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1
FROM THE DEAN
Since 2014, the School of Engineering has engaged faculty,
sta, students, alumni, industry, donors, and local and global
communities in re-envisioning the role of engineers in society.
Specifically, we have implemented a framework we term
“Engineering that Matters,” which is a vision of engineering
education that couples exceptional technical knowledge with a
deep sense of duty for the betterment of humanity.
Under this framework, engineering students are not merely
invited to be agents of change but rather join a profession
that expects them to rise to the call. Thus, Engineering that
Matters transforms the culture of engineering education via
an integrative approach that drives engineers to serve the
common good not as an “add-on” or “service” but as a central
tenet of the professional paradigm.
Our multi-prong implementation of this framework takes
advantage of inclusive excellence, intercultural competence,
community-engaged learning, entrepreneurial-minded
learning, and research for the common good.
I am pleased to report that in many ways, we have been
successful. We have implemented numerous innovations
developed during our strategic planning process. We are more
diverse and more structured for success than ever before.
We are now a top 50 engineering graduate program, having
risen in the U.S. News and World Report rankings 18 places in
the past four years. And we are always looking for new ways
of bringing to life vivid examples of our values, creativity,
competency, and passion.
Enjoy this report on the many ways we are doing Engineering
that Matters here at the University of Dayton and enhancing
our cultural, societal, organizational, and experientialimpacts.
My best,
Eddy Rojas, Dean
Five Year Impact Report
CONTENTS
EXPERIENTIAL IMPACT
5 Learning How Engineering Matters
8 Students Become SURE About Graduate School
10 COIL Program Springs to Life
12 Supporting Student Success
14 Developing Entrepreneurially Minded Engineers
18 From Student to Startup
20 Designing a Better Community
21 Community Service Becomes Part of School’s DNA
22 Providing Space for Makers
24 Manufacturing Day
26 Students Help Plan Fairgrounds’ Future
CULTURAL IMPACT
29 Advocate for Gender Equity
32 Advocating for Diversity and Inclusion
36 Diversifying Graduate Enrollment
SOCIETAL IMPACT
39 Go Baby Go!
40 Bringing Research (and Researchers) of the Highest Caliber to Campus
42 Grants are Catalysts for Research
44 Strengthening Research Bonds
46 Research for the Common Good
47 Combustion to Cookstove
University of Dayton School of Engineering
■
2
CREDITS
Executive Editor
Dean Eddy Rojas
Editor and Lead Writer
Kelly Fritz Mofield
Graphic Design
Peggy Perron Mikkelsen
Photography
Andrew Weber Photography
Knack Photography
Content Contributors
Natalie O’Brien
Shawn Robinson
Teri Rizvi
Elizabeth Skelin
Karen Updyke
Adrienne Zandvoort
ORGANIZATIONAL IMPACT
49 Engineering a Strategic Plan
50 Preparing Future Faculty
51 Partnering to Teach Engineering to
High School Students
52 Giving Faculty the Tools to Succeed
52 First-year Faculty Meetings
53 Federal Grant Seekers Program
53 Early Career Fellows
54 Teaching-Focused Professional Development
54 Other Research Support
55 Development of a New Promotion and
Tenure Document
55 Faculty Ambassadors
56 Helping Adjunct Faculty Excel
58 Transforming Undergraduate Recruitment
60 Telling the School of Engineering Story
62 Chair in Training
64 Vision Awards Recognize Outstanding
Faculty and Sta
66 A Master Plan
68 Digital Content
Five Year Impact Report
3
EXPERIENTIAL
Impact
The School of Engineering is creating an ecosystem that
encourages entrepreneurial thinking and experiential
learning both inside and outside the classroom.
Jutte and three other students founded ETHOS, Engineers in
Technical Humanitarian Opportunities of Service-Learning, after
then chair of mechanical engineering Kevin Hallinan challenged Jutte
to design a program rather than a single piece of technology.
Five Year Impact Report
■
LEARNING HOW ENGINEERING MATTERS
Christine Vehar Jutte, co-founder of ETHOS
Nearly twenty years ago, as an undergraduate
engineering student, Christine Vehar Jutte
dreamed of having an impact in India by working
in Mother Teresa’s ministry. That dream was
not to be, but Jutte’s 2000 trip to India with the
University’s Oce of Campus Ministry and her
passion for using her engineering skills to help
others left a lasting legacy.
Jutte and three other students founded
ETHOS, Engineers in Technical Humanitarian
Opportunities of Service-Learning, after then
chair of mechanical engineering Kevin Hallinan
challenged Jutte to design a program rather than a
single piece of technology.
“I saw a need for a class and I wanted students to
view their engineering skills as a vocation to help
others,” Jutte said.
The basics of the program — partnering with
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs),
sustainability, use of appropriate technology,
classes to prepare students for the experience and
10-week summer immersions are still in place.
However, ETHOS has grown and changed as a
result of the School’s strategic plan.
The ETHOS Program is now The ETHOS Center.
Under the leadership of Malcolm Daniels,
director of ETHOS and associate professor of
electrical and computer engineering, the Center
has expanded its oerings to include graduate
student immersions, domestic semesters of
service, shorter three-and 10-day breakaways, a
year-round immersion calendar, and on-campus
research to keep projects movingforward.
The ETHOS Center is funded by the School
ofEngineering.
5
“My ETHOS experience provided
me this glimpse into a life
that I want to have — a life of
engineering and service abroad.”
Andrea Mott,
2017 ETHOS participant in Auroville, India
University of Dayton School of Engineering
■
“The ETHOS program combines all of my passions,”
said Andrea Mott, a 2018 mechanical engineering
graduate who is completing her master’s degree at
UD in renewable and clean energy. “It combined
my passions: adventure, engineering, service,
travel, culture, growth, and energy all into one
amazing summer. My ETHOS experience provided
me this glimpse into a life that I want to have — a
life of engineering and service abroad.”
Mott spent the summer of 2017 in Auroville,
India, volunteering with Minvayu, a small NGO
that normally focuses on bringing wind turbines
to rural villages in need of energy. Mott and her
partner Grant Ross worked to design and build a
19-foot-tall delta 3D printer to print clay houses.
Because of India’s population growth and
widespread poverty, there is a large need for
aordable housing. 3-D printing using cob
(stacked earth) as a building material is both cost
eective and reduces time and labor costs for large
construction projects.
Rob Greene, a former graduate assistant with The
ETHOS Center who completed his master’s in civil
engineering with an emphasis on environmental
engineering, spent the summer of 2017 in Malawi
serving as a project manager for a new high school
complex under construction in the Karonga
District. Wasambo High School, which accepted
its first class of young men that fall, will eventually
oer a boy’s school, a girl’s school, a technical
college and housing for students and teachers.
The project is being spearheaded by Determined
to Develop, a NGO founded by University of
Dayton graduate Matt Maroon, and funded by
UD alumni and student fundraising eorts. Sixty-
seven percent of Malawi’s population is under the
age of 24, yet the country only has the capacity for
18 percent of them to attend high school.
6
“One of the most meaningful things I have learned from my time in Malawi is that
no matter who you are you can probably help someone, know someone that can
help, or you have the resources to learn how.”
Rob Greene, 2017 ETHOS participant in Malawi
Five Year Impact Report
■
Rob Greene (red shirt) with members of the planning and work crew building Wasambo High School, including Matt Maroon (blue shirt) founder of
Determined to Develop.
Greene helped to oversee construction and
is consulting on future construction plans.
ETHOS has had a presence in Malawi since 2011
and worked with Malawians on projects from
renewable technology to potable water.
“One of the most meaningful things I have learned
from my time in Malawi is that no matter who
you are, you can probably help someone, know
someone that can help, or you have the resources
to learn how,” said Greene.
“At times, it seems like ETHOS has only
complicated my plans, but now I understand
that I don’t only have an opportunity but also a
degree of responsibility to act to better benefit
my community and greater world community,”
Greene said.
7
STUDENTS BECOME SURE
ABOUT GRADUATE SCHOOL
Kayla Pariser leveraged her summer
undergraduate research experience into a
prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate
Research Fellowship. Oscar Ntakontagize took
advantage of his summer research experience
to help transition from Sinclair Community
College to UD and realize his dream of becoming a
chemical engineer.
While paid internships and cooperative education
experiences are common in engineering, paid
research opportunities at the undergraduate level
are much rarer.
The School of Engineering’s Summer
Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE)
Program provides funding for 15 undergraduate
engineering students from UD, Sinclair Academy,
and other universities to engage in a ten-
week research fellowship with an engineering
faculty member. This program has proven to be
mutually beneficial for both faculty member and
studentparticipants.
Faculty members participate in professional
development around mentoring, have an extra
pair of hands in their laboratories for the summer
— and potentially through graduate school — and
interact with other SURE mentors.
Students have an opportunity to engage in a
self-defined research project that aligns with
the research focus of the faculty mentor, and
participate in professional development and
service opportunities that will help make them
more competitive for graduate fellowships — all
while receiving a $5,000 fellowship.
Paid research fellowships at the undergraduate
level are rare and allow students to determine
their long-term interest in research careers before
committing to graduate school. As such, the SURE
Program serves as a recruiting tool for students
from UD and from other universities to consider
UD for graduate school.
Pariser credits the mentorship of Allison Kinney,
assistant professor of mechanical engineering,
with giving her the confidence to pursue a
career in academic research. It was Kinney who
encouraged her to apply for the NSF fellowship,
Kayla Pariser received a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship for her
undergraduate research.
University of Dayton School of Engineering
■
8
“Working with Dr. Kinney over the past three years gave me the
confdence to pursue a career in research. Her encouragement and
mentorship plus my experience with the SURE program made all the
pieces come together to go down the research route.”
Kayla Pariser
Oscar Ntakontagize (center) took advantage of his summer research
experience to help realize his dream of becoming a chemical engineer.
Five Year Impact Report
■
which she is using to complete her doctoral degree
in computational biomechanics at the University
of Delaware.
“Working with Dr. Kinney over the past three
years gave me the confidence to pursue a career in
research,” Pariser said. “Her encouragement and
mentorship plus my experience with the SURE
program made all the pieces come together to go
down the research route.”
Ntakontagize said the opportunity to do research
with UD faculty was key to his future. He spent the
summer of 2018 in the lab of Donald Klosterman,
associate professor of chemical and materials
engineering. He worked on the fabrication and
testing of advanced composite materials similar to
those used in boats, aircraft, bridges, wind turbine
blades and sporting goods.
“These research experiences are invaluable for
students like Oscar because they go way beyond a
normal college lab class and expose the students
to how research and work gets done in the ‘real
world,’” Klosterman said.
Ntakontagize said he plans to apply to graduate
school after earning his chemical engineering
degree from UD.
9
Scott Segalewitz, associate dean for experiential learning and student
success, is leading the first COIL cohort.
The first COIL teaching cohort.
