1 ASEE 2017 Engineering Deans Institute Speaker Biographies Rony Abovitz · 2017-03-29 · ASEE...

1 ASEE 2017 Engineering Deans Institute

Speaker Biographies Rony Abovitz Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of the Magic Leap. Rony founded

Magic Leap in 2011, but was dreaming about such things for most of his life. Prior

to Magic Leap, he was the co-founder and Head of Development and Technology

for MAKO Surgical, the world leader in human-interactive robotics for orthopedic

surgery. Rony was named a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum

for his work on computer-assisted technologies for minimally invasive surgery.

He holds a BS in mechanical engineering (’94) and a MS in biomedical engineering

(’96) from the University of Miami.

Nilza G. Aples Dr. Aples is Dean of Engineering and Computing at the University of Technology,

Jamaica. Prof. Aples is VP of Graduate Education of LACCEI Board, represent

LACCEI Engineering Deans and is a LACCEI Par Amigo, trained by EUR-ACE and

ABET and is part of LACCEI international accreditation experts. Regionally she is

also Member of the Caribbean Accreditation Council for Engineering and

Technology (CACET), which was formed with the assistance of IEEE, since its

inception. She has a BSc in Chemical Engineer from ISPJAE, Cuba and a PhD in

Chemical Engineering from University of Oriente, Cuba. Focus research areas are

energy, waste management, materials and essential oils. She brings the Caribbean

diversity perspective with the need to be multilingual.

Scott A. Ashford Ashford brings experience in both higher education and industry to his leadership

role as dean of the College of Engineering at Oregon State University. After

graduating from Oregon State with a degree in civil engineering, he worked in

private industry for seven years before earning his Ph.D. from the University of

California at Berkeley. Ashford’s research focuses on enhancing public safety and

reducing potential economic loss worldwide from earthquake and coastal

hazards. He works to improve the resilience of the lifeline systems in the Pacific

Northwest to better withstand attack from the Cascadia Subduction Zone. He has

been appointed by Governor Kate Brown and confirmed by the Oregon State

Senate to serve a four-year term on the Governing Board of the Oregon

Department of Geology and Mineral Industries.


Speaker Biographies Robert H. Bishop Dr. Robert H. Bishop, P.E., dean of the College of Engineering at the University

of South Florida, is a distinguished teaching professor and researcher, and a

specialist in the applications of systems and control theory to modern

engineering products. His current research involves development of advanced

spacecraft navigation methods, He has initiated several nanosatellite projects.

He is the co-author of one of the world’s leading undergraduate textbooks in

control theory and authored/co-authored over 125 journal and conference

papers. Prior to USF, Bishop was dean of Marquette’s engineering college after

working as a professor and department chair at The University of Texas at Austin.

Bishop earned his Ph.D. (1990) at Rice University in Electrical and Computer

Engineering, his M.S. (1980) and B.S. (1979) in aerospace engineering at Texas

A&M University. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a Fellow of the

American Astronautical Association.

Daniel Brateris Daniel Brateris is an electrical engineer and engineering educator currently serving as Director of Experiential Learning for the Newark College of Engineering and Program Coordinator for Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). Brateris’s areas of interest include embedded product design, design for manufacturing, engineering entrepreneurship, engineering education, and the impact of hands-on experience based learning. Brateris was educated at Rowan University (B.S. 2009, Electrical and Computer

Engineering; M.S. 2012, Electrical Engineering). Before NJIT he founded

Atlanticus Innovations a consulting firm specializing in the design of LED lighting,

wireless communication systems, mobile hardware, software applications, and

design for manufacturing.

Marc A. Brazeau Marc A. Brazeau was appointed Head of Vehicle & Mexico Logistics and

MOPAR/International Procurement for FCA US LLC in January 2016. In this

position, he is responsible for FCA US vehicle transportation and other NAFTA

and worldwide logistics management activities, which includes developing

logistics strategy; designing and optimizing networks; purchasing transportation

services; controlling logistics operations; and ensuring supply chain quality

standards are met.

Brazeau has held positions on both sides of the supply chain – in the supplier

community with Canadian Pacific Railway and as a shipper with FCA US (including

when the Company was DaimlerChrysler), as well as in global management

consulting.

Brazeau is a former chairman of the AIAG’s Finished Vehicle Supply Chain Visibility committee and has published

several industry benchmarking studies, contributed to supply chain publication articles, and has been a regular

panelist or speaker at global supply chain conferences.

Brazeau holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Georgia State University in Atlanta (2000).

Brazeau was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.


Speaker Biographies Jenna P. Carpenter Jenna P. Carpenter joined Campbell University as Founding Dean of Engineering

in 2015. Her research focuses on innovative STEM (science, technology,

engineering, mathematics) curricula and the success of women in STEM. She has

received over $4.3 million in federal funding and authored more than 130

publications and presentations.

As a national expert on innovative STEM education and supporting the success of

women in STEM fields, she regularly speaks around the country on these issues.

She has a TEDx talk and has written for/been featured in a variety of national

publications, such as the Chronicle of Higher Education, US News and World

Report, BigBeacon Radio, DreamBox Learning, Scholastic Instructor Magazine,

American Way Magazine, SWE Magazine, ASEE Prism Magazine, and MAA Focus

Magazine. She has attended national STEM events such as the White House Science Fair, White House

Champions for Change event, and USA Mathematics Olympiad Banquets.

Carpenter currently serves as Steering Committee Chair for the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Grand

Challenge Scholars Program and is an ABET (engineering accreditation organization) Program Evaluator. She is

Past President of the Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN). Dr. Carpenter is a Fellow of the

American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and past ASEE Vice President of Professional Interest

Councils. Currently she chairs the ASEE Long Range Planning and ASEE Strategic Governance Committees.

For the past six years, Carpenter served as Principal Investigator of Louisiana Tech’s National Science Foundation

(NSF) ADVANCE grant, which worked to create a culture of success for women faculty in STEM. Carpenter is

Immediate Past First Vice-President of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and currently chairs the

MAA Council on the Profession and co-chairs the Joint Committee on Women. Dr. Carpenter advises on diversity

and mentoring programs for a variety of NSF-funded programs and women-serving engineering and science

organizations.

Nikole Collins-Puri With deep experience in the public, private and non-profit sectors, Nikole

Collins-Puri brings strong strategic leadership, organizational and fiscal

management, and fund development skills to her role as Techbridge Girls new

CEO. Most recently, Nikole served as Chief Strategist of Philanthropic

Initiatives at the Women’s Foundation of California. There, she oversaw

program strategy, grant making and cultivated individual and institutional

funders that resulted in over $1.5 million in charitable gifts annually. Nikole’s

prior experiences include leading policy advocacy efforts at the College Board

as their Director of Outreach and nearly 10 years with AT&T where she held

the position of Diversity and Inclusion Director. During her tenure, AT&T’s

ranking in Diversity Inc. Magazine improved from #22 to #2. Nikole holds a

Master of Public Administration from Baruch College, City University of New

York, and a B.A. from the University of South Florida. When not championing equity in STEM Education and

empowering girls, particularly girls of color from low-income households, Nikole enjoys CrossFit, the art of shoe

shopping and spending time with her family.


