbes, PhD, assistant profes sor of mechanical engineering, and USD colleagues were awarded a $600,000 National Science Foundation grant for their project, “RET Site: Cli mate Changemakers in Waste Upcy cling, Water Justice and Sustainable Energy.” Dr. Forbes and Associate Pro fessor of Mathematics C. Bobbi Han sen, EdD, served as co-principal inves tigators on the project and Associate Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering Odesma Dalrymple, PhD, serves as principal investigator. Dr. Forbes published an article, “The Complexities and Benefits of Commu nity-Partnered Projects for Engineering Capstone Design Students,” in Trends in Higher Education with Gordon Hoople, PhD. She and Susan Lord, PhD, had an article published in Trends in Higher Education , titled” A Place-Based Sustainability Approach to Learning about Photovoltaic Solar Energy.” Melissa Gibbons, PhD, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, was named the San Diego County Engineering Council’s 2023 Outstand ing Engineering Educator. She was also selected as the 2023 University of San Diego Campus KEEN Rising Star for demonstrating an inspirational

Bringing Great Accolades to USD Academic Leaders

Achievements

FRANK JACOBITZ, PHD

IMANE KHALIL, PHD

SUSAN LORD, PHD

Computational Fluid Dynamics, an Introduction to Modeling and Applica tions . After teaching a technical elective course on CFD at USD, Dr. Khalil developed a textbook based on her own notes. In spring 2023, Dr. Khalil became chair of the San Diego American Society of Me chanical Engineers (ASME) section. Jae Kim, PhD, associate professor and chair of industrial and systems engi neering, finished his first year leading the department as chair. Kathleen Kramer, PhD , professor of electrical engineering, is an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) senior member and has been elected as the 2024 IEEE presi dent-elect. She is set to begin serving as president on January 1, 2025. Susan Lord, PhD, professor and chair of integrated engineering, and Cynthia Finelli, PhD, from the University of Michigan, were awarded a $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to support their project “Collaborative Research: Integrating Sociotechnical Issues in Electrical Engineering Starting With Circuits.” She gave a presentation on "Enhanc ing Learning and Inclusivity in Elec trical Engineering" in the University of Toronto's Electrical and Computer Engineering Distinguished Lecture Series and was a recipient of the 2023 Diversity and Inclusion Impact Awards.

approach to making the engineering classroom a value-driven partnership between students and faculty members. Frank Jacobitz, PhD, professor and chair of mechanical engineering, led the self-study for the academic program review of the mechanical engineering program. He published a paper on xylem filtration for point of-use water filtration in developing countries in collaboration with engi neering students and colleagues at USD, Israel and Uganda, and presented a paper at the International Sympo sium on Turbulence and Shear Flow Phenomena on a scale-dependent analysis of fluid accelerations in homo geneous turbulent shear flow. He taught the Topics in Fluid Mechanics course at the German Aerospace Center in Göttingen, Germany. He also taught a Water in California and Israel course, traveled to Israel and welcomed students and faculty members from Azrieli College to USD in April 2023. Zella Kahn-Jetter, PhD, professor of practice of mechanical engineering, is serving as the acting chair of the me chanical engineering department while Frank Jacobitz, PhD, is on sabbatical. Imane Khalil, PhD, associate professor of mechanical engineering and associ ate dean of graduate programs, pub lished with Issam Lakkis, PhD, from the American University of Beirut, a McGraw Hill textbook on CFD —

Engineering Education, with USD colleagues Gordon Hoople, PhD, and Susan Lord, PhD, as well as Alex Mejia, PhD, from the University of Texas, San Antonio. She published an editorial, “Reframing Racial Equity in Engineer ing Education," in the European Society for Engineering Education , and pub lished a book chapter, "Entry Points, Barriers and Institutional Support for Social Justice in Engineering Curricula,” in the International Handbook of Engineering Education . Paulina Díaz-Montiel, PhD, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, published a research article on ma chine learning techniques for damage identification in composites in the journal Structural Control and Health Monitoring . She also published a re search article on the effect of manu facturing defects on the strength of advanced composites in the journal Composite Structures . Dr. Díaz-Montiel presented the main findings of this research at the American Society for Composites 37th Technical Confer

Mark Chapman, PhD, assistant professor of integrated engineering, received the 2022-23 Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Award. Dr. Chapman published a scientific article in Physio logical Reports . He continues his re search at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, which uses bioinformatics to examine the effects of long-term exercise on the genes in our muscles. Additionally, he brought six under graduate students to Stockholm to conduct bioinformatics research as part of the U.S.-Sweden Clinical Bioin formatics Research Training Program. Diana Chen, PhD, associate professor of integrated engineering, spent the academic year on sabbatical. She gave several talks and workshops on embedding justice, equity, diversity and inclusion into technical content at the University of Denver’s School of Mines and the Rocky Mountain Alliance for Minority Participation. She was awarded an $800,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for her project in Racial Equity in

Tom Lupfer, professor of practice in computer science, joined the Advisory Council of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue, as well as the Global Tech Security Commission as a technology commissioner for robotics and advanced manufacturing. Truc Ngo, PhD, professor of industrial and systems engineering and associ ate provost for research administra tion, received the 2022-23 University Professorship award and Educational Excellence in the Community award, recognizing her work with late engi neering colleague Sam Burt, stu dents, alumni and San Pedro Parish in the Dominican Republic since 2014. She published two peer- reviewed research articles, one in International Journal of Engineering Education with adjunct professor Jeff Wield and an undergraduate student co-author, and another in Pharmaceutics with co-author Dr. Jae Kim. Dr. Ngo also received a grant award from the San Diego Foundation to provide STEM intern ship experiences for underrepresented high school and college students. Jennifer Olsen, PhD, assistant profes sor of computer science, was a found ing faculty member of the cognitive science minor now offered at the University of San Diego. She also had two chapters published in the Handbook of Artificial Intelligence in Education .

DARLENE SHILEY/ MARK CHAPMAN, PHD

PAULINA DÍAZ-MONTIEL, PHD

MARISSA FORBES, PHD