COIL PROGRAM SPRINGS TO LIFE
As the School of Engineering progresses toward
building intercultural competence for students,
the creation of the Collaborative Online
International Learning (COIL) program begins to
take shape.
The COIL program allows for students to partner
with their peers at an international university
to complete a project. While the COIL concept
is gaining popularity in higher education, Scott
Segalewitz, associate dean for experiential
learning and student success, believes UD is one
of the first to adapt the pedagogy to engineering
curriculum.
A cohort of five faculty members, called COIL
Fellows, are developing their courses to be
delivered in the 2019–2020 academic year. In
preparation, fellows learn best practices in
developing and assessing the course, as well as
cultural integration. Small groups of University
of Dayton students work with those at an
international university, using online software to
meet virtually and contribute to the project.
University of Dayton School of Engineering
-===-=----
■
10
The COIL program allows for students to partner with an
international university to complete a project. While the
COIL concept is gaining popularity in higher education,
Scott Segalewitz, associate dean for experiential learning
and student success, believes UD is one of the first to
adapt the pedagogy to engineering curriculum.
Five Year Impact Report
■
COIL program projects are chosen to fit into
currently oered courses. Sharon Bommer, a
COIL Fellow, is working with a professor from the
University of Lagos in Nigeria on a human factors
project. The junior/senior level course aims to
improve human-system interaction, including
safety, user satisfaction, and performance.
Bommer has met virtually with her faculty partner
in Lagos every two weeks in order to develop
their curriculum, create schedules, and discuss
Sharon Bommer, assistant professor of engineering
technology, traveled to Nigeria this summer to meet
with her teaching partner.
potential issues. Like other COIL Fellows, she
traveled to Nigeria this summer to consult with
her teaching partner in person on specifics of
theclass.
Her students will partner with the University
of Lagos for seven weeks, completing project
milestones and a semester-end project. For the
first few weeks, students will meet online for
synchronous work. For the last 4 weeks, students
will meet briefly to discuss the project status, then
disperse to work asynchronously. Apart from
project completion, Dr. Bommer looks forward
to her students expanding their intercultural
competence, global project management skills,
and international network.
In the future, the School would like to see
students have multiple COIL experiences prior to
graduation. The program adds a new classroom
dynamic for faculty and allows for greater
understanding of other cultures. COIL also
provides opportunities for developing problem-
solving skills and creating solutions within a
diverse team.
Students will graduate with more marketable
experience for an ever-increasing globalized world.
“The COIL program will set the University of
Dayton students apart,” Bommer said.
11
Rachel Robinson and Judy Butts (opposite page) both advise mechanical engineering students with the help of peer advisers like Carmen Reed, an
electrical and computer engineering major (opposite page, far right).
University of Dayton School of Engineering
■
---------------------===
SUPPORTING STUDENT SUCCESS
Universities have diering models when it comes
to student advising. Some rely exclusively on
faculty, while others use professional career
advisers. In one of the big changes the School
of Engineering made in the past five years, the
School adopted a hybrid model called the Oce of
Student Success (OSS).
The idea was to provide more personalized,
one-stop service for the 30 percent of incoming
students who choose the Discover Engineering
program because they are unsure of their path in
engineering, eventually improving the School’s
already impressive retention rate of nearly 90
percent from first to second year.
The School made a significant investment to create
OSS, hiring three full-time, professional advisers
and five part-time, all of whom are engineering
professionals. These advisers work with students
through the second semester of their sophomore
year when they transfer to the faculty in their
home department for advising in their major.
The idea is to give students three semesters to take
classes and explore options. “OSS sta know about
all of our majors here and across campus. They
really help students find their career passion,” said
Scott Segalewitz, associate dean for experiential
learning and student success.
12
The School made a significant
investment to create OSS,
hiring three full-time,
professional advisers and five
part-time, all of whom are
engineering professionals.
Five Year Impact Report
■
“First-year advising
is dierent from the
remaining three to
four years of advising”
said Michelle Strunks,
assistant dean. “It is
much more involved
and encompasses
everything from life
skills coaching to academic skills building to
career planning.”
Advisers work closely with all engineering
departments and liaise with other student-
serving oces across campus including athletics,
cooperative education, study abroad, the Diversity
in Engineering Center, University honors,
disability services and other academic units, to
name just a few.
The OSS sta also facilitate the first-year
seminar courses (EGR-101/102) and engineering
workshops (EGR-150/151), as well as advise
students on other pathways such as the
UD-Sinclair (Community College) Academy and
the premed and prelaw programs.
As they have established themselves as crucial
points of contact for students, OSS sta have
made a concerted
eort to increase
faculty participation
in the Student Success
Network (SSN). SSN is
UD’s early alert system
that helps identify
students in academic
or personal distress. By
increasing awareness of how and why they should
report, faculty have become more engaged in SSN.
The same holds true for enforcement of the
academic honor code.
The School of Engineering is leading the way
among academic units in pushing back against a
growing culture of academic dishonesty driven
by the proliferation of online cheating resources.
By realizing that the SoE dean’s oce will
follow through with enforcement of honor code
violations, faculty are more willing to bring these
issues to the forefront.
“There is a general consensus that the Oce of
Student Success has not only helped us be on the
same page in serving students, but has increased
the level of student satisfaction,” Segalewitz said.
“And that helps us fulfill our mission.”
13
DEVELOPING ENTREPRENEURIALLY
MINDED ENGINEERS
A 2014 Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering
Network (KEEN) grant of $1.2 million initiated
the largest faculty and curriculum development
program in the history of the University of
Dayton School of Engineering and launched the
Visioneering Center to oversee the eort.
With the grant’s promise to train 50 engineering
faculty in how to use activity-based, project-based
and entrepreneurially minded learning to enhance
course development, Visioneering Center Director
Ken Bloemer got to work.
The KEEN Fellows Program was created,
eventually training 50 of 88 engineering faculty
in three cohorts that each ran for a year. Fellows
received a stipend, training on Entrepreneurially
Minded Learning (EML) and curriculum
development, and support to implement an EML
module in one of their courses.
University of Dayton School of Engineering
ENGINE~IU GU LUSltE.O
■
14
A 2014 Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network
(KEEN) grant of $1.2 million initiated the largest faculty
and curriculum development program in the history of the
University of Dayton School of Engineering and launched
the Visioneering Center to oversee the eort.
For students, Bloemer said, “The EML modules
engage them in authentic learning experiences
that stimulate their curiosity and teach them to
make connections between seemingly unrelated
information. Together, these skills enable students
to not only create value for their employers, but
also for society at large.”
Sid Gunasekaran, assistant professor of
mechanical and aerospace engineering and KEEN
Fellow, revamped his fundamental aerodynamics
course with multi-media PowerPoints, portfolios,
active note taking packets and two self-directed
“passion projects” that require students to take a
deep dive into the subject matter.
Thor Misko, KEEN program director awards Eddy Rojas the 2015 KEEN Outstanding Dean Award in Tempe, AZ.
Five Year Impact Report
■
15
A KEEN faculty training session.
“The KEEN grant engages them in learning experiences that stimulate
their curiosity and teach them to make connections between seemingly
unrelated information. Together, these skills enable students to not only
create value for their employers, but also for society at large.”
Ken Bloemer, Ph.D., Director of the Visioneering Center
16
University of Dayton School of Engineering
■
While he personally feels the equations
underlying aerodynamic principles are “beautiful”
he wanted to give his students a learning
experience they would remember — one that went
beyond memorizing those equations.
“It’s easy to forget about the application of an
equation and that it models something in real
life,” Sid said. “I want my students to make those
connections themselves.”
Sid’s work has been recognized in the KEEN
magazine and Aerospace America. He now travels
with Visioneering Center Director Ken Bloemer to
other KEEN schools that are new to the network
to talk about his successes with entrepreneurially
minded learning.
That work is part of a new $2M institutional
grant from KEEN awarded in 2018. Bloemer and
several of the UD KEEN Fellows are playing a
significant role as KEEN Ambassadors — visiting
new partner schools, developing onboarding tools,
and producing case studies for training purposes.
UD is the only network school with KEEN
Ambassadors and just one of eight schools on the
KEEN Faculty Advisory Council.
University Innovation Fellows visit Google headquarters as part
of their experience.
17
Five Year Impact Report
■
Meanwhile, back in Dayton, the Center is working
with industry and community partners to bring
real-world engineering challenges into the
classroom, with a goal of eventually impacting 50
UD engineering classes.
EGR 103, the School’s first-year engineering
design class, has moved from having students
designing cardboard coee tables to tackling
real-world challenges for community partners.
One idea, Freedom Brace, turned into a patented
medical device that is now being marketed by
student entrepreneur Spencer Janning.
In addition to its KEEN focus, the Visioneering
Center also oversees UD’s participation in the
University Innovation Fellows, a program of
Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of
Design. Teams of students apply to the program,
where they receive six weeks of design training
and then visit Silicon Valley for a Meetup
to tour businesses like Google and receive
additionaltraining.
The program empowers students to become
agents of change at their schools. At UD, they have
created a new collaboration and study space on
the fifth floor, incorporated art into engineering,
and created a student-run project incubator,
among other projects.
“The University of Dayton does a great job
incorporating innovation and entrepreneurship
and design thinking into its engineering and
business schools. Now the fellows want to
spread that thinking across campus, opening
potentially thousands of minds to innovation,
entrepreneurship and design thinking,” said
Emily Fehrman Cory, faculty of practice in
innovation and entrepreneurship in the School of
Engineering and the group’s adviser.
Spencer Janning invented the Freedom Brace for a young woman
with cerebral palsy in a first-year design class. The device is now
patented, FDA approved and for sale on Amazon.
FROM STUDENT TO STARTUP
A growing culture of entrepreneurship within the
School of Engineering has led to the creation of
a business incubator and technology accelerator
called Leonardo Enterprises. The program
is designed to help UD students, faculty and
sta transition technology into the market by
creatingstartups.
That technology often begins as an idea generated
as part of a classroom project. That was the case
for Spencer Janning, a mechanical engineering
major whose Freedom Brace design was
conceived as part of his first-year engineering
innovationclass.
The students were tasked with creating a leg brace
for a local pediatric patient with cerebral palsy.
Janning researched similar devices and spoke
with the patient about why she wasn’t wearing
her current brace, which was designed to prevent
scissoring of the legs while sleeping.
“I was trying to figure out how it could have more
motion and be more comfortable and still prevent
twisting,” Janning said.
Janning’s design was selected by his group for
development for the class assignment, but the
project didn’t end when the semester did. Janning
was just getting started.
It’s not surprising that invention and innovation
come naturally to Janning. His grandfather,
Eugene A. Janning, holds multiple engineering
patents and his great uncle, John L. Janning, is the
Engineering and Science Hall of Fame inventor of
the liquid crystal display (LCD) screen and holder
of more than 250 patents. Both reside in the
greater Dayton area.