Speaker Biographies Christine Cunningham Dr. Christine Cunningham is an educational researcher who works to make engineering and science more relevant, accessible, and understandable, especially for underserved and underrepresented populations. A vice president at the Museum of Science, Boston since 2003, she founded and directs Engineering is Elementary™, a groundbreaking project that integrates engineering concepts into elementary curriculum and teacher professional development. As of December 2015, EiE has served 9.8 million children nationwide and 106,000 educators. Cunningham has previously served as director of engineering education research at the Tufts University Center for Engineering Educational Outreach, where her work focused on integrating engineering with science, technology, and math in professional development for K‐12 teachers. She also directed the Women’s Experiences in College Engineering (WECE) project, the first national, longitudinal, large‐scale study of the factors that support young women pursuing engineering degrees. Cunningham is a Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education and was awarded the 2014 International Society for Design and Development in Education Prize and the 2015 IEEE Pre‐University Educator Award. She holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in biology from Yale and a Ph.D. in Science Education from Cornell University. Teresa Dahlberg Teresa Abi-Nader Dahlberg, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, joined Syracuse University in August 2015 to become Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. As dean, Dahlberg is the chief academic and executive officer for the college, with over 100 fulltime faculty, 2,700 students, 10 B.S., 11 M.S., three online and six Ph.D. programs. She was previously Dean of the Albert Nerken School of Engineering and Chief Academic Officer of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York City. At Cooper since 2013, Dahlberg led creation of interdisciplinary programs that combine art, design, technology, and science. Prior to joining Cooper, Dahlberg was Associate Dean of the College of Computing and Informatics at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Charlotte. At UNC Charlotte, Dahlberg established the Wireless Networking Research Lab and the Diversity in Information Technology Institute. She co-founded the STARS Computing Corps, a National Science Foundation alliance for broadening participation. As STARS Director Dahlberg led creation of a service-learning program intended to strengthen the K-12 STEM pipeline and the undergraduate computing pipeline and oversaw adoption of the program by 50 colleges and universities nationwide. Dahlberg has been principle investigator or co-PI for over $20 million in research grants. She served on the Advisory Committee to the National Science Foundation Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) Directorate from 2011 to 2014, and she co-chaired the CISE Education Workforce subcommittee during this time. Dahlberg has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh (1984) and M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from North Carolina State University (1993). She spent ten years as a development engineer for IBM before joining academia.


Speaker Biographies Stephen P. DeWeerth Dr. Stephen P. DeWeerth is Dean of the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and

Applied Science and a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer

Engineering at Lehigh University.

Prior to his arrival at Lehigh as Dean on September 1, 2016, DeWeerth was a

professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at

Georgia Tech and Emory University, a professor in Georgia Tech's School of

Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the Associate Dean for Research and

Innovation for its College of Engineering.

During his tenure at Georgia Tech, he served in numerous leadership positions

including as the Founding Director of the Laboratory for Neuroengineering (an

interdisciplinary research neighborhood and center), as the Director of Graduate Studies for the joint GT/Emory

Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. program, and as the Principle Investigator on an NSF Integrative Graduate

Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) grant and an NIH Bioengineering Research Partnership (BRP) grant.

He was also a founding faculty member in the Coulter BME Department upon its creation in 1999. His research

was focused on the development of real-time models of and interfaces to neural sensorimotor systems,

particularly systems that control rhythmic movement (e.g. locomotion).

From 2010 to 2013, Prof. DeWeerth served as the Founding Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering

(BME) at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and implemented a major redesign of the B.S. curriculum for the

entire College of Engineering. He also served as academic lead for the envisioning of a college of medicine and

health sciences.

DeWeerth received his M.S. in Computer Science and Ph.D. degree in Computational and Neural Systems from

the California Institute of Technology in 1991. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement

of Science (AAAS) and of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).

Jeffrey L. Duerk Jeffrey Duerk is Dean of the Case School of Engineering and Leonard Case

Professor of Engineering at Case Western Reserve University. He began his tenure

as CWRU dean in January 2012.

Duerk received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Case, his MS in Electrical

Engineering from the Ohio State University, and his BS in Electrical Engineering

from Purdue University. He has published nearly 200 scientific articles on subjects

ranging from magnetic resonance imaging acquisition strategies, MRI pulse

sequences, reconstruction algorithms to hardware, along with uses of MRI for

interventional procedures in cancer and cardiovascular diseases among other

clinical applications. He holds nearly 18 patents with 16 licensed to industry.

Duerk is a past President of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in

Medicine (ISMRM), the largest magnetic resonance society with over 5000 members; he currently serves on the

Executive Committee of the IEEE’s Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. His awards include the Silver

Medal from the ISMRM for Distinguished Service and Fellow of the Society. He is also a Fellow of the IEEE, a

Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineers (AIMBE) and among the inaugural class of

Distinguished Radiology Researchers of the Academy of Radiology Research.


Speaker Biographies Maurice R. Ferré Maurice R. Ferré MD is INSIGHTEC’S CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Dr. Ferré brings over 20 years of experience in the medical device industry.

Before INSIGHTEC, Dr. Ferré served as Chairman of the Board and CEO of MAKO

Surgical Corp, a transformational robotic surgical company that he co-founded

in 2004. The company was IPO’d in 2008 and recently sold to Stryker Corp. for

$1.65 billion in 2013. Prior to MAKO, Dr. Ferré was Founder, CEO and President

of Visualization Technology Inc. (1993-2002). VTI became the world leader in

image guided surgery for ENT, cranial and orthopedic procedures. The Company

was acquired by GE Healthcare in 2002.

Dr. Ferré received his Doctor of Medicine and Master of Public Health from

Boston University in 1992. He was also the recipient of the prestigious Ernest & Young 2007 Entrepreneur of the

Year Award. Dr Ferre is currently active on the following boards: Advamed, The Everglades Foundation and

Boston University.

Xavier Fouger An Industrial Engineer, former Science Attaché in Vienna, Xavier Fouger joined

Dassault Systemes in 1990. He developed new innovation processes for various

automotive manufacturers in Germany and Korea. He created the corporate

organization in charge of global academia. He designed cutting edge learning

initiatives for secondary and vocational education in the USA, Malaysia, Canada

and France where he introduced a STEM program for 11,500 middle/high school

students. He initiated PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) competency centres

in India, China, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, Vietnam and Argentina.

