SECCM Faculty News Fall 2024

Faculty News

Ahmet Akosman (ENGR) attended the Advanced Photonics Congress in Quebec City this summer.  He was joined by his undergraduate research students who presented results from their biosensor research.

Anne Anderson (CNST) and Danielle Crafford (General Superintendent at Gilbane Building Company and chair of the CMPAB) co-authored a case study entitled “Incorporating Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility on a Construction Site,” published in April 2024. The document is free for educators and includes supplemental instructor notes for suggested deployment in the classroom. Development of the case study was funded by the AGC Education and Research Foundation.  On a personal note, over spring/summer I designed and built 150+ LF of wood/hog-wire fence to create a space for my new puppy Gromit to play with his big brother Bandit and neighbor dog Reed.

Janet Baldwin (ENGR) stepped down as Engineering Program coordinator after serving in the position for ten years, including leading two ABET accreditation efforts.  To celebrate the successful reaccreditation this year, she and her husband hiked the chalk cliffs of England’s South West Coast Path for three weeks.

Maija Benitz (ENGR) and Li-Ling Yang (RWU Professor of Education) implemented the KidWind Community Engagement project for the fifth time this past spring, which has now reached over 1000 fourth graders. A study of the project impacts on the fourth grade participants was presented in collaboration with Olivia Ryan (RWU Engineering ’20, Virginia Tech PhD Candidate) at the American Society of Engineering Education Conference in Portland, OR in June.

Sonya Cates (COMSC) completed a certificate in science illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Dan Dimitrov (CNST) graduated from the University of Washington with a Ph.D. in the Built Environment!  (Note:  Congratulations, Dan!  We’re so happy you are here.)

Lillian Jeznach (ENGR) earned her Professional Engineering license in the State of Rhode Island while on sabbatical during the spring 2024 semester . Her research team also published a paper documenting methods for assessing freshwater and atmospheric microplastics with undergraduate students.

Pamela Judge (ENGR) worked on a research project over Summer 2024 with two RWU students: one engineer and one environmental scientist.  The project consisted of investigating the material strength properties of a soy-based resin for 3D printing.  The goal of the project is to see in what way (if any) the strength properties of the material changes with time when exposed to the environment such as UV light and saltwater.  The project was funded by the Narraganset Bay Estuary Program (NBEP) and the RWU Foundation to Promote Scholarship and Teaching (FPST).

Shay Kurzinski (CNST) published all her Ph.D. dissertation chapters with the final chapter, Evaluating the shear stiffness of asymmetric angle-ply layers in diagonal cross-laminated timber, published in the Journal of Materials and Structures at the end of April. In May, the proposal she submitted as the PI (with Dr. Joel Singley from Environmental Science as the Co-PI) was awarded by the USDA Forest Service. This project will investigate moisture-related problems in mass timber construction in coastal climates.

Jung Hyun Lee (CNST) passed the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) certification exam and has earned the Associate DBIA certification from the DBIA’s Design-Build Certification Board.

Allison Marn (ENGR) introduced a new Power Electronics elective and welcomed a baby boy, Owen (CONGRATULATIONS!!!).

Nicole Martino (ENGR) has been awarded a subcontract, funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration, to research and compare the attenuation of ground penetrating radar signals collected from in service bridge decks with those modeled using the same parameters and a computational modeling software.  Two students, Sam Eichmann and Camila Wendland, are working with her on this project.

William Palm (ENGR) served as a guest reviewer for Biomedical Engineering capstone design projects at Brown University and facilitated three workshops for RWU faculty on Teaching in Honors

Matthew Stein (ENGR) worked on an Office of Naval Research (ONR) Autonomous Underwater Robot joint research project (with University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML), Naval Underwater Warfare Center (NUWC) and Brown University).  He supervises two undergraduate students in creating a sensor-equipped test stand for manipulation by an autonomous underwater robot. The test will hang underwater in a test pool and report the status of the experimental tasks in real time.

Gordon Stewart (ENGR) presented a paper at the ASEE conference that was co-authored with Professors Benitz, Thomas, and Jeznach.  This paper presented work on collecting pedagogical data on the effectiveness of the newly redesigned ENGR110 group design project.  For this project, the first year students design and build small wind turbine blades as well as a floating platform that is a model of a floating offshore wind turbine.

Charles Thomas (ENGR) updated his Fluid Mechanics course to include a laboratory activity using the software EPA net, which he learned during his sabbatical.  Student reviews were positive regarding this new addition.  The activity involved modeling the flow rate in SELB which required planning, reading, and inputting the information into the software appropriately.

Gökhan Çelik (Associate Dean, CNST) completed Harvard’s “Exercising Leadership: Foundational Principles” course.

Rob Griffin (Dean, ENGR) is proud to announce that he was elected to the executive board of his national professional society, the American Association for Aerosol Research.  He will serve as secretary for two years beginning in October 2025.

Faculty Spotlight

We continue our faculty spotlight segment with a focus on Dr. Bill Palm from the Engineering program, who has been at RWU since 2011.  Thanks to Dr. Palm for his service as the Honors Program Director!

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Kingston, Rhode Island, just a mile from the URI campus. Both my parents were professors.

Where did you get your degrees?

I earned my B.S. from Penn State, my M.S. from UC Berkeley, and my Ph.D. from M.I.T. 

What other jobs have you held?

I taught part-time at two other universities and have had two full-time engineering jobs. I developed construction tools for Stanley-Bostitch in East Greenwich, RI and then had a very fun job with a product design and innovation consultancy in Boston. My first job was at a bicycle shop.

What’s the last book you read for fun?  How about a movie that you have seen?

In the Shadow of the Banyan, by Vaddey Ratner.  It was the RWU summer reading a few years back and I finally got a chance to read it!  Most recent movie was Inside Out 2 with my kids.

What’s something that people would be surprised to know about you?

I had long hair and a goatee in college.

Why did you want to be a professor?

I was a good student, and teaching uses a lot of the same skills. I enjoy sharing what I've learned with others and learning from them.

Why RWU?

When I interviewed it was clear that the SECCM took undergraduate education very seriously. Faculty were here to teach and did it well. Some other universities get obsessed with rankings and lose sight of their students. It's also been nice to be close to family, and Bristol is a great place to live!

What classes are you teaching?

Lately I've been teaching Manufacturing and Assembly, Biomechanics, and HONR 100 - Foundations of Honors.  This spring I'll teach Materials Science again, which will be fun. 

What else are you working on?

I'm starting my fourth year as Director of the RWU Honors Program. With 270 students, it keeps me busy!