University of Dayton School of Engineering
■
18
Following in the family footsteps, by the end of
the semester, Spencer had already applied for a
provisional patent application for the Freedom
Brace. A year later — in the
spring of 2017 — he applied
for a formal patent. While
his initial application
was rejected, a revised
application was submitted
and he was granted a patent
on January 23, 2018. His
class assignment had
evolved into a marketable product but, now what?
That’s where Leonardo Enterprises came in.
After applying and then pitching his product to
an advisory board composed of industry experts,
Janning was selected as Leonardo Fellow in
the fall of 2018. He gained access to lab space,
co-working oce space, use of the School of
Engineering Makerspace and research equipment,
engineering and legal support, as well as one-on-
one businessmentoring.
“Spencer saw something great in what he was doing
and kept going with it,” said Emily Fehrman Cory,
director of Leonardo Enterprises and faculty
of practice in innovation. “Through Leonardo
Enterprises, we hope to encourage more students
like Spencer. Programs like
this are important because
not everyone has access to
the resources they need to
be successful.”
Spencer has continued
improving his Freedom
Brace, receiving a U.S.
patent and FDA approval
for the device. Recently, he began selling on
Amazon and his website.
Leonardo Enterprises — which is currently funded
by alumni donations — is assisting Janning with
entering the market by applying for necessary
FDA approvals and scaling up his manufacturing.
Over time, Leonardo Enterprises will become self-
sustaining with a 5-percent return on investment
for the projects it funds.
“Amazing things are going to come out of this
program,” Fehrman Cory said. “They already are.”
“Amazing things are
going to come out of this
program,” Fehrman Cory
said. “They already are.”
Five Year Impact Report
■
19
Design ideas such as PaddlePro, a device to allow for accessible
kayaking, are coming out of first-year design classes and making their
way into the marketplace to help individuals with disabilities.
DESIGNING A BETTER COMMUNITY
In their initial design course, EGR 103, University
of Dayton first-year engineering students have
the opportunity to engage with the local Dayton
community and work on real-world challenges
rather than theoretical problems.
“In addition to learning the design process,
students are able to speak the same language
with the same skill set,” said Beth Hart,
EGR103lecturer.
Redesigned from the original EGR 101 course,
this class allows students to make a dierence by
creating a design for a community issue.
During the semester-long course, students
work in teams to hone their skills on small
design challenges before being presented with
a real community issue. Teams are paired with
University community partners.
“By engaging with a community partner, they’re
empowered to know more about the human
aspect of design,” said Kelly Bohrer, director of
community relations.
Bohrer notes how students in the class have the
freedom to take the assigned challenge in dierent
directions. The project also teaches first-year
students how to work within limitations, such as
having a $50 budget, and shows them other ways
to get involved with the Dayton community.
This is a required course for all future engineers,
so students learn about the overall design process,
how to communicate technically and how to
eectively work within a team.
Recent teams partnered with Five Rivers
Metroparks’ Adventure Central Program, based
in Wesleyan Metropark in West Dayton. The
Adventure Central Program utilizes the park’s
Wolf Creek to oer after school and summer
programming to students in first through 12th
grade, with an emphasis on nature and science.
The overarching question teams were asked was
“How can we make the creek more accessible
for students dierently abled?” Teams took
dierent approaches to this initial problem by
designing and building a variety of products,
including portable ramps to allow students using
wheelchairs or with mobility issues to better
access the creek.
One team took the challenge a step further, by
designing a T-stand for a paddle to allow for
accessible kayaking once at the creek. Even though
their EGR 103 course is over, the PaddlePro
team, comprised of team members Rose Schaer,
Abby Ward and Alli Shaw, are moving forward
and refining their design with sponsorship from
Leonardo Enterprises, the School of Engineering’s
business incubator.
University of Dayton School of Engineering
-~------------ -----~~
20
COMMUNITY SERVICE BECOMES
PART OF SCHOOL’S DNA
The Marianist heritage of service to community has
been embraced at the School of Engineering in new ways
over the past five years. From each semester’s Day of
Service to Project Linus to helping a colleague who lost
everything in a fire, faculty and sta are there to help.
Liz Mancini, an avid knitter and academic adviser in
the Office of Student Success, came up with the idea
for Project Linus after attending a Marianist retreat.
She partnered with Teri Stemley, assistant to the dean,
to organize colleagues to meet on a monthly basis over
their lunch hour to knit baby blankets and tie comforters
for the local children’s hospital. The group became so
prolific that their work extended to making bears for a
local children’s charity. More than 200 blankets and 50
bears have been donated to date.
In 2018, these informal service lunches spawned a
joint eort through the ETHOS Center and the dean’s
office to offer community service opportunities each
semester. Faculty and staff can choose one of three
local non-profits to spend an afternoon doing volunteer
work. Projects have ranged from packing backpacks
with food for local school children to bring home for
the weekend to processing donations for a facility that
trains assistance dogs to weeding a community garden.
As one staer noted after her first experience, “Thanks
so much for organizing the service trips yesterday. That
was a great time to get to know other SoE faculty and
sta and to connect with our community partners.”
Faculty and sta again demonstrated their compassion
and commitment to service when a contract employee
who cleans the building lost everything in a house fire.
More than $5000 in cash and household furnishings
were delivered to the woman within a couple of weeks,
all donated by faculty and sta.
“One challenge was designing a product that
allowed for a natural kayak paddling motion,
which was fixed by the unique dual rotation
device,” said PaddlePro’s Rose Schaer. “Another
challenge was finding the proper flow for our
group. It took a lot of time for us to properly work
together, but by the end of the project, we all really
complimented each other’s abilities.”
Schaer continued by saying, “One highlight was
being able to create an idea and being able to
watch as it came to life. Another was starting out
the semester knowing no one and coming together
as a group and creating a product that would
helppeople.”
With Bohrer’s help, every faculty member
teaching EGR 103 has been connected with a
community partner. Partnering with a community
organization increases opportunities for faculty
and students to account for human and social
aspects central to engineered systems.
“This course is a resource of rich projects
students can tap into to realize there’s more than
just technical, when it comes to engineering,”
concluded Hart.
Five Year Impact Report
School of Engineering faculty and sta volunteer one afternoon per
semester at local non-profits.
21
PROVIDING SPACE FOR MAKERS
Like many engineering programs, the University
of Dayton has been planning to create a large, well-
equipped makerspace for use by students across
campus. While those plans take shape, engineering
leadership decided to act.
A growing maker’s movement among engineering
students prompted the creation of a functional
makerspace in an area of the basement vacated by
the University of Dayton Research Institute.
A student-led Makers Club formed in 2015 with a
core group of students passionate about building,
creation and innovation. This original group
of students struggled to find a place for their
work, which was when the idea of a makerspace
wasborn.
Scott Segalewitz, associate dean for experiential
learning and student success, has been an
instrumental leader in the creation of the
makerspace. A woodworker himself, he has
facilitated everything from gathering and
purchasing equipment to installation of the space
to hiring and working with the lab manager on
safety procedures.
Kettering Labs already had much of the equipment
necessary for a fully-functioning makerspace, and
now, it is organized into one place. The modest
space has grown from one room to five and is a
starting point for innovations within the School
ofEngineering.
This is a place for students to work on class or
personal projects and a space to build something
new. The makerspace oers an abundance of
creative tools including 3D printing, woodworking,
CNC routing, metalworking and electrical
circuitbuilding.
The space is divided into three main areas: a 3D
printing room, a metalworking room for welding
and metal cutting, and a woodworking shop. On
Tuesdays and Thursdays the lab is reserved for
EGR 103 classes, where first-year students build
prototypes of their designs for community clients.
The lab is popular among students, particularly in
the late afternoon and evening.
All University of Dayton students, faculty and
sta, including students outside the School of
Engineering, have access to the makerspace. They
University of Dayton School of Engineering
■
22
All University of Dayton students,
faculty and sta, including students
outside the School of Engineering,
have access to the makerspace.
Five Year Impact Report
are eligible to do so by attending informational
seminars hosted by the School of Engineering and
learning safety procedures on the equipment.
Makerspaces across the country have become
popular because students and faculty want the
opportunity to make prototypes. According
to Emily Fehrman Cory, faculty of practice in
innovation and entrepreneurship, the makerspace
will provide a place for people to not only work on
personal or academic projects but also to develop
ideas for new products and businesses.
Cory should know. She was the creator and
founding director of the Air Force Research
Laboratory’s Maker Hub. Additionally, Cory
co-founded Make It Dayton, a grassroots
organization that hosts the Dayton Maker Faire,
and other maker-related events. Since coming
to UD at the start of this academic year, Cory
has become the faculty adviser for the School of
Engineering’s makerspace.
“There are some things you can’t learn from books
or lectures,” said Cory. “We have to be more than
narrowly focused. A makerspace gets you out of
your comfort zone, broadens experience and gets
you talking to other people.”
The School of Engineering hopes to add new
machines within the next year such as embroidery
machines and more 3D printers. They also hope
to add a store, where students can purchase
materials directly for larger projects.
Kevin Pierson, lab manager for the makerspace,
joined UD in January 2018 and has been key to the
quick development of the space. His main priority
remains student safety as students embark on
their creative journeys using professional-grade
tools. He also is responsible for cleaning, stocking
inventory, writing policies, documentation,
tracking safety concerns and machine repairs.
Leaders of the makerspace see it as a place full of
potential. They hope to eventually lead summer
programs dedicated to learning how to build a 3D
printing system and the Department of Art and
Design would like to collaborate on silk screening
and printing projects.
23
Today’s manufacturing environments require high tech skills like those taught by UD’s engineering technology programs. Advanced manufacturing
remains an important part of the Dayton economy.
MANUFACTURING DAY
At the turn of the last century, Dayton had more
patents, per capita, than any other U.S. city and
was the epicenter of American manufacturing
with more than 1,000 factories. One-sixth of the
nation’s corporate executives has spent a portion
of their careers at legendary Dayton-based
National Cash Register.
While manufacturing in Dayton has experienced
setbacks since its 1960s heyday, it is still a major
part of the local economy. Since 2012, MFG DAY,
a one-day showcase of the career opportunities
in manufacturing, has celebrated the high-skill,
high-tech opportunities in modern manufacturing.
This nationally recognized event also spreads
awareness of manufacturing opportunities within
engineering.
Each year, UD’s Department of Engineering
Management, Systems & Technology (EMST)
partners with the Dayton Regional Manufacturers
Association to host their annual manufacturing
symposium as part of MFG DAY.
The event provides students with an opportunity
to explore careers in manufacturing while
connecting classroom learning to professional
skill sets.
“More than 60 students along with other faculty
and professionals came over for the symposium,”
said Mark Diller, former professor of practice
in EMST. “The speaker lineup is excellent and
demonstrates the world-class manufacturing
opportunities in the Dayton region.” 
24
University of Dayton School of Engineering
■
Since 2012, MFG DAY, a one-
day showcase of the career
opportunities in manufacturing,
has celebrated the high-skill,
high-tech opportunities in
modern manufacturing. This
nationally recognized event
also spreads awareness of
manufacturing opportunities
within engineering.