He manages research funded by US and European agencies on virtual labs,

collaborative engineering, 3D in MOOCs, Problem Based Learning and textbook

virtualization. He helps institutions and governments in transferring into

educational programs emerging industry practices such as social innovation,

precision agriculture, the Internet of Things or Systems Engineering. A founding member of IFEES and GEDC,

steering committee member of SEFI, he provides lectures and seminars on innovation management in various

engineering and business schools. He was awarded the Peter the First medal of the Association for Engineering

Education of Russia.


Speaker Biographies Molly M. Gribb Dean Molly M. Gribb, joined the College of Engineering, Mathematics and

Science at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville in July 2015. The College of EMS

includes 7 ABET accredited engineering degrees in addition to math, chemistry

and sustainable and renewable energy systems degree programs with an

undergraduate enrollment of ~3400 students. UW-Platteville also offers an

online MS Engineering program. Dr. Gribb previously served as head of civil and

environmental engineering department at the South Dakota School of Mines and

Technology. During her tenure as department head, she developed a new PhD

program in Civil and Environmental Engineering, as well as two undergraduate

minors and initiated campus-wide research strategic planning efforts.

Prior to School of Mines, Dr. Gribb was professor of civil and environmental

engineering at Boise State University. While there, she served as Director of the

Center of Environmental Sensing at Boise State University, and led a multidisciplinary team in the completion of

a multimillion dollar subsurface contaminant sensor project. She has published over 100 papers and abstracts

during her academic career and mentored many undergraduate and graduate students.

Dr. Gribb was a fellow in the Drexel University’s Executive Leadership in Academic Technology and Engineering

class of 2014. She is a registered professional engineer and a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers

(ASCE). Dr. Gribb has served as a member of the ASCE Department Heads’ Coordinating Council, and an editorial

board member of the ASCE GeoStrata magazine and the American Society for Testing and Materials

Geotechnical Testing Journal. She currently serves on ABET’s Academic Advisory Council and Kiewit

Corporation’s University Advisory Council.

Matt Haggman Matt Haggman joined Knight Foundation in 2011. In his role as Miami program director, Haggman leads Knight’s communities program in South Florida and launched the foundation’s initiative aimed at connecting and propelling Miami’s emerging entrepreneurs and startups as a way of building community. Previously, Haggman was an award-winning journalist covering issues of local and national importance. He initially covered legal affairs for the Daily Business Review in Miami before moving to the Miami Herald, where he spent nearly eight years covering real estate and local politics, and worked as an investigative reporter. Haggman won numerous awards for his work, including a Gerald Loeb Award, the highest honor in business journalism. In his last two years at the Miami Herald, he twice won the President’s Award, which honors the best work in the McClatchy newspaper chain. In his last full year as a journalist, the Miami New Times named him as the Best Miami Herald Reporter in its annual “Best of Miami” awards. Haggman serves on the boards of Endeavor Miami, New World Symphony and The LAB Miami. He is an advisory board member of New Leaders Council Miami and The Miami Foundation’s “Our Miami” initiative. He is also a founding member of TEDxMiami, which has presented programs to sold-out audiences each of the last four years. Haggman is a longtime volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Miami. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Tulane University and a law degree from Vermont Law School. Haggman and his wife, Danet Linares, live in Miami.


Speaker Biographies Gerald D. Holder Gerald D. Holder is U.S. Steel Dean of Engineering, Distinguished Service

Professor and Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Swanson School of

Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. He received his BA from Kalamazoo

College and his BSE, MSE and PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of

Michigan. He has served on the faculties of Columbia University and

subsequently the University of Pittsburgh. He has been Dean of the Swanson

School since 1996 leading a period of substantial growth in enrollment, student

quality, and faculty research. He has also had brief periods of employment at

Exxon, Gulf Oil and General Motors.

Dr. Holder is a member of ASEE, AIChE – Fellow, SPE, AAAS - Fellow, and ACS. He

currently serves as Chair of the ASEE EDC Executive Board.

Ranu Jung Ranu Jung holds the Wallace H. Coulter Eminent Scholars Chair in Biomedical

Engineering at Florida International University (FIU) where she is Interim Dean of

the College of Engineering and Computing, Professor & Chairman of Biomedical

Engineering and Director of the Adaptive Neural Systems Laboratory. She

received her Bachelors with Distinction in Electronics & Communication

Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Warangal, India and her

Masters and Doctoral degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western

Reserve University. Jung’s honors include induction into the College of Fellows of

the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, appointment as

Commissioner after senate approval to the Arizona Biomedical Research

Commission and several awards including the 2011 New Florida Scholar’s Boost

Award from the State of Florida, the 2002 Science and Engineering Award,

Governor’s Certificate of Recognition, Commonwealth of Kentucky, the 2016 Outstanding Faculty Member

Torch Award from FIU, the 2012 Top Scholar award at FIU, a Whitaker Young Investigator Award, a N.E. Oho

American Heart Associate Research Fellowship, and a National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

National Research Service Award. She is past-President of the international Organization for Computational

Neurosciences, Inc. She has chaired or served on advisory committees and scientific review panels for the US

National Institutes of Health, the US National Science Foundation, research foundations, international

universities and professional journals. Professor Jung’s research interests are in neural engineering and

computational neuroscience. With a longer than two-decade record of competitive federal funding she has been

an entrepreneur and a leader in establishing academic-clinical-industrial partnerships. Postdoctoral fellows and

graduate students who have completed their training under her direct supervision, hold tenured and research

faculty positions in academia as well as leading positions in industry. Of special interest to her are biohybrid

systems that merge biologically inspired technologies with humans for recovery and restoration of lost function.

She co-founded Advensys LLC, a small business R&D company. Her team has developed the first implantable,

wirelessly controlled, direct neural interface system for restoring sensations to amputees and has received FDA

approval for conducting a first-in-human trial for this novel Class-III medical device system. In 2011 she

conceived, edited and published “Biohybrid Systems: Nerves, Interfaces and Machines” and in 2015 as co-Editor-

in-Chief she published the first edition of a four volume “Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience”.


Speaker Biographies Jung has considerable experience in leading change and promoting growth in the academic and non-profit

sectors using a collaborative, empowering approach. As Interim Dean of the College of Engineering and

Computing at FIU, she took the initiative to establish new programs and restructure others in order to address

state-mandated academic performance metrics and the aspirational research goals of the University. Under her

leadership specific strategies and action plans were developed and each of the metrics improved.

She also seeded new international partnerships and dual-degree programs with universities in China, Europe

and South-America. Additionally, she launched new marketing and outreach efforts and oversaw renovation

and establishment of new educational, research and administrative spaces. As Chair of the Department of

Biomedical Engineering which is endowed by the Coulter Foundation, she established research areas of

excellence that guided faculty recruitment and initiated programs for increased student engagement. As

President of the non-profit Organization for Computational Neuroscience, she led an international board of

scientists and established an international presence for the organization, implemented new operational

infrastructure, developed agreements for new print and digital publications with a major publisher, and

established fiscal stability and sustainability for the young organization.

