Highlights: SECCM Newsletter Fall 2024

New Faces

We have had several changes to our faculty and staff over the past few months.  Long-time Assistant to the Dean Marygrace Staton retired in March and is now enjoying a more relaxed life with her family and pets.  She is certainly missed.

Jennifer Wagner joined SECCM full-time in May and brought her vast institutional knowledge and skills from her time in a similar role in the Mario J. Gabelli School of Business.  Welcome, Jen!

On the faculty side, visiting Computer Science Assistant Professor Chris Cortese returned to his position outside of RWU but continues to serve as an Adjunct Professor in Physics and Mathematics.  Thank you, Chris!

In addition, Construction Management Lecturer Jon Gomes is away from RWU for the 2024-2025 academic year while he completes his coursework as a Rinker Scholar in the doctoral program in Construction Management at the University of Florida.  Good luck, Jon!

Two new faces joined SECCM this fall – Dan Dimitrov (most recently a doctoral student at the University of Washington) as a visiting Assistant Professor of Construction Management and Vani Gupta (most recently an Assistant Professor at Providence College) as an Assistant Professor of Computer Science.  Welcome to Dan and Vani!

In addition, we have had some changes in responsibilities.  As of July, both Construction Management and Engineering have new program coordinators – Drs. Anne Anderson and Charlie Thomas, respectively.  They bring a wealth of experience, creativity and energy to the role! 

We appreciate their stepping up – and give a big shout out to Drs. Janet Baldwin (Engineering) and Michael Emmer (Construction Management) for their years of dedication and service in these roles before this transition.

Marygrace Staton’s Retirement Celebration

After many years of dedicated service to SECCM, our long-time Assistant to the Dean, Marygrace Staton, retired in March 2024. Her exceptional commitment and warmth played a vital role in the success of countless projects and events at SECCM. When helping students, faculty, or staff, Marygrace’s thoughtful presence and efficiency were always appreciated. While we miss her daily presence, we wish her all the best as she enjoys well-deserved time with her family and pets. Thank you, Marygrace, for all you’ve done for SECCM and RWU!

New Program

If you’ve been following RWU’s broader strategic planning, you may know that considerable efforts have been made to expand the range of graduate programs offered, with a focus on increasing enrollment.  Within SECCM, this includes tailoring pathways so that our undergraduate students can proceed directly into graduate programs in their fifth year (for example, master’s programs in the Gabelli School or the School of Justice Studies).  We are also developing new programs of our own.  In the Spring of 2024, the curriculum for a Construction Management graduate certificate was approved.  The RWU Graduate Certificate in Construction Management is designed for students looking to enter the highly in-demand field of construction management but lack the formal training of a Construction Management undergraduate degree. The program provides specialized training in planning, scheduling, and budgeting, offering a streamlined path to professional growth.  It's also great for those already in the industry who want to sharpen their skills or advance in their careers.   While open for enrollment now, we plan a significant launch in Fall 2025.  If you’re interested, please reach out!

Accreditation Success!

We reported in our spring newsletter that our ABET (Engineering and Computer Science) and ACCE (Construction Management) accreditation visits occurred in Fall 2023 and that we had little reason for concern.  Earlier in 2024, this became official!  The ABET accreditations were approved through September 30, 2030, and the ACCE accreditation through July 31, 2031.  Many thanks to the faculty, students, staff and alumni who contributed to this critical process for our programs.

SECCM Faculty FLIPped Out!

As part of efforts to improve continually shared governance of the Institution, the Division of Academic Affairs sponsored a Faculty Leadership Program (FLIP) during the 2023-2024 academic year.  Faculty applied to the program, and those accepted (eleven from across the Schools at RWU) participated in a program that consisted of monthly meetings focused on topics that included the state of higher education; creating inclusive meeting spaces; emotional intelligence; diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI); internal and external partnerships; and data-driven decision making.  Each participant was asked to discuss a topic relevant to RWU that they believe can be addressed – these topics ranged from alumni engagement to DEI training of faculty to assessment of teaching performance of adjunct faculty to interacting with neurodiverse students, among others.  Three SECCM community members participated – Dean Çelik, Professor Benitz (Engineering), and Professor Ghanem (Construction Management).  We look forward to seeing them put their new skills into practice this year.  Another session will likely be offered during the 2025-2026 academic year, and we hope to see more SECCM faculty opting to FLIP then!

We Could Have Made an Omelet…

Many of us know the expression, "You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs."  However, at SECCM during the summer, we didn’t break very many!  Orientation was updated this summer to allow for school sessions to focus on community building and fun.  After a brief introduction and an icebreaker, in SECCM we did an activity that focused on how all SECCM students build stuff (a gadget, a building, a code), need to understand fundamental science (as Dean Griffin’s high school teacher once said, “Physics is Phun!”), work on open-ended problems, and collaborate.  We emphasized this by dividing new students into teams of four to have a competition we called the “horizontal egg drop.”  Using the limited supplies given (straws, rubber bands, a plastic bag, skewers, tape, and cardboard), each team had to design a device to protect an egg and have it go the furthest without breaking.  Creativity, laughter, and successful designs abounded!  It marked a fun beginning for new students as they joined the SECCM community – and we are already looking forward to next year!

A New Scholarship

Our colleagues in Advancement worked with our industrial partner Gilbane Co. to establish a Gilbane scholarship designed to support women in construction.  The first Gilbane Scholar, Savannah Hebert, class of 2028, was awarded the scholarship over the summer.  First, we would like to thank Gilbane for their support of our program and of women in the construction industry.  Second, let’s get to know Savannah!  Congratulations and welcome to SECCM and RWU!

Are you planning on doing a second minor? 

I am, but I haven't fully committed to anything yet. I'm thinking possibly real estate or architecture.

Where are you from?  

I am proudly from Chicopee, Massachusetts.

What do you do in your spare time?

My main extracurriculars in high school were soccer, tennis, and Student Council. I plan to participate in intramural soccer and Women in Construction Club here at RWU. Girl Scouts and volunteering have always been and will always be a part of my life as well.

What is your long-term career goal? 

To own my own construction company and work flipping houses.

Why RWU?

I chose RWU because I enjoy the hands-on approach to the major and the atmosphere.

Spaces

Those of you who graduated in 2019 or earlier and have been back to campus likely noticed the new (opened in January 2020) Richard Bready Applied Learning Laboratories (or SECCM Labs Building -SELB).  One of the gems of campus, SELB houses teaching and research facilities for all SECCM programs.  Many thanks to the generous donors who supported the design and construction of the SELB.

In case you have been unable to visit in person, we would like to give you some insight into some specific aspects of the building.  Here, we focus on the space used primarily for senior design work for the Computer Science program; it’s also used for students to do homework and for class meetings when the pedagogy requires students to have a monitor (as opposed to a laptop) and specific software.  The Computer Science Software Experimentation Laboratory (also known as SELB 204) includes Dell D11S004 workstations with dual Samsung 27 inch curved monitors.  There is a Samsung 75 inch computer display that each workstation can access via AirMedia.

According to Dr. Anthony Ruocco, Computer Science Professor and Program Coordinator (and instructor for senior design, SELB 204) “is unique in that it lets students download software applications and configure each system specifically to meet the needs of their project.  The machines provide the computational and graphics power necessary to meet the demands of the complex problems driven by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Models.”