Five Year Impact Report
The University of Dayton is somewhat unique
in that it oers both four-year engineering and
engineering technology degrees, along with a
master’s degree in engineering management.
Students with training in Industry 4.0 are in
particularly high demand. Automation, robotics,
cybersecurity and the internet of things are front
and center at MFG DAY, as students hear from
industry experts and mingle with manufacturers
to learn what their needs are.
“The Manufacturing Symposium was an
excellent opportunity to see current trends in
manufacturing and automation,” said James Tinch,
a senior mechanical engineering technology
student.
The event draws manufacturing companies from
across Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.
25
STUDENTS HELP PLAN FAIRGROUNDS’ FUTURE
It’s a civil engineer’s dream. Thirty-eight
undeveloped acres in the heart of Dayton that
could transform the city for years to come.
The site, branded as onMain — Dayton’s
Imagination District, lies between the campuses
of its two new owners, The University of Dayton
and Premiere Health. The site of the former
Montgomery County Fairgrounds was acquired
by the two anchor institutions in 2017 with the
intent of creating a transformative mixed-use
development over the next 10–15 years.
But first, the site is being used as a lab for
University of Dayton and Sinclair Community
College students.
During the 2019 academic year, a group of 12
to 15 students from the University of Dayton
Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering and Engineering Mechanics and
Sinclair’s engineering technology design program
had the opportunity to present conceptual and
structural designs of a residential and commercial
building to onMain partners.
"We don't know exactly how contributions will
be used, but we are honored the University,
Premier Health and planning NEXT are providing
opportunities for students to be part of the
project and participate in hands-on learning
opportunities that will be considered for
application in the real-world," said Don Chase,
director of undergraduate studies with the
University of Dayton civil engineering department
and faculty adviser for the project. "It's exciting for
these students to even have a chance to one day to
possibly look at onMain and tell their children and
grandchildren, 'I helped design that when I was in
college.'"
As part of the project, students created
architectural and structural drawings plus plans
for clearing space for the building, waste and
storm water management, trac, landscaping,
lighting and parking. They also worked with
faculty advisers on-site to ensure pinpoint
accuracy of Geographic Information System data
for architects, engineers and designers.
University of Dayton School of Engineering
26
Civil engineering students had the opportunity to work on the transformation of the former Montgomery County Fairgrounds site into a mixed use
development in the heart of Dayton.
Because the students are not licensed professional
engineers, all designs and proposals were
presented to the partners and planning NEXT,
the planning firm hired to lead the process.
Professional engineers and architects will review
students work for incorporation into the project.
"Design scenarios such as this produce high-quality
learning experiences that no classroom lecture
could ever produce," said Eric Dunn, chair of
Sinclair's engineering technology design program.
"This project gave students a taste of how to follow
and maintain a client's architectural and overall
site vision while also conforming to federal, state
and local design standards."
Five Year Impact Report
27
CULTURAL
Impact
The School of Engineering fosters a culture that
values diversity and inclusive excellence.
ADVOCATE FOR GENDER EQUITY
The Women in Engineering ProActive
Network awarded University of Dayton School
of Engineering Dean Eddy Rojas its 2019
Advocates and Allies award for his leadership in
implementing programs that advocate, mentor
and support the success of women in engineering.
WEPAN presented the award in April at its annual
conference held in conjunction with the annual
Collaborative Network for Engineering and
Computing Diversity Conference in Crystal
City,Virginia.
Since joining the University as dean in 2014, Rojas
has created a Diversity in Engineering Center,
which is home to the School’s Women Engineering,
Minority Engineering, and International
Engineering Student programs. Two-thirds of
new faculty hires have been women or minorities.
More than a quarter of incoming students are
women and nearly a fifth are minorities; both
groups have set records during Rojas’ tenure.
Initiatives such as the Women Engineering
Program, living/learning opportunities for women
in STEM that are now available all four years,
and the overall supportive climate at UD have
resulted in a female graduation rate above the
national average for engineering (28 percent vs.
22 percent) and near gender parity in programs
such as chemical engineering (48 percent of 2019
graduates are female).
Dean Eddy Rojas received the 2019 Advocates and Allies Award
from WEPAN.
Five Year Impact Report
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29
(l-r) Chris Muratore, Markus Rumpeil, Margaret Pinnell and Rebecca Blust were installed as endowed chairs in 2018.
Pinnell and Blust are the first two female endowed chairs appointed by the School of Engineering. They are pictured
with Dean Eddy Rojas.
Kristen Krupa-Comfort, chair of the Department
of Chemical and Materials Engineering.
University of Dayton School of Engineering
GIIIII
••
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Women now comprise a third of the school’s leadership council,
formerly an all-male group. As the 2019–20 academic year
begins, the school will have its first female department chair.
“Dr. Rojas’ eorts haven’t stopped at the hiring of female
personnel, as he puts extensive time, eort and resources into
the professional development of his faculty, thereby providing
every opportunity for success,” said Kristen Krupa-Comfort, who
took over as the chemical engineering department chair July 1.
A year ago, the School named its first female endowed chairs
after the process of nominating and evaluating those positions
was revised to be more equitable. Dr. Margaret Pinnell,
associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and
Aerospace Engineering and associate dean for faculty and sta
development, was appointed as the Bernhard Schmidt Chair
in Engineering Leadership while Rebecca Blust, associate
professor in the Department of Engineering Management,
Systems, and Technology and director of the Innovation Center,
has been appointed as the Frank M. Tait Endowed Chair for
research and innovation.
30
In addition to these academic and program
initiatives, Rojas also has made substantive
changes in the School’s home, Kettering Labs. He
provided financial support to create a lactation
room and changed restroom spaces to provide
more equitable access to these facilities for female
faculty, sta and students.
“Dean Rojas has been instrumental in bringing
the Advocates and Allies program to UD’s
campus as one way to empower men to positively
aect the climate for their female colleagues,”
said LisaBorello, director of the University of
Dayton’s Women’s Center. “In our pilot oering
of the program this spring — renamed locally
as UD Men for Gender Equity — we had more
than 100 men across campus attend, due in
large part to Dean Rojas’ outreach to his fellow
administrators, engineering faculty and colleagues
in the University of Dayton Research Institute
(UDRI). With his public support and intentional
outreach, Dean Rojas is sending a powerful
message to his male peers about his commitment
to genderequity.”
Beth Hart leads the Women Engineering Program and teaches
introductory engineering design classes.
Five Year Impact Report
■
31
ADVOCATING FOR DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
During the last five years, the School of
Engineering has doubled down its eorts in
diversity, equity and inclusion. Indeed, the School
is seen as a leader across campus.
Larry Burnley, vice president of diversity and
inclusion, was hired in 2016 to create an Oce of
Diversity and Inclusion. Extensive training began
and an outside consultant was brought to campus
to map the University’s diversity eorts over the
past five years and make recommendations for
strategic change.
All of these institutional changes dovetailed nicely
with the School of Engineering’s existing strategic
plan and years of commitment to recruiting and
serving a diverse group of futureengineers.
As Burnley noted, “At the School, Eddy Rojas has
acted boldly to diversify the faculty and student
body. Since 2014, two-thirds of new faculty are
women or persons of color.”
“Students should be able to imagine themselves at
the front of the classroom,” Rojas said. “Diversity
doesn’t just happen. It’s something you have to
train for and actively work toward.”
The School has been oering increased support
to the departments for faculty searches. This
includes oering an annual workshop for all
search committee members that focuses on equity
in the search process. Topics include implicit bias,
legal issues and steps to ensure a more equitable
search.
The dean’s oce provides administrative support
for the search process, which allows search
committees to focus on evaluating the candidates
equitably rather than completing paperwork. This
Participants in the Minority Engineering Program, which provides a sense of community, academic and career guidance for underrepresented
engineering students.
32
University of Dayton School of Engineering
■
support includes the creation and placement of
ads, flyers and emails to attract a diverse pool of
qualified candidates. Recruiting now happens at
anity-based professional conferences, and the
School hosts an annual research colloquium to
familiarize promising graduate researchers with
the University of Dayton.
While the School of Engineering has in recent
years been the most diverse academic unit on
campus, there is certainly room for improvement.
The existing Women Engineering (WEP) and
Minority Engineering Programs (MEP) were
elevated to become the Diversity in Engineering
Center (DEC) under the leadership of executive
director Laura Bistrek. The DEC added Ting Li
to serve international students, Gerica Brown
as director of MEP and Shawnee Breitenstein as
director of engineering engagement overseeing
student recruitment.
Faculty lecturer Beth Hart directs WEP, a program
that traces its roots back 46 years to a summer
engineering camp for women, one of the first
in the country. She also advises living/learning
groups that are available to women STEM majors
all four years.
With additional resources and using a data-
driven approach, the DEC has reinvented the
student recruitment process at the academic
level, increasing the numbers of women
and underrepresented minorities studying
engineering at UD and leading by example for
other academic units. In fall 2017, DEC helped
recruit the largest, most diverse class in School
history with near-record academic achievement.
No matter their background or ethnicity, once
students enter UD they find success.
(Right) Megan Reissman, assistant professor of mechanical
engineering, is part of a diverse wave of new engineering faculty.
Five Year Impact Report
■
33
UD’s retention rate of 91 percent is 10 percentage
points higher than other private institutions
oering doctoral degrees and 13 percent higher
than the national average for public institutions
oering doctoral degrees. When broken down by
ethnicity, UD’s first-year retention rate for each
group, including Black/African American (93.4
percent) and Hispanic (88.7 percent) shows that
these students do extremely well compared to
peer institutions.
UD’s overall six-year graduation rate (79 percent)
is almost 14 percentage points above private
institutions oering doctoral degrees nationally
and 21 percentage points above public institutions
oering advanced degrees. Broken down by
ethnicity, Asian students graduate from UD at the
highest rate (81 percent) followed by Whites (80
percent) and Black/African American (71 percent).
All groups were above peer averages, ranging from
6 percentage points for Hispanics to 32 percentage
points for Blacks/African Americans.
Women are also doing well in engineering at
UD. Nearly 30 percent of this year’s engineering
graduates were women and programs such as
chemical and materials engineering are nearing
gender parity.
As Larry Burnley likes to say, “Making UD
accessible to those who have been marginalized
and excluded makes us all better.”
91%
Overall
Retention Rate
Black or
African-American
93.4%
Asian
82.8%
Hispanic
88.7%
White
91.8%
Two or
more races
89.6%
Retention rate of UD students entering fall 2017 by ethnicity
University of Dayton School of Engineering
■
34
UD's
Graduation Rate
79%
National 4-year private institutions offering
bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees
65.6%
Ohio 4-year
private institutions
65%
National 4-year public institutions offering
bachelor's,master's and doctoral degrees
57.5%
Ohio 4-year
public institutions
58%
Six-year graduation rate
UD vs. private and public institutions
Five Year Impact Report
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35
DIVERSIFYING GRADUATE ENROLLMENT
Shortly after Bob Wilkens took over the newly-
created position of associate dean for research
and innovation in July 2016, the rapidly changing
political climate caused international graduate
student enrollment at UD to drop significantly.