Moshe Kam Moshe Kam is an electrical engineer and engineering educator currently serving

as Dean of the Newark College of Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of

Technology (NJIT). Kam’s areas of interests are in multi-sensor systems, sensor

networks, data fusion, robot navigation, and data mining. He developed data

fusion architectures for asynchronous operation, highly-correlated sensors, real-

time adaptation, low bandwidth, and the detection and isolation of faults in

large-scale systems and networks.

Kam was educated in Tel Aviv University (B.S. 1976, Electrical Engineering) and

Drexel University (M.S. 1985, Electrical Engineering; Ph.D., 1987). Before NJIT, he

served as the Robert G. Quinn Professor and Department Head of Electrical and

Computer Engineering at Drexel University. In 2011, he served concurrently as

the 49th President and CEO of IEEE. Earlier he was IEEE’s Vice President for

Educational Activities (2005–2007). Among his activities in engineering education is the creation of the web

portal TryEngineering.org (a joint project of IEEE, IBM and the New York Hall of Science). The portal is currently

the most popular on-line resource on engineering education as measured by its use by students, parents and

school counselors.

Dean Kamen Dean Kamen is an inventor, an entrepreneur, and a tireless advocate for science

and technology. His roles as inventor and advocate are intertwined—his own

passion for technology and its practical uses has driven his personal

determination to spread the word about technology's virtues and by so doing to

change the culture of the United States.

As an inventor, he holds more than 440 U.S. and foreign patents, many of them

for innovative medical devices that have expanded the frontiers of health care

worldwide. While still a college undergraduate, he invented the first wearable

infusion pump, which rapidly gained acceptance from such diverse medical

specialties as oncology, neonatology, and endocrinology. In 1976, he founded his


Speaker Biographies first medical device company, AutoSyringe, Inc., to manufacture and market the pumps. Then, working with

leading diabetes researchers, Dean pioneered the design and adoption of the first portable insulin pump. It was

quickly demonstrated that using a pump could much more effectively control patients’ blood glucose levels. At

age 30, he sold AutoSyringe to Baxter Healthcare Corporation.

Following the sale of AutoSyringe, Inc., he founded DEKA Research & Development Corporation to develop

internally generated inventions as well as to provide research and development for major corporate

clients. Kamen led DEKA's development of the HomeChoiceTM peritoneal dialysis system for Baxter International

Inc. The HomeChoiceTM system allows patients to be dialyzed in the privacy and comfort of their home and

quickly became the worldwide market leader. Kamen also led the development of technology to improve slide

preparation for the CYTYC (now Hologic Inc.) ThinPrep® Pap Test. Kamen-led DEKA teams have also developed

critical components of the UVARTM XTSTM System, an extracorporeal photophereisis device marketed by

Therakos, a unit of Johnson & Johnson, for treatment of T-Cell lymphoma. An advanced prosthetic arm in

development for DARPA should advance the quality of life for returning injured soldiers. Other notable

developments include the HydroflexTM surgical irrigation pump for C.R. Bard, the CrownTM stent, an

improvement to the original Palmaz-Schatz stent, for Johnson & Johnson, the iBOTTM mobility device, and the

Segway® Human Transporter.

Kamen has received many awards for his efforts. Notably, Kamen was awarded the National Medal of

Technology in 2000. Presented by President Clinton, this award was in recognition for inventions that have

advanced medical care worldwide, and for innovative and imaginative leadership in awakening America to the

excitement of science and technology. Kamen was also awarded the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2002, and was

inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May 2005. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for

Medical & Biological Engineering, and has been a member of the National Academy of Engineering since 1997.

In 2010, Dean hosted the Planet Green television series Dean of Invention. In addition to DEKA, one of Dean's

proudest accomplishments is founding FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), an

organization dedicated to motivating the next generation to understand, use and enjoy science and technology.

Founded in 1989, this year FIRST® will serve more than 400,000 young people, ages 6 to 18, in more than 86

countries around the globe. Last year, high-school-aged participants were eligible to apply for more than $50

million in scholarships from over 200 leading colleges, universities, and corporations.

Melvin (Mel) Kirk Mel Kirk is Senior Vice-President and Chief Information Officer for Ryder System,

Inc., a Fortune 500 commercial fleet management, dedicated transportation, and

supply chain solutions company. In this role, Mr. Kirk is responsible for all aspects

of Ryder’s IT organization, including technology vision and strategy, operations

and project management, infrastructure and software development, resource

optimization, and systems development lifecycle. Mel is also a member of Ryder’s

Executive Leadership Team.

Mr. Kirk is a globally seasoned executive with extensive experience in multiple

industrial segments, having led service businesses in the Security, Financial

Services and Energy sectors. Mel joined Ryder System Inc., in March 2012 as Vice

President of Quality and was subsequently elevated in 2013 into the role of Vice

President of Maintenance, Engineering & Quality Operations within the Fleet Management Solutions

organization. In that role, his strong leadership and commitment to teamwork helped Ryder usher in a new era

of low emission engine technologies, while launching new diagnostic tools and quality measures that enhanced

the performance of the Company’s industry-leading maintenance organization.


Speaker Biographies A certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt, Mel was previously the Vice President and General Manager, Global

Service at Safran’s Morpho Detection, Inc. (formerly GE Homeland Protection). At GE Homeland Protection, he

orchestrated an impressive turnaround of the international services business unit. Mel also held key leadership

roles in several functions including manufacturing, quality, business development and service operations during

his tenure at GE. He was also successful in integrating several acquired businesses and has experience in

M&A due diligence. Mel was honored as the GE ICON award winner for Operations in recognition of his

turnaround of the SW Region Energy Services business unit’s customer satisfaction, services metrics and

profitability. He has consistently been invited to speak at conferences and meetings on leadership, operational

excellence, diversity & inclusion and professional growth topics. Additionally, Mel has held various roles of

increasing responsibility in engineering and operations management with Merck, Pillsbury and General Mills

prior to joining GE in 1996. Mel, an Augusta, GA native, received a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial

Engineering from the University of Tennessee. He also holds an MBA from the Olin School of Business at

Washington University, St. Louis, MO where he was a fellow in the Consortium for Graduate Study in

Management. Mel has two daughter and he currently resides in Miami, FL.

Louis A. Martin-Vega Dr. Louis A. Martin-Vega has served as Dean of the College of Engineering at North

Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina since 2006. With over 10,000

students, 750 faculty and staff and $175M in annual research expenditures, NC

State’s College of Engineering is internationally recognized for the excellence of

its research and educational programs. Prior to joining NC State, he spent five

years as dean of engineering at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida

and has served as Chair of the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing

Systems Engineering at Lehigh University, as Lockheed Professor in the College of

Engineering at Florida Tech and held tenured faculty positions at the University of

Florida and UPR-Mayaguez. He has also held several prestigious positions at the

National Science Foundation (NSF) including acting head of its Engineering

Directorate and director of its Division of Design, Manufacture and Industrial

Innovation.