UD has traditionally relied upon three sources of
graduate students:
• Its own students continuing on for master’s
degrees, often as part of the 5-year Bachelor +
Master’s Program.
• Engineers from Wright Patterson AFB and
local industry seeking advanced degrees.
• The direct admission of qualified
international students.
A year ago, the University signed a partnership
with Shorelight Education — branded as UDayton
Global — to recruit international students from
new markets. But as that partnership develops,
Wilkens, a chemical engineer by training, has put
the innovation part of his job title to the test.
The School has developed a series of initiatives to
boost enrollment, taking advantage of the School’s
new U.S. News ranking as a top 50 graduate
engineering program. The School of Engineering
has climbed from number 63 to number 47, due to
large increases in sponsored research and, most
recently, improved peer and employer rankings.
Perhaps the biggest win for the School was
approval of 25 new graduate assistant positions
that can only be awarded to top students from
outside the University. The new lines, which are
funded through a partnership with the provost’s
oce, were distributed among the departments
based on each department’s size and research
productivity.
University of Dayton School of Engineering
■
36
The School has developed a series of initiatives to
boost enrollment, taking advantage of the School’s
new U.S. News ranking as a top 50 graduate
engineering program. The School of Engineering has
climbed from number 63 to number 47, due to large
increases in sponsored research and, most recently,
improved peer and employer rankings.
Five Year Impact Report
•
■
“These GA lines give us a tool to attract top
students to UD by oering full tuition plus a
monthly stipend,” Wilkens said. “While it’s
relatively easy for domestic students to obtain full
funding once on campus due to the large volume
of research here and at the base (Wright-Patterson
AFB), these positions allow us to make oers
during the recruitment process.”
Another way the School is diversifying its
graduate enrollment stream is by partnering
with fellow Catholic universities to oer a 3+2
master’s program in engineering to schools who
do not have engineering majors. Ohio Dominican
University and Walsh University, both located in
Ohio, are the first two partner schools.
Students in qualifying majors spend the first
three years at their home university and then
transfer to UD for their final two years, graduating
with a master’s in engineering related to their
undergraduate major. Chemistry majors, for
example, can obtain a master’s degree in chemical
engineering or materials engineering. At capacity,
the 3+2 Program is expected to enroll 50 new
graduate students per year.
“Students from Walsh and ODU find the same
values-oriented educational experience at
an institution with a long and rich history of
engineering excellence, opportunities for research,
and engagement with real-world problem solving,”
said University of Dayton School of Engineering
Dean Eddy Rojas.
Wilkens hopes to expand the program to two
additional universities — one predominantly
female school and one historically black university
to strengthen the School’s diversity eorts.
37
SOCIETAL
Impact
The School of Engineering is emerging as a
recognized leader in research and innovation
that responds to the evolving needs of
society and serves the common good.
Go Baby Go! is a community program where children with mobility
issues receive free electric cars that have been modified to meet
their needs by engineering and physical therapy students at UD.
Five Year Impact Report
■
GO BABY GO!
If you had to pick a single event to represent the
meaning of “for the common good,” Go Baby Go!
would be an excellent choice.
Brought to Dayton by Megan and Tim Reissman,
assistant professors of mechanical engineering,
the event brings out the best in everyone
who participates. Non-profits and academic
departments collaborate, engineering and physical
therapy students put their skills to use, and
children with physical challenges leave at the end
of the day with newfound freedom ofmovement.
For those unfamiliar with the program, Go
Baby Go! retrofits electric toy cars for toddlers
with mobility issues who wouldn’t normally be
able to use them. Each car receives adaptations
personalized to its future driver, including push-
button controls, headrests and side bolsters
forstability.
The Reissmans, who have a typical two-year-old
son, outfitted seven donated cars to families
at the first event in 2017 and have continued
partnering with Dayton Children’s Hospital and
the Miami Valley Spina Bifida Organization to hold
subsequent events.
“In addition to contributing to the common good
in the Miami Valley, this is a great hands-on,
practical learning experience for our engineering
and physical therapy students interested in
biomechanics and rehabilitation,” said Megan
Reissman, who, along with her husband,
participated in Go Baby Go! events when they
were previously with Northwestern University
and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.
“These cars create new avenues of play and
promote development for kids who are often left
on the sidelines. It’s a fun form of physicaltherapy.”
39
Since 2016, the School of Engineering has been bringing top doctoral candidates to campus to share their research, learn more about UD, and advance
their future careers in academia.
40
University of Dayton School of Engineering
■
BRINGING RESEARCH (AND RESEARCHERS)
OF THE HIGHEST CALIBER TO CAMPUS
The fourth Academic Research Colloquium will
take place September 10–12, 2019, and will bring
top performing, graduate level researchers to
campus to present their work.
This research colloquium is unique in that it
aligns with UD’s greater vision to become “The
University for the Common Good.” While on
campus, participants will present their research
“for the common good,” and hear directly from
Dean Eddy Rojas. Organizers are looking for
doctoral candidates whose research falls into
one of ten areas — including disease prevention,
reducing the environmental impact of human
activity and enhancing the built environment —
among others.
Dean Rojas has high hopes for ARC’s fourth
iteration. “Our hope is that we’ve only just begun,
that our discussions will continue and will ignite
transformations of national and international
benefit,” said Rojas.
Not only does this symposium give doctoral
students a chance to present their scholarly
findings, it also provides the School of Engineering
with an exceptional pool of high potential, well-
qualified applicants. These candidates are
interested in future faculty positions with top
universities, and it is hoped they keep UD high on
their list.
The School of Engineering conducts a competitive
process to choose 20 of the highest potential and
most diverse applicants. These candidates spend
three days on Dayton’s campus for an all-expense
paid opportunity to show their work and discover
what UD has to oer.
“Participants are able to connect and
collaborate with like-minded researchers on
their fndings and build their own network.”
Ken Bloemer, Ph.D., Director of the Visioneering Center
Five Year Impact Report
■
ARC participants can tailor their time at UD and meet with
individual departments, connect with specific faculty members,
tour labs and have one-on-one time to ask questions. Past
participants have benefited from practice presenting their
research while receiving valuable feedback on their talk, and
expanding their network with their Ph.D. peers.
“Participants are able to connect and collaborate with
like-minded researchers on their findings and build their
own network,” said Ken Bloemer, Ph.D., director of the
VisioneeringCenter.
Bloemer noted that the selection committee is impressed
by candidates with strong letters of recommendation and
interesting approaches to — or findings within — their research.
“Ultimately, we’re looking for participants who align well with
the UD community and our Marianist culture,” Bloemer said.
To date, the School of Engineering has hired one ARC
participant, who has become an outstanding faculty member
in mechanical and aerospace engineering. Organizers are
confident the experience on UD’s campus will not only lead to
future hires, but enhance the reputation of the University.
Based on feedback, a majority of ARC participants said they
would strongly consider applying for a faculty position at UD.
Past participants noted how much they enjoyed meeting with
other presenters and UD faculty. They found value in shared
goals along with the personal touch and attention to detail this
program oers.
41
GRANTS ARE CATALYSTS FOR RESEARCH
Although it is the largest private university in the
state of Ohio, the University of Dayton has a spirit
of collaboration among its academic units. That
spirit has only increased over the last five years.
In 2017, the University of Dayton College of Arts
and Sciences, School of Engineering and Hanley
Sustainability Institute, joined forces to provide
support for faculty and sta research in science,
technology, engineering and math over two
summers.
The STEM Catalyst Grant Program is intended
to advance new and existing research programs
across the sciences, mathematics and engineering
that have potential to rise to national prominence.
The program has now awarded more than
$800,000 to support faculty and student research
over three funding years.
“These grants reinforce our eorts to foster
interdisciplinary research partnerships outside
the School of Engineering,” Rojas said. “That’s how
major breakthroughs happen.”
The program is competitive, with around a
third of submitted proposals receiving funding.
Projects that receive funding reflect diverse
eorts in the interdisciplinary research focus
areas of sustainability, autonomous systems,
and health and biosciences as outlined in the
University Vision.
The recipients all have a specific and compelling
vision for advancing research within their
disciplines, meeting humanity’s needs as part
of the University’s commitment to the common
good, and transitioning their program to external
sponsorship.
In the second cycle, a special category of award
was introduced for collaborative eorts that seek
to create sustainable improvements or outgrowths
in the research landscape or infrastructure
across multiple areas of the University. This
award receives a higher level of funding due
toitspromise.
“This award is specifically focused on faculty and
programs that have the potential and desire to
achieve a national level of recognition,” said Doug
Daniels, executive director of the Integrative
Science and Engineering Center, who coordinates
the fund’s review committee. “We are encouraging
research programs that can clearly articulate
their societal impact to underscore the alignment
University of Dayton School of Engineering
■
42
In 2017, the University of Dayton School of Engineering, College of
Arts and Sciences and Hanley Sustainability Institute, joined forces
to provide funding to support faculty and sta research in science,
technology, engineering and math over two summers.
Five Year Impact Report
■
Robert Lowe, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has taken advantage of opportunities like the STEM
Catalyst Grant to launch his research lab in the area of mechanics and materials.
of scientific research on campus with the
University’s Catholic, Marianist mission.”
College of Arts and Sciences Dean Jason Pierce
said the program addresses a key goal of the
College to create and incentivize opportunities
for faculty research, and to secure the internal
resources and support structures needed to
promote faculty success.
“I appreciate the opportunity to partner with
the School of Engineering and the Hanley
Sustainability Institute in rolling out this new
program that will help faculty with bold visions
achieve a national level of research prominence,”
Pierce said.
Information about the work of STEM catalyst
grant recipients can be accessed at udayton.edu/
stem-catalyst/.
43
Doll and her students are researching materials and various
lattice sizes to optimize the strength and minimize weigh of joint
replacements.
STRENGTHENING RESEARCH BONDS
Ten years ago, before the University of Dayton
purchased the former NCR headquarters adjacent
to campus, the University of Dayton Research
Institute (UDRI) and School of Engineering were
co-located in Kettering Labs.
Bob Wilkens, associate dean for research and
innovation, has fond memories of the comradery
and collaboration that came with faculty being in
proximity to like-minded researchers.
“You would meet UDRI folks in the hallway and
go to lunch with them. You could ask someone on
your floor who at UDRI has expertise in a certain
area and then go ask them questions,” Wilkens
said. “Our idea was to place faculty at UDRI for the
summer, so they would be able to make the same
connections senior faculty did.”
The resulting UD/UDRI Research Fellowship
program matches School of Engineering faculty
and UDRI researchers, with the goal of expanding
areas of research that are fundable by outside
parties. Faculty receive summer funding while
learning more about UDRI’s research, capabilities
and personnel. UDRI researchers gain access to
highly skilled faculty partners.
The Fellowship, now in its third summer, is funded
by the School with support from the provost’s
oce. The program has led to joint proposals
between UD and UDRI as well as new areas
ofresearch.
Amy Neidhard-Doll, a biomedical engineer in
the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, was the perfect partner for Dathan
Erdahl, a research engineer in the Structural
Integrity Division.
Erdahl’s group normally specializes in additive
manufacturing of parts for military applications.
They have built an open architecture 3-D printing
platform that allows researchers to customize the
printer’s use of materials and monitor printing
progress using a variety of sophisticated sensors.
44
University of Dayton School of Engineering
■
Amy Neidhard-Doll, faculty in electrical and computer engineering,
is collaborating with UDRI engineers on ways to custom print joint
replacements. She is pictured with graduate student Monica Yeager.
Robert Wilkens, current associate dean for research and
innovation and longtime faculty member wants new faculty
members to understand the resources available to them at UDRI.
“UDRI’s expertise and state-of-the-art printing
platform for metals lend themselves perfectly to
expanding into biomedical research,” Neidhard-
Doll said. “They were interested in partnering with
the School of Engineering to bring someone with a
biomedical background into the team.”
Neidhard-Doll’s work focuses on creating
customized medical devices — like hip implants —
printed using the patient’s own digital images as
ablueprint.
Neidhard-Doll and Erdahl are seeking FDA
approval of their custom printer, which is required
before clinical trials of medical devices will be
allowed. They are also testing using biocompatible
metals such as titanium. Future research will
focus on optimizing the manufacturing process for
commercial applications to bring this technology
to market.
Since its move to new space, UDRI has
experienced exponential growth. Over the past
three years, UDRI has grown by a third — from
$100 million in sponsored engineering research
to $150 million in 2018. UDRI excels in advanced
materials, aerospace technologies, structural
physics, energy and sensors, among other
engineering specialties.
“The response from faculty, research scientists
and upper administration at the University has
all been very positive,” Wilkens said. “We have
more requests from UDRI than we have funding
to fill them, so the program has expanded with
the College of Arts and Sciences and Oce for
Research now funding additional positions.”
In the end, it was about making connections, but
also in expanding areas of research in ways we
couldn’t before.
Five Year Impact Report
■
“You would meet UDRI folks in the hallway and go to lunch with them.
You could ask someone on your floor who at UDRI has expertise in a
certain area and then go ask them questions. Our idea was to place
faculty at UDRI for the summer, so they would be able to make the same
connections senior faculty did.”
Bob Wilkens, associate dean for research and innovation
45
RESEARCH FOR THE COMMON GOOD
At the University of Dayton, we’re focused on the
common good — on developing real solutions that
have a real impact on society. That’s why students
cultivated an urban farm in East Dayton and
designed a high school 8,000 miles away in Malawi.
The vast majority of research universities are
focused almost exclusively on discovery-driven
research, hoping to achieve impact in future
years. The Dayton approach is dierent. Here,
we encourage the full spectrum of scholarly
approaches, from fundamental to highly applied,
because we want to advance the state of the art and
solve today’s problems.
The mix of pragmatic and inspired innovation that
has long driven the University of Dayton Research
Institute (UDRI) is now embraced across campus.
Born in the School of Engineering, UDRI is now
a $150 million engineering research powerhouse
experiencing double digit growth the past
four years.
At the School of Engineering, we have ten principles for identifying
research for the common good. They are research projects with the following objectives:
Prevent, cure or
treat disease
Reduce the environmental
impact of human activity
Enhance the safety, health
or welfare of workers
Improve production,
distribution or access to food
Enhance the resiliency of
the built environment
Prevent, mitigate or respond to
natural or man-made disasters
Reduce the
digital divide
Enhance the quality of life for people
with mental or physical challenges
Foster communication,
collaboration or education
Promote
human rights
University of Dayton School of Engineering
==---_
■
m m il m
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46
COMBUSTION TO
COOKSTOVE
In his day job, Josh Heyne, assistant professor of
mechanical and aerospace engineering, researches
ways to improve the performance of jet fuels. When
he’s not studying how to make some of the most
sophisticated machines in the world more ecient,
he’s doing the same thing with a far simpler system — a
cookstove.
More than two billion people worldwide use open
fires or traditional biomass stoves for cooking and
heating their homes. Due to incomplete combustion,
toxic byproducts such as soot, nitrous oxides and
carbon monoxide gasses cause an estimated four
million deaths per year due to long-term exposure. Air
pollution and deforestation are other serious issues.
As a UD undergraduate, Heyne spend two summers in
South America working on the combustion eciency
of wood stoves as appropriate technologies. Over
time, “rocket” type stoves have become up to 97
percent ecient and are virtually smokeless, even with
minimal ventilation. They improve air quality, provide
a safely contained fire and require far lesswood.
Today Heyne advises students like Erin Peier, who
spent her time at UD quantifying the benefits of
biomass gasification and working internationally to
help tobacco farmers and shea nut roasters adopt
more environmentally friendly methods of drying
their crops. Peier has gone on to pursue a doctorate at
Oregon State University with a focus on technologies
to alleviate energy poverty in developing countries.
Five Year Impact Report
Joshua Heyne, assistant professor of mechanical engineering.
Erin Peier’s international immersions through the ETHOS program
and master’s work in the Heyne’s lab has her pursuing a doctorate in
mechanical engineering with a focus on relieving energy poverty.
47
ORGANIZATIONAL
Impact
The School of Engineering is developing
a dynamic educational environment that
provides the greatest benefit for our students,
faculty, sta, alumni and partners.
ENGINEERING A
STRATEGIC PLAN
Dr. Eddy Rojas is motivated by pursuing
“Engineering that Matters” — not just doing
something because it can be done, but, because it
should be done.
Named dean of the School of Engineering (SoE)
in July 2014 following a national search, Rojas set
to work evaluating the climate of the School of
Engineering in preparation for an extensive — and
highly participatory — strategic planningprocess.
A climate survey was conducted that fall, and
then, in January 2015, a Core Strategic Planning
Team was named. The team was composed
of administrators, faculty, sta, students
and industry partners serving on the SoE
AdvisoryCouncil.
The group met three times with an outside
facilitator to draft a mission, vision and core
values statement and to identify focus areas.
Strategy teams were then formed by goal area and
planning meetings began.
SoE faculty and sta as well as our campus,
industry, and government partners, students,
donors, and alumni all participated on the
goal teams. Each goal team met to perform
a SWOT analysis and identify preliminary
recommendations and measures as well as final
key decisions and actions.
Two Saturday planning forums were held where
team members and stakeholders met to review
and critique the team recommendations before
a writing team went to work. They turned the
recommendations of the 10 strategy teams into a
comprehensive planning document with three
overarching goals, strategic initiatives, tactics and
action items. By July of 2015, this document was
finalized and printed.
In the four years since its creation, the
SoE strategic plan has been a guidepost for
transformational change. Because so many action
items were accomplished, in the summer of 2018
the plan was streamlined and aligned with both
the University’s vision under President Eric
Spina and the four areas of impact identified and
currently being measured as benchmarks of long-
term success.
Those four impact areas: cultural, societal,
organizational and experiential still guide our
work and inform our decision making.
Five Year Impact Report
UNilVERSlTY OF DAYTON
SCH00 ,1L OF ENG,l1NEERING
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■
49
Ken Bloemer, director of the Visioneering Center, trains faculty and grad students on innovative teaching pedagogies.
PREPARING FUTURE FACULTY
The University of Dayton has traditionally placed
a high value on undergraduate teaching and
recruiting faculty who personally invest in their
students’ learning. No courses are taught by
graduate assistants in the School of Engineering,
so how are future academics to hone their
classroom skills?
Engineering graduate students who wish to pursue
a career in academia have had years of training to
gain technical proficiency and hone their research
interests. However, they receive little to no
training on how to be eective in the classroom.
A partnership with Chaminade Julienne (CJ) High
School and a new pilot program of mini-courses is
changing that.
Through a collaboration between the associate
dean for faculty and sta development, the
Visioneering Center and the University’s Learning
Teaching Center, the first of four courses was
piloted in spring of 2019. Three additional courses
have been proposed.
Topics that will be included in the mini-course
series are innovative teaching pedagogies such as
active and collaborative learning, entrepreneurial
minded learning, community engaged learning,
characteristics of a Marianist education, inclusive
teaching practices, course and syllabus design,
learning theories, and technology in the classroom.
There is no cost for the students to take the one
credit hour mini-courses, and these courses will
appear on their transcript, making students more
competitive when applying for faculty positions.
The pilot course is being carefully reviewed and
assessed to shape the development of future
mini-courses. The goal is to eventually develop a
certificate for graduate students.
University of Dayton School of Engineering
■
50
There is no cost for the graduate students to take the one credit hour
mini-courses, and these courses will appear on their transcript,
making students more competitive when applying for faculty positions.
Five Year Impact Report
■
Partnering to Teach Engineering to High School Students
Through a partnership with CJ High School in
Dayton and Project Lead the Way, a national
program bringing real-world STEM learning to
K-12 classrooms, the School of Engineering now
oers five graduate assistantships for master and
Ph.D. level engineering students funded by CJ.
This mutually beneficial relationship provides
graduate students with the opportunity to earn
a stipend while gaining engineering teaching
experience. The benefits to CJ are twofold:
having teachers in their classrooms who are
engaged in cutting edge engineering research
and gaining access to resources from the School
such as guest speakers, laboratory tours, and
collaborativeprojects.
In addition to teaching, the graduate students
participate in bi-weekly professional development
lunch meetings funded by the School. It is hoped
that this collaboration will not only produce
better teachers and more engaged students, but
also serve as a recruiting tool for CJ students to
consider a UD engineering education.
UD graduate students have the opportunity to teach engineering
classes at a local Catholic high school and bring those students to the
School of Engineering for field trips.
51
Kimberly Bigelow, associate professor of mechanical engineering, has built a nationally recognized biomechanics lab during her ten years at UD.
University of Dayton School of Engineering
■
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GIVING FACULTY THE TOOLS TO SUCCEED
So you’ve defended your dissertation, navigated the drawn out faculty hiring process,
negotiated your startup package, and likely relocated to a new city. Now the real work
begins. Junior faculty members can be under a great deal of pressure in the early years of
their careers. They need to develop compelling class syllabi, get their labs set up and begin
the hunt for research funding — all with future promotions and tenure in mind. The School
of Engineering has developed several resources to assist new faculty achieve their goals.
First-year Faculty Meetings
Margie Pinnell, associate dean for faculty and
sta development meets on a monthly basis with
all new faculty members. At the first meeting, the
group brainstorms topics for future meetings
that would be beneficial. Sessions include invited
speakers, discussions, presentations, and reading
material.