Martin-Vega is a Fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers

(SME). His recognitions include the 1999 IIE Albert Holzman Distinguished Educator Award, the 2007 National

Hispanic Scientist of the Year Award from the Tampa Museum of Science and Industry, the 2008 Outstanding

Engineer in North Carolina Award from the NC Society of Engineers, the Industrial and Systems Engineering

Alumni Leadership Award from the University of Florida in 2009, and the 2012 Frank and Lillian Gilbreth

Industrial Engineering Award, IIE’s highest honor. He is a past president of IIE, a member of the Pan American

Academy of Engineering and the HENACC Hall of Fame and was named as one of the 50 Most Influential

Hispanics in the US by Hispanic Business magazine in 2014. A former chair of the ASEE Engineering Deans Council

he is now President of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).

Martin-Vega holds a B.S. in industrial engineering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, an M.S. in

operations research from New York University and M.E. and Ph.D. degrees in industrial and systems engineering

from the University of Florida.


Speaker Biographies Natalia Martinez-Kalinina Natalia is an organizational psychologist and technologist focused on merging innovation, entrepreneurship, and impact. Her passion hinges on creating communities that are true/inclusive ecosystems - a goal that is informed by her life as a twice-immigrant, interest in cross-disciplinary intersections, fascination with complex systems, and desire to bridge opportunity gaps. Most recently she has done so by leading the expansion of the Cambridge Innovation Center to Miami. CIC is the US’s oldest/largest gathering hub of startup activity, labeled a leader in creating innovation districts (Brookings Institution) due to our economic impact, urban development, and community engagement initiatives. Prior to that, she served as the Chief Innovation & Technology Officer for a nonprofit focused on Cuba, which allowed her to directly impact the least connected country in the hemisphere. She has stayed involved with this issue, recently co-authoring the 10x10K Cuba innovation challenge, the first ever startup competition for entrepreneurs on the island. She moved to Miami from NYC to work as one of six product strategists for Ultimate Software, a $5B human resources software company, focusing on how to bridge psychology, access to data, and software development to affect employee engagement and build intelligent teams. She is also the founder of Awesome Foundation Miami, the local chapter of a global network of grassroots microgrant giving hubs that have awarded more than $1.8 million globally to small, local ideas. Natalia also serves as the Vice President of LatAm expansion of the Latino Startup Alliance and a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Shapers community. She has been involved in bringing initiatives such as Sandbox and Angel Summit Americas to Miami, had judged various startup and innovation pitches, including the Voto Latino Innovators Challenge, a $500,000 tech competition for millennials between the ages of 18 and 34 in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation and Google. For this and other work, Natalia has also been appointed by Florida Governor Rick Scott to serve on the Governor’s Commission on Community Service, a body that oversees the administration of $24 million in federal, state, and local funding to deliver high-impact educational and volunteer programs in Florida. Natalia is a regular contributor to outlets such as The Huffington Post, the World Economic Forum, and La Nacion. She holds a B.A. in Psychology and Government from Harvard University and an M.A. in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University.

Manuel Medina Manuel D. Medina, the founder and managing partner of Medina Capital, has more than 30 years of experience as a highly successful businessman with expertise in areas including technology, finance, international business and government contracting. He has a track record of successfully raising funds across the entire capital structure during periods of rapid change in the macroeconomic environment and raised over $1 billion for companies, significantly increasing value and providing growth to enterprises through all types of economic climates.

Medina is also the founder and chairman of the board of eMerge Americas, the premier B2B technology event connecting the U.S., Latin America and Europe. He has been recognized with accolades from many business and community organizations for his leadership and community service. He is a frequent speaker on topics ranging from technology trends and global business to entrepreneurship, and has served as a panelist and keynote speaker at large conferences and IT industry tradeshows. He also delivers inspiring commencement addresses to students at colleges and universities. Medina’s leadership in the IT industry and insightful analysis of market trends have resulted in appearances on CNBC, Bloomberg TV and Fox Business, as well as interviews


Speaker Biographies with internationally recognized media outlets on topics such as the rising adoption of cloud computing, cybersecurity and the dynamics driving key government IT initiatives. Medina was the founder, chairman of the board and CEO of Terremark Worldwide, Inc., a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ until April 2011 when Terremark was acquired by Verizon for $2 billion. Under his leadership, Terremark distinguished itself as the leading global provider of managed IT infrastructure services for Fortune 500 enterprises and federal government agencies. At Terremark, Medina brought his vision to deliver a comprehensive set of best-of-breed IT infrastructure services from purpose-built, carrier-neutral data center facilities to fruition. Medina began his career in 1974 as a CPA with PricewaterhouseCoopers. He founded Terremark in 1980 and undertook complex infrastructure projects throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. Medina received his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Florida Atlantic University.

Gary J. Miller Gary J. Miller, Ph.D. is a founder and has been executive vice president of research

and development at Exactech, Inc. since February 2000. He was vice president of

research and development from 1986 until 2000 and was a director from March

1989 until November 2007. Miller was associate professor of Orthopaedic Surgery

and director of research and biomechanics at the University of Florida College of

Medicine from July 1986 until August 1996. Miller received his Bachelor of Science

from the University of Florida, his Master of Science (biomechanics) from

Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his Doctor of Philosophy in mechanical

engineering (biomechanics) from the University of Florida.

Miller has previously held an adjunct associate professorship in the College of

Veterinary Medicine’s Small Animal Surgical Sciences Division and has served as an

adjunct associate professor in the Department of Aerospace, Mechanics and Engineering Sciences from 1995

until 2010 at the University of Florida. He currently serves on the Dean's advisory board in the Wertheim College

of Engineering at the University of Florida. He also serves on the College's external advisory boards for the J.

Crayton Pruitt Department of Biomedical Engineering and for the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace

Engineering, where he also is appointed as Courtesy Professor. Miller was a consultant to the United States Food

and Drug Administration from 1989 to 1992 and has served as a consultant to such companies as Johnson &

Johnson Orthopaedics, Dow-Corning Wright and Orthogenesis.


Speaker Biographies Maj Mirmirani Dr. Maj Mirmirani has served as the Dean of the College of Engineering at Embry-

Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) at Daytona Beach Florida since 2007. Since

September 2017, he also has been serving as ERAU’s Interim Senior Vice

President for Academic Affairs and Research. Prior to joining ERAU, Dr. Mirmirani

was a professor of Mechanical Engineering and a department chair at California

State University, Los Angeles (CSUILA). At CSULA he was co-director of a NASA

center and founder and director of the Multidisciplinary Flight Dynamics and

Control Laboratory. Dr. Mirmirani’s research interest is in the area of controls

and many of its applications. Through his research related to airbreathing

hypersonic air vehicles, he has made notable contributions to the understanding

of the complex flight dynamics of this class of aircraft. At CSULA he built multi-

million-dollar funded research programs focused on aerospace engineering,

which continues to this date. Most notable among the projects he has led or contributed to include: design and

fabrication of a full-scale precision, segmented reflector testbed with a pointing and shape control accuracy of

a real space-based telescope, development of long endurance hydrogen fuel-cell powered UAV among others.