“The overall objective of these meetings is to
develop a sense of community among new
faculty, and expose them to faculty from other
departments, school administration, and
representatives from across campus,” Pinnell
said. “We want to provide them with information
and resources to help them feel confident as they
launch their career at UD.”
52
Federal Grant Seekers Program
The Federal Grant Seekers is a year-long,
cohorted faculty development program aimed
at helping faculty members investigate funding
opportunities from federal funding agencies such
as the National Science Foundation and National
Institute of Health. Participants spend time
developing a white paper, understanding proposal
writing basics, and preparing for meetings with
program directors from key funding agencies.
The faculty member participants, along with
representatives from the Oce of the Dean,
travel as a group to Washington, D.C., to meet
individually or in small groups with program
directors and other government ocials. This
program, which runs every other year, is targeted
for tenure track faculty members during their
probationary period; however, it is open to
all tenure track faculty and is intended to
compliment the Early Career Fellows.
Early Career Fellows
The Early Career Fellows is a year-long, cohorted
faculty development program aimed at helping
eligible tenure track faculty members write and
submit early career proposals such as NSF’s
CAREER Award. Faculty members learn about the
various types of early career awards, get exposed
to some of the nuances of early career proposals,
work with a partner in the development of a
proposal, and get feedback from the facilitators
throughout the process. The fellows also have the
opportunity to have their proposals reviewed by
the Hanover Research Group.
Five Year Impact Report
■
53
Tim Reissman, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, is building a robust mechatronics research program.
Junior faculty members can be under a great deal of pressure in the
early years of their careers. They need to develop compelling class
syllabi, get their labs set up and begin the hunt for research funding —
all with future promotions and tenure in mind.
54
University of Dayton School of Engineering
■
Teaching-Focused Professional
Development
The School of Engineering provides four teaching-
focused professional development opportunities
each year. These opportunities are managed by the
Visioneering Center, with some sessions oered
in conjunction with the Kern Entrepreneurial
Engineering Network (KEEN). The School has
taken a leadership role across campus, opening
these training opportunities to faculty from other
units and sometime from other universities.
Training formats range from one-hour sessions
to two-day workshops. Examples of workshop
topics include: best practices in design education,
brain-friendly teaching, active learning and
inductiveteaching.
Other Research Support
Junior faculty can combine mini grants,
fellowships and student research programs like
the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience
(SURE) to build their research portfolios. For
example, faculty who receive STEM Catalyst
Grants or UD/UDRI Fellowships can apply to
receive student research assistance through the
SURE Program.
These programs can help researchers develop a
proof of concept to better position themselves to
compete for grants of national scope.
55
Five Year Impact Report
■
Development of a New Promotion
and Tenure Document
The School is currently engaging in a significant promotion and
tenure re-visioning process that includes rewriting the promotion
and tenure procedures and policies. Among numerous other goals,
these policies and procedures are being developed to be mission-
centered, formative, evaluative, and include tools to aid in career
planning, self-assessment, and reflection.
The new process will incorporate best practices in faculty evaluation,
tenure and promotion and strive to be more equitable in recognizing
the service workload of women and underrepresented minorities in
the School.
The School has already adopted an electronic portfolio based
on the format requested by the provost’s oce for the hard copy
dossiers submitted during the promotion and tenure process. The
electronic portfolios are shared with appropriate individuals during
dierent stages of the review process. These electronic portfolios
then become part of the faculty member’s permanent electronic file.
Digital portfolios have several advantages including: convenience,
confidentiality, cost-savings, ability to access and secure documents,
and environmental friendliness.
Faculty Ambassadors
Faculty Ambassadors are a group of faculty who engage in various
professional development opportunities to help them more
eectively engage in student recruiting activities, and to share
this information with their chair and other members in their
department. The Faculty Ambassadors help facilitate various
recruiting events, develop and evaluate hands-on activities that are
oered to prospective students and summer camp participants, and
ensure that research-based best practices for attracting females
and underrepresented minorities to engineering are incorporated.
The Faculty Ambassador program is managed by the Diversity in
Engineering Center, with support from the associate dean for faculty
and sta development.
Margie Pinnell, associate dean for faculty
and sta development, chats with a
graduate student.
Emily Fehrman Cory is director of
Leonardo Enterprises, the School’s tech
business incubator, and is a faculty of
practice in innovation entrepreneurship.
Philip Appiah-Kubi is an assistant professor
in engineering technology specializing in
industrial and systems engineering.
“Knowing I have a place to come to
whether I need to print handouts or
just grab a mint makes me feel more
connected to UD. I especially love
having a student worker available
for help or just to keep me company
during quieter times in the building.”
Cori Mowrey, former adjunct faculty member, now
assistant professor, Department of Engineering
Management, Systems and Technology
University of Dayton School of Engineering
HELPING ADJUNCT
FACULTY EXCEL
They might not be on campus five days a week,
but adjunct faculty bring valuable, real-world
perspective with them into the classroom. With
more than 80 adjunct faculty teaching each year,
the strategic planning process identified the need
for better communication to — and support for —
this key group.
Beginning with the 2018–19 academic year, the
School created both an orientation/training
program and a new adjunct faculty work space on
the first floor of Kettering Labs.
The space is open from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and
is staed with trained student workers from
4:00–9:00 p.m. Amenities include shared work
spaces, printing resources, private spaces to hold
oce hours and even light snacks for those coming
from work.
56
As an adjunct faculty member teaching
quantitative analysis, Cori Mowrey is a frequent
user of the space.
“Knowing I have a place to come to whether I need
to print handouts or just grab a mint makes me
feel more connected to UD,” she said. “I especially
love having a student worker available for help or
just to keep me company during quieter times in
the building.”
The School has also organized a mandatory
workshop for new and returning adjunct faculty
members that is oered on a Saturday and a
Monday evening just prior to the start of the fall
semester. The workshop covers updates to UD’s
policies and procedures and required laboratory
safety training. Breakout sessions on topics such
as high impact teaching strategies and technology
in the classroom are also oered. A stipend and
meal areprovided.
“The purpose of the workshop is to help adjunct
faculty excel in the classroom, stay current on
University policies and best practices and ensure
they have a positive teaching experience,” Margie
Pinnell, associate dean for faculty and sta
development, said. “We believe this is one way
to build community with full-time engineering
faculty andadministrators.”
Five Year Impact Report
■
57
Sweeping changes are coming to higher education
because of a looming baby bust.
By having the right people in the right positions,
the School of Engineering has taken a leadership
role across campus to transform the student
recruitment process at the academic level and
prepare for this shift.
The Great Recession of 2008 left many scars,
including a birth rate that dropped precipitously
from 2008-2011 and has yet to rebound. With the
population of college-age students expected to
decline by 15 percent in much of the country over
the next several years, universities are competing
for a smaller pool of traditional students. Catholic
universities, which rely heavily on students from
private schools, will be especially hard hit.
After years of record-setting enrollment growth in
the School of Engineering, in 2016 the School got
a sneak peek at the new reality when enrollment
unexpectedly dropped by 20 percent for the
incoming engineering class.
The University responded by creating an
Academic Collaboration Team to take a look at
how enrollment management can better work
with academic units. The idea was to provide a
seamless experience for visiting students and
theirfamilies.
Laura Bistrek, executive director of the
Diversity in Engineering Center (DEC); Scott
Segalewitz, associate dean for student success and
experiential learning; and Kelly Mofield, director
of communication, served on the task force and
began reimagining what a better recruitment
experience would look like.
They teamed with Shawnee Breitenstein, director
of engineering engagement, to transform the
student recruitment cycle.
The first step was to identify the strengths of the
School of Engineering to craft a unified message.
Recruiting materials, including new brochures
and a multi-media dean’s presentation, were
developed. Using a data-driven approach, every
recruiting event was evaluated with student/
parent feedback and yield in mind.
Explore Engineering, a hands-on event for high
school students interested in STEM careers,
introduced a passport component. Students are
encouraged to have their passport sheet stamped
by participating in engineering modules, visiting
with clubs and organizations and learning about
opportunities like cooperative education. The
passport encourages students to circulate at the
event and engage in a variety of activities.
Engineering modules at the Explore event were
updated with new activities that appeal to student
interests such as sustainability, bioengineering
and mechatronics. Promotional literature uses
language that is less technical and more accessible.
TRANSFORMING UNDERGRADUATE RECRUITMENT
University of Dayton School of Engineering
■
58
The School has invested in Ambassadors, both
faculty and student, because of the large number
of recruitment events and personal appointments
each year.
Student Ambassadors are engineering students
paid and trained to sta events and give building
tours — with an emphasis on student success
stories and experiential learning opportunities.
They schedule the more than 500 academic visits
that take place each year and oer a personal
touch to visiting students, including a welcome
sign and thank you notes.
“The most successful change we have implemented
in the last three years is the centralization of the
visit process,” Breitenstein said. “Before I arrived,
families would reach out to each department
individually to set up their visit. Depending on
who they reached, those experiences could be
very dierent. Now Student Ambassadors handle
all communication with families, and we have a
designated space where each family is greeted.”
Faculty Ambassadors receive a stipend and meet
monthly to advise the DEC on how events can
be improved. They liaise with their academic
departments, meet with potential students, and
sta recruitment events such as Fall Open Houses,
Explore Engineering, Admitted Student Days, and
summer engineering camps.
“The Faculty Ambassadors Program has given
the dierent departments the opportunity to
share with one another and collaborate with each
other on everything from recruitment materials
to reimagining our summer camp experience,”
Breitenstein said.
Since implementing these changes, the University
has held its own in the competitive recruitment
arena. Despite being located in close proximity
to a number of high-quality, publicly-funded
engineering programs with significantly lower
tuition, UD has achieved its goal of roughly 500
first-year students each of the last three years.
Going forward, the University is working hard to
diversify its applicant pool. Again, the Diversity
in Engineering Center is leading the way with
a variety of programs that support the success
of female, underrepresented minority and
international student engineers. That work is
paying o as UD’s first-year retention rate is
91 percent overall and 93 percent for African
American students.
Student Engineering Ambassadors are key to the success of UD’s undergraduate
student recruitment.
Five Year Impact Report
■
59
TELLING THE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING STORY
When faculty, sta and other stakeholders
gathered in 2015 to provide input on the strategic
planning process, one theme arose repeatedly: the
need for improved communication.
With nearly 3,000 undergraduate and graduate
students, 150 full-time faculty and sta, and
thousands of alumni, the School of Engineering
has thousands of stories to tell. Plus, in a time of
rapid change both within the School and across
the University, communication became even
moreimportant.
Kelly Mofield joined the School as director of
communications in June of 2016. The timing was
ideal. After several years of impressive growth in
undergraduate enrollment, the School found itself
more than 100 students short of its 500 student
recruiting goal. While the reasons for this outcome
were complex and varied, it was time to take a hard
look at how academic units could better operate in
support of enrollment management.