Dr. Mirmirani holds a M.S. and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley

and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Amir Kabir University in Tehran.

Dr. Mirmirani is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and an Associate Fellow of

the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). He serves on the executive committee of the

Global Engineering Deans Council and Orlando’s Regional FIRST Robotics board. He has served as an advisor to

US Air Force’s Flight Viability Board, and the start-ups SoloPower, and NuTool. He is an avid aviator, an

instrument rated private pilot and a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilot Association (AOPA).

Elizabeth Ogden As PortMiami’s Assistant Port Director of Capital Development, Ms. Elizabeth Ogden presently oversees the planning, design and implementation of projects totaling nearly $80 million annually, as well as the development and operations of the Port’s Information Technology Division. Ms. Ogden began her career with Miami-Dade County in 1994 leading recovery projects in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew. Over the course of the two decades since then, she has been called on to manage several challenging areas of architecture, engineering and construction for the Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center, Miami International Airport (MIA), Miami-Dade Public Housing and currently PortMiami. A Registered Architect and LEED Associate Professional, Ms. Ogden boasts over 28 years of experience in implementing capital improvement programs. Her active membership in the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) includes earning the AAPA Professional Port Manager certification, and serving on the AAPA Facilities Engineering Committee as both member and former Chairwoman. In addition, she currently serves as a member on Miami-Dade County’s Sustainability Board and Community Image Advisory Board (CIAB). A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Ms. Ogden earned her Bachelors of Science degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a double major of Building Sciences and Architecture.


Speaker Biographies Bryan J. Olnick Bryan J. Olnick is vice president of distribution operations in power delivery. In his

current role, Mr. Olnick is responsible for the operation and maintenance of FPL’s

electric distribution infrastructure including control center operations that serve

the more than 4.8 million customer accounts in the company’s service territory.

He leads a workforce of over 1,500 engineers, technicians and union employees.

Most recently, Mr. Olnick served as vice president of customer service Smart Grid

Solutions, responsible for strategic development, deployment and operation of

FPL’s Advanced Metering Initiative (AMI). He also led the development of FPL’s

key smart grid strategies and initiatives including the $850 million dollar Energy

Smart Florida (ESF) project, which was partially funded by a $200 million dollar

grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Mr. Olnick has 30 years of experience in the electric utility industry and has held various key leadership positions

in the areas of electric distribution operations, engineering and construction, customer service, commercial and

governmental account management, incident command and emergency management, system control center

operations, quality and process management, labor relations, and smart grid.

Mr. Olnick received a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Florida and

Master’s degree in Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University. He is also a graduate of

executive education programs at both Columbia University and the Darden School of Business. He proudly

served with distinction for five years in the United States Air Force in the US, Europe and Middle East. He is a

member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Florida Engineering Society, Edison Electric Institute,

the Southeastern Electric Exchange Executive Committee, Association of Edison Illuminating Companies

Executive Board, Florida International University College of Engineering and Computing Executive Advisory

Council and Miami Museum of Science Board of Trustees.

Florida Power & Light Company is the third-largest electric utility in the United States, serving more than 4.8

million customer accounts or more than 10 million people across nearly half of the state of Florida. The company

received the top ranking in the southern U.S. among large electric providers, according to the J.D. Power 2016

Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction StudySM, and was recognized in 2016 as one of the most

trusted U.S. electric utilities by Market Strategies International. A leading Florida employer with approximately

8,800 employees, FPL is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Fla.-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), a clean energy

company widely recognized for its efforts in sustainability, ethics and diversity, and has been ranked No. 1 in

the electric and gas utilities industry in Fortune's 2016 list of "World's Most Admired Companies." NextEra

Energy is also the parent company of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which, together with its affiliated entities,

is the world's largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun. For more information about

NextEra Energy companies, visit these websites: www.NextEraEnergy.com, www.FPL.com,

www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.


Speaker Biographies Carlos R. Costa Posada Dr. Costa Posada leads ACOFI, one of the largest Deans Council and Engineering Education Societies in Latin America, with 113 member institutions it associates 85% of Colombian engineering programs. Pursuing quality as its main objective, ACOFI is strongly committed to foster accreditation and internationalization amongst its members. Cooperation with Latin-American and North-American countries is instrumental to achieve its goals. Dr. Costa is a Civil engineer from Los Andes University in Colombia and has a PhD from Cambridge University, UK. Former Minister of Environment, Housing and Development, he was also Director of the Environmental Unit of the National Planning Department, Director of the National Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and the Environment and worked for the Latin America and the Caribbean Unit of the World Bank amongst other positions. He is currently the Engineering Dean at the University of La Salle Bogotá, one of the few institutions in Colombia with high quality recognition from the local accreditation body. His areas of research are Environmental Sustainability, Disaster Risk Management and Climate change. B.L. Ramakrishna Ramakrishna received his Ph.D from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and

joined the faculty at Arizona State University in 1985. The research questions that

he investigated lie at the crossroads of Biology and Engineering. He studied

biological supramolecular assemblies such as proteins, membranes, and DNA that

are capable of incorporating inorganic solids and precisely engineer their size,

shape, and orientation at the nanometer scale. From 2001 to 2011 he directed the

NSF-sponsored GK-12 project, whose goal was to integrate seamlessly the

educational efforts at the university and secondary school levels for strengthening

the pipeline to recruit highly motivated and well prepared students into STEM

careers.

From 2009-2013, he was the director of Arizona State University’s Grand

Challenge Scholars program. He is dedicated to preparing engineers that not only have the necessary

engineering skills but also the cross-disciplinary knowledge, entrepreneurial spirit, global perspective and a

sense of mission needed to lead our country and the world to meet the great challenges facing humankind in

the 21st century. From 2011 -2016, he was the Diane and Gary Tooker Professor at the Fulton Schools of

Engineering and a member of the Humanitarian engineering faculty till his retirement in 2016.

In 2013, he was selected to be a Jefferson Science Fellow and as a cohort of 4 engineers, 4 scientists and 4

doctors, he served as a senior science and technology advisor to the Office of the Secretary of State. He helped

guide US’s international relations through the lens of “engineering for sustainable development” and was a part

of the team working on President Obama’s Power Africa presidential initiative.

In January 2017, he accepted a position at the National Academies as the Director of the Grand Challenge

Scholar Program Network. His main responsibilities are to broaden and deepen the impact of the National

Academy of Engineering’s program across the US and around the world by forging vibrant partnerships between

universities, engineering societies, industry, civil society and governments.


Speaker Biographies Mark B. Rosenberg Mark B. Rosenberg is president of Florida International University. A public

institution of higher education, FIU is the face of the country’s future in higher

education demographics: it is a majority-minority institution that leads the

country in the production of minority degrees in the sciences and engineering.