With the next recruiting season just weeks away,
Mofield worked with the dean, associate deans,
and sta from the Diversity in Engineering
Center to develop a communications plan. The
plan highlighted the program’s strengths, created
key messages for potential students and their
families, and produced deliverable such as
basic marketing materials, a new multi-media
PowerPoint for presentations and a beefed-up
social mediapresence.
Diversity in Engineering Center sta revamped
all of the School’s admissions programming to
emphasize key messages and appeal to students’
interest in experiential learning and making
a dierence in the world through the lens
ofengineering.
Not only did enrollment rebound the next year
to 520, the School of Engineering was viewed as a
campus leader in terms of recruiting best practices.
Having a full-time communications professional
on sta has allowed the School to expand its
social media presence, quickly implement the
University’s rebranding initiative and website
relaunch, and work to promote awareness of new
programs and centers.
University of Dayton School of Engineering
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60
“Our faculty and students are doing incredible
research for the common good. It has been my
absolute privilege to tell the wonderful stories
of faculty, sta and student accomplishment
and how we are training the next generation of
engineering innovators.”
Kelly Fritz Mofield, director of communications
Internally, Mofield has implemented an email
newsletter and works with the dean to develop
messaging and materials for each semester’s
faculty/sta and Engineering Advisory Council
meetings. She also serves as a liaison with
the University’s marketing, communications
and media relations sta to bring stories to
their attention that broaden the School of
Engineeringnarrative.
Mofield has partnered with University Marketing
and Communication over the past three years to
raise the School of Engineering’s profile on the
national stage. That eort is producing results.
With excellent research gains and significant
improvements in the peer and employer surveys,
the School became a top 50 engineering graduate
program for the first time in the 2020 US News
and World Report survey. This year’s ranking at
number 47 marks a rise of 16 positions over the
past five years.
“Our faculty and students are doing incredible
research for the common good,” Mofield said.
“It has been my absolute privilege to tell the
wonderful stories of faculty, sta and student
accomplishment and how we are training the next
generation of engineering innovators.”
Five Year Impact Report
Creat11e Analytics
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61
Eric Balster, chair of electrical and computer engineering, and Kristen Krupa-Comfort, chair of chemical and materials engineering, are the first two
faculty members to go through the associate chair program.
University of Dayton School of Engineering
■
CHAIR IN TRAINING
The chair of an academic unit has a wide range
of responsibilities — from department budgeting
and scheduling classes to dealing with personal
problems such as a faculty member’s need for
medical leave.
In the School of Engineering, a new Associate
Chair Program is making the transition between
department chairs run more smoothly by giving
the incoming chair a full academic year to learn
about their new role.
In 2017, a new succession planning policy was
approved and implemented for department
chairs. According to the policy, chairs will serve
a four-year term with the opportunity for one
re-appointment. In the seventh year an associate
chair will be selected to learn the role of chair.
Eric Balster, now chair of the Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering, was the
first faculty member to enter the Associate Chair
Program in the 2017–18 academic year. He applied,
was supported by colleagues and appointed by
thedean.
“It was tremendously helpful to know you are going
to be chair and have time to think about it,” Balster
62
“It was tremendously helpful to
know you are going to be chair
and have time to think about it.”
Eric Balster, chair, Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering
Five Year Impact Report
■
said. “I initially thought a year might be too
long, but it was helpful to go through a complete
academic cycle and see how everything runs.”
Balster joined the School’s Academic Leadership
Counsel, Undergraduate and Graduate Studies
Committees, and had training on software used
for budgeting and class scheduling. He also
participated in Leadership UD, a cohort of 24
fellows who develop leadership skills and gain a
more comprehensive view of the University, with
Kristen Krupa-Comfort, chair of chemical and
materials engineering.
“I learned that UD is not the small little University
I thought it was,” Balster said. “Its reach is
much bigger. The Associate Chair Program and
Leadership UD should be a package deal.”
63
One of the aerodynamic “passion projects” that bring learning to life in Gunasekaran’s class.
64
University of Dayton School of Engineering
VISION AWARDS RECOGNIZE
OUTSTANDING FACULTY AND STAFF
When an organization goes through a period of
rapid change, it becomes important to recognize
those who have embraced that change and best
represent the organization’s mission, vision
andvalues.
The change process led to the creation of the
School of Engineering Vision Awards to recognize
the contributions of faculty and sta that go
above and beyond their job descriptions. The
four awards — honoring community building,
innovation, excellence, and engagement/service —
are presented annually to outstanding faculty and
sta in the School of Engineering and include a
$2,000 monetary award.
Each spring, a selection team led by Associate
Dean for Faculty and Sta Development Margie
Pinnell, combs through nominations to determine
which members of the faculty and sta will receive
the awards. Nominations are usually made by
colleagues and use various materials, including
letters of support from students.
The faculty and sta honored make incredible
contributions to the School of Engineering and the
University of Dayton.
When an organization goes through a period of rapid change, it
becomes important to recognize those who have embraced that change
and best represent the organization’s mission, vision and values.
65
Five Year Impact Report
~-----
-------------
■
Heather Juhascik
Sid Gunasekaran, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace
engineering.
Sidaard Gunasekaran, assistant professor of
mechanical and aerospace engineering, was
honored with the Vision Award for Innovation
in 2018. The award recognizes faculty and sta
for providing innovative teaching strategies and
unique experiential learning opportunities. He
was specifically recognized for his willingness to
teach outside his aerospace discipline.
Gunasekaran has worked as a faculty fellow
for the Institute of Applied Creativity and
Transformation and the Visioneering Center, and
established courses for the Hanley Sustainability
Institute. His use of portfolios and “passion
projects” in his classes has been featured in KEEN
Magazine and Aerospace America.
“In the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace
Engineering we have several outstanding faculty,”
Gunasekaran said. “I was humbled because they
noticed what I was doing among all the fantastic
things that other faculty in the department are
doing. I felt that I am part of the team — and that
means a lot.”
Heather Juhascik, KEEN program coordinator,
will receive the Vision Award for Community at
the fall faculty and sta meeting. Her work has
enhanced diversity and inclusion within the
School of Engineering. Juhascik co-leads the
Welcoming Team to onboard new faculty and sta
and organizes a Caring Circle oering support to
SoE faculty and sta caring for aging loved ones.
She also volunteers with International Friendship
Family, aiding in acclimating international
students to American culture and helping them
feel welcome and at home in Dayton.
Like other recipients, Juhascik feels truly humbled
to be recognized. She said, “We have a wonderful
team of people who work hard every day. I am
proud to receive this award and cherish this
honordeeply.”
A MASTER PLAN
Strategic planning isn’t limited to what an
organization will do, but where it will do it. The
School of Engineering’s strategic plan led to a new
master plan for Kettering Labs as well — a plan
that is being implemented in phases to maximize
eciency and minimize disruption to academics.
As both the School of Engineering and Research
Institute grew over the years, the spaces they
co-occupied in Kettering Labs became more
crowded and less cohesive. Faculty and sta from
growing departments like electrical and computer
engineering found themselves in four dierent
spaces over two floors. The Research Institute
simply ran out of space.
Research Institute employees began vacating
Kettering Labs as renovations were completed on
the former NCR headquarters (now Curran Place),
freeing the School to reimagine a more ecient
and user-friendly allocation of space.
“The master plan for the building came out of our
strategic planning discussions,” said Stephanie
McChesney, director of safety and facilities, who
has overseen implementation of the plan after
approval from the provost’s oce.
The plan, the bulk of which is being implemented
over three fiscal years starting in FY18, calls
for academic departments to be co-located in
The first academic
department to get
a new home was
the Department
of Electrical
and Computer
Engineering (ECE).
University of Dayton School of Engineering
-==-
■
66
The ETHOS Center moved to a remodeled space on the first floor.
contiguous oce spaces, consolidating dean’s
oce personnel on the 5th floor, moving the
ETHOS Center to a visible location on the first
floor, updating 16 of 18 classrooms and creating
new student study spaces.
In phase one, the Oce of Student Success, the
Diversity in Engineering Center, the Visioneering
Center, and the Oce of Cooperative Education
relocated next to the Dean’s and Associate dean’s
oces on the fifth floor. All spaces were remodeled,
with the exception of the dean’s oce, to provide
employees with fresh paint, carpet and, in some
cases, furniture.
The first academic department to get a new home
was the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering (ECE). Chair Eric Balster, who
himself was assigned an oce in mechanical
engineering when he was hired at UD, is “ecstatic”
to have his department together.
“The renovation gave us a space that’s lively and
welcoming,” Balster said. “I see faculty wandering
into each other’s oces to chat and share ideas.
We have space available for new hires and space
to comfortably welcome visitors. It’s a more
supportive environment.”
Over the next two years, the other four
undergraduate academic departments will
co-locate in renovated spaces with the majority of
work being done over summer and winter breaks.
Like ECE, the entrances to each department will
be located to be highly visible when exiting the
stairwells and elevators.
With co-funding from the provost’s oce,
classrooms are receiving fresh paint, carpet and
new technology over the next two summers as
well. At least one classroom will be converted from
a lecture to collaborative setup with tables and
chairs in response to faculty requests for more
flexible space.
Finally, the College of Arts and Sciences is funding
a gut/remodel of the building next to Kettering
Labs to re-locate its Department of Computer
Science. The College is adding a connector to join
that building to the School of Engineering, making
for easy access between the two buildings and
creating shared study and lounge spaces.
“With computer science and computer engineering
being so closely aligned, having the Department of
Computer Science next door opens up all kinds of
opportunities for research and shared classroom
and laboratory spaces,” said Stephanie McChesney,
director of facilities.
Five Year Impact Report
■
67
University of Dayton Engineering that Matters
An overview video of the School of Engineering.
ETHOS: An Internship Unlike Any Other
School of Engineering students travel the world learning how
adaptive technology can help solve problems.
Minority Engineering Program
Creating community and providing career guidance to
outstanding underrepresented minority engineering
students.
School of Engineering Strategic Planning Process
Learn more about how our plan came together.
GE EPISCenter Partnership
The University has a unique partnership with GE Aviation
and its research facility on campus.
STEM Catalyst Faculty Grant Program
Learn about this collaborative program and the research it
has funded.
DIGITAL CONTENT
University of Dayton School of Engineering
■
68
Engineering for the Common Good
This video outlines our research philosophy highlighting
engineering for the common good.
It Flies!
Our Merlin Flight Simulator allows UD students to fly their
own designs.
Nicaragua 10-day Breakout
Current electrical and computer engineering student and
talented film maker Christian Cubacub documented his
ETHOS breakaway.
Engineer’s Week
Engineer’s Week is a big celebration here at the University of
Dayton School of Engineering.
Go Baby Go!
Engineering and physical therapy students and faculty come
together to build customized electric cars for children with
mobility issues.
Impact Reports
Check out Impact Reports from previous years.
Five Year Impact Report
■
69
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