Dr. Rosenberg has served as the fifth president of FIU since August 2009. A

political scientist specializing in Latin America, Dr. Rosenberg is the first FIU

faculty member to ascend to the university’s presidency. From 2005 to 2009, Dr.

Rosenberg served as the second Chancellor (first that was formally selected by

the Board of Governors) for the State University System of Florida. As chancellor,

Dr. Rosenberg led the system’s strategic development and financial planning and

policy initiatives, working closely with Gov. Jeb Bush and Gov. Charlie Crist and

the state legislature to secure support for SUS priorities. Prior to becoming chancellor, Dr. Rosenberg was

integrally involved in the expansion and development of FIU into a major public research university. As Provost

and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs from 1998 to 2005, Dr. Rosenberg spearheaded the

establishment of a law school in 2002 and a medical school in 2006. Dr. Rosenberg’s academic career began at

FIU in 1976 as an assistant professor of political science. In 1979, he founded the FIU Latin American and

Caribbean Center, which today is one of the nation’s premier federally-supported research and teaching centers

focusing on the region. Dr. Rosenberg subsequently served as the Founding Dean of the College of Urban and

Public Affairs and Vice Provost for International Studies. He has also been a Visiting Distinguished Research

Professor at The Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, and a Visiting Professor at the Instituto Tecnologico

de Monterrey (ITESM) in Mexico.

Dr. Rosenberg earned a B.A. in 1971 from Miami University of Ohio and a Ph.D. in Political Science with a

graduate certificate in Latin American and Caribbean Studies from the University of Pittsburgh in 1976. He has

written or co-edited seven books and numerous scholarly articles in leading journals. He is a member of the

Council on Foreign Relations, has testified before Congress numerous times, and has served as a consultant to

the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Rosenberg serves as Chair of the Association of Public Land-Grant University’s (APLU) Commission on Access,

Diversity, and Excellence (CADE); Chair of the National Academies’ Committee on Developing Indicators for

Undergraduate STEM Education; and serves on the Board of Directors of the Coalition of Urban Serving

Universities (USU) where he is Co-Chair of the Student Performance Strand.

Within Miami-Dade County, Dr. Rosenberg is the Chair of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce (GMCC),

one of Florida’s leading business associations. He serves on the Board of Directors of City National Bank of

Florida, and recently ended a 5-year term as Chair of the Academic Leaders Council (ALC) for the Beacon Council,

Miami-Dade County’s official economic development organization. Dr. Rosenberg has also been active in a

variety of other civic organizations, including the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach, Florida Council of 100, and

United Way.


Speaker Biographies Thomas P. Russell Dr. Thomas Russell was selected as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for

Research and Technology and Army Chief Scientist in April 2016. He is responsible

for policy and oversight of the Army’s Research and Technology program, which

spans 16 Laboratories and Research, Development and Engineering Centers, employs

nearly 12,000 scientists and engineers, and has an annual budget that exceeds $2.4

billion.

In this position, Dr. Russell is charged with identifying, developing, and

demonstrating technology options that inform and enable effective and affordable

capabilities for the Soldier. His science and technology portfolio covers basic

research to demonstrating component, subsystem, manufacturing technology, and

technology system prototypes. It is executed by the Army’s research, development and engineering

laboratories and centers; academia; and industrial and international partners.

Prior to this assignment, Dr. Russell served as the Director of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory for three years.

In this position, he led 3,000 military, civilian, and contractor employees providing the Army innovative science,

technology, and analysis to enable full-spectrum operations with annual revenue exceeding $1 billion.

Prior to joining the Department of the Army, Dr. Russell served as Director of the Air Force Office of Scientific

Research (AFOSR) from 2010–2013 where he oversaw the management of the Air Force’s basic research

investments. He led a team of 200 scientists, engineers, and administrators located in Arlington, VA, and in the

foreign technology offices in London, Tokyo and Santiago, Chile. He managed the AFOSR’s the investment

portfolio that exceeded $500 million, and he transitioned the resulting discoveries to other components of the

Air Force Research Laboratory, to defense industries, and to other federal agencies. Dr. Russell served as the

Director of the Aerospace and Material Sciences Directorate within AFOSR where he was responsible for the Air

Force’s basic research program in aerospace, chemical, and material sciences.

From 1997-2006, Dr. Russell served with the Department of the Navy as the Director, Research, Development,

Testing and Evaluation Directorate at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head, MD; Section Head, High

Energy Materials Section, Chemistry Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C., and as a research

scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C. and at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, White

Oak Laboratory, White Oak, MD.

Dr. Russell received a Ph.D.in chemistry, University of Delaware and a B.S. in chemistry, Muhlenberg College.

He is the recipient of a Navy Superior Civilian Service award. Dr. Russell was selected in 2006 to the Senior

Executive Service and is Defense Acquisition Workforce Level III certified in Engineering. He is a member of the

Army Acquisition Corps, the Joint Department of Defense/Department of Energy Munitions Technology

Development Program, the Joint Insensitive Munitions Program, and the Joint Fuse Technology Program.


Speaker Biographies Javier A. Páez Saavedra Javier A. Páez Saavedra is Dean of the Division of Engineering at Universidad del Norte (UNINORTE), Colombia. Mechanical Engineer from Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla - Colombia. He earned his Master of Business Administration, his Specialist in Finance and his Specialist in Taxation from the same University. He has served as founding vice president for the Americas IFEES (International Federation of Engineering Education Societies), as president of ASIBEI (Iberoamerican Association of Engineering Education), vice president of LACCEI (Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions) and as president of ACOFI (Colombian Association of Engineering Colleges). He helped launch the GEDC Latin American Chapter. He was the first in Colombia to seek ABET accreditation, accredited all its programs. UNINORTE is a private university in Barranquilla, Atlantico, Colombia in an industrial region with 3 ports. UNINORTE does many projects with industry.

Jen Day Shaw Dr. Jen Day Shaw is the Associate Vice President/Dean of Students at the

University of Florida which serves 54,000 students as a land grant AAU institution.

The Associate Vice President/ Dean of Students' responsibilities include oversight

of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution, Disability Resource Center, New

Student and Family Programs (which includes Preview, First Year Florida, the

Common Reader program, Convocation, orientations for special populations and

family support such as Family Weekend), the Student Veterans Success Center,

assistance for students in distress (including creating U Matter We Care, the Food

Pantry and the Gator Career Closet, supervision of medical withdrawals, and a

wide variety of assistance for students in distress) as well as managing the 24-hour

crisis/emergency duty for the campus and serving as chair of the Behavioral

Consultation Team, the Crisis Response Team, the Protest Team and the

Emergency Deans. She serves as the Division of Student Affairs' liaison to Academic Affairs to ensure a seamless

learning experience for students. She also has supervisory responsibility for the Career Resource Center and

Student Activities and Involvement including Sorority and Fraternity Affairs, student organizations, student

events and leadership and service. Since 2010 when Jen joined UF, she has been awarded the Student

Government Service to Students Award for 2011-2012 and 2014-2015, the state-wide NASPA Outstanding

Service to Students Award for 2012, the 2015 National Campus Safety Facilitator Award, the 2016 National

Campus Safety Award from NASPA, and was honorary Co-Chair of the National Law and Policy Conference in

2017. Jen teaches in the Student Personnel in Higher Education masters program and First Year Florida for

freshmen every year. She has published chapters in several books regarding threat assessment and serving

students in distress and has served as keynote and plenary speaker at numerous national events.

Dr. Shaw received her Ph.D. in Higher Education with a minor in Research Methods and Statistics at Florida State

University, her masters of science in College Student Personnel Services at Miami University at Oxford, Ohio and

her bachelor of arts at Transylvania University. Her areas of interest are campus safety issues, crisis

management, and assisting students in distress. Currently she serves on the Campus Safety Knowledge

Community National Board for the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) and is a

member of the national Panel of Experts for the Virginia Tech Victims Family Foundation.


Speaker Biographies Larry Stauffer Larry Stauffer has been the dean of the College of Engineering at the University

of Idaho since 2011. As dean he oversees and establishes priorities for the second

largest college at UI. The College of Engineering is one of the leading engineering

programs in the northwest and is one of the university’s oldest and most well-

respected colleges with over 11 thousand living alumni.

He has been a mechanical engineering faculty member at the UI since 1987 and

served in various administrative positions since 1996.

Stauffer earned his bachelor and master degrees from Virginia Polytechnic

Institute and State University and doctorate from Oregon State University. He is

also a licensed professional engineer with the State of Idaho.

Jeffrey A. Steiger Jeffrey Allen Steiger is an organizational consultant, a clinical instructor of

psychiatry at the George Washington University School of Medicine, and Artistic

Director of the New Theater of Medicine. Jeffrey has applied theater as an

intervention and educational tool at over 80 institutions including Harvard,

Stanford, Universidad de la República, MIT, and the University of Nagoya. He

regularly works with theater-making processes to explore a variety of research

topics. His efforts include a performance project with Robert Mankoff, editor of

the New Yorker Cartoons, on using improvisation to explore Mankoff's ideas

regarding status and the psycho-biological roots of humor, and a study with with

Dr. Sari Van Anders, “Effects of Gendered Behavior on Testosterone in Women

and Men" (The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Oct, 2015),

which used actors to test how gender norms might modulate testosterone as

mediated by two possible gender testosterone pathways. In addition to providing consultations to academic

institutions, Jeffrey is funded to continue the development of TANGLES, a musical about a family coping with

the affects of Alzheimer's Disease.

Cecilia A. Paredes Verduga Dr. Cecilia Paredes is current Academic Vice Rector at Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL), Ecuador. Dr. Paredes, Immediate Past President of LACCEI (Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions) led the process of ABET accreditation for programs at ESPOL. ESPOL is top a public university in Ecuador, with primarily a technical focus in the areas of engineering; it also has economics, business administration, and graphic design/nutrition programs. The university has 10,000 undergraduate students and 1,500 graduate students. Faculty members include approximately 800 professors. Dr. Paredes is also the Academic Member of the National Council for Higher Education of Ecuador (CES), Assistant Dean of the Mechanical Engineering Department, Director of Laboratory for Materials and Metrology Testing – responsible for accreditation under ISO 17025 standards, Program Director of Project 6 “Research of non-metallic materials” of VLIR-ESPOL, and Tenured Professor of the Mechanical Engineering Department.


Speaker Biographies

Vincent Wilczynski Vincent Wilczynski is the Deputy Dean of the Yale School of Engineering &

Applied Science and the James S. Tyler Director of the Yale Center for

Engineering Innovation & Design. As the Deputy Dean, he helps plan and

implement all academic initiatives at the School. In addition, he manages the

School's teaching and research resources and facilities. As the James S. Tyler

Director of the Center for Engineering Innovation & Design he leads the School's

efforts to promote collaboration, creativity, design and manufacturing activities

at Yale's academic makerspace.

His professional interests in Mechanical Engineering are in the areas of data

acquisition/analysis and mechanical design. He is the Co-Chair of the Executive

Advisory Board of the FIRST Foundation and is a Fellow of the American Society

of Mechanical Engineering. Previously, he was the Dean of Engineering at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and

has had fellowships at the MIT Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, the Harvard School of Public Health and with

the American Council on Education. He has also served as the Vice President of Public Awareness for the

American Society of Mechanical Engineers and was the 2001 Baccalaureate College Professor of the Year by the

Carnegie Foundation, the only national award that recognizes outstanding college teaching.

Sharon L. Wood

Sharon L. Wood is the Dean of the Cockrell School of Engineering and holds the

Cockrell Family Chair in Engineering #14 at the University of Texas at Austin, where

she has been a member of the faculty for more than 20 years. Prior to her

appointment as dean, Wood served as chair of the Department of Civil,

Architectural and Environmental Engineering and director of the Ferguson

Structural Engineering Laboratory.

Wood’s research interests focus on the design and behavior of concrete

structures. Early in her career, she studied the earthquake response of buildings,

while more recent work is related to evaluation of reinforced and prestressed

concrete bridges and development of passive sensors to detect the onset of

corrosion in concrete structures.

Throughout her career, Wood has placed great value on professional service. She is the immediate past

president of the American Concrete Institute and has served on its Building Code Committee for more than

fifteen years. She has also served on federal advisory committees for the Department of Veteran Affairs, the

National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, and the U.S. Geological Survey. Wood was elected into the

National Academy of Engineering in 2013.

Wood received her BS in civil engineering from the University of Virginia, and her MS and PhD from the

University of Illinois.


Speaker Biographies Karen Zaderej Ms. Zaderej joined AxoGen in May 2006. She has served as President, Chief

Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of AxoGen, Inc. since

September 2011. Karen has served as Chief Executive Officer and as a member

of the Board of Directors of AxoGen Corporation since May 2010. Prior to her

current role, she served as Chief Operating Officer from October 2007 to May

2010 and as Vice President of Marketing and Sales from May 2006 to October

2007. From October 2004 to May 2006, Karen worked for Zaderej Medical

Consulting, a consulting firm she founded, which assisted medical device

companies build and execute successful commercialization plans. From 1987 to

2004, Karen worked at Ethicon, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, where she

held senior positions in marketing, business development, research &

development, and manufacturing. Karen is a Director of SEBio, a non-profit supporting the life science industry

in the southeastern United States. Karen has a MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Business and a BS in

Chemical Engineering from Purdue University.

1 ASEE 2017 Engineering Deans Institute Speaker Biographies Rony Abovitz · 2017-03-29 · ASEE...

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