MEET THE NEWEST MEMBERS OF OUR DREAM TEAM WE’RE PLEASED TO INTRODUCE FACULTY MEMBERS WHO HAVE JOINED US SINCE 2010
The School of Engineering, Mathematics, and Science is the fastest-growing school at RMU, thanks in large part to faculty with industry experience whose teaching is informed by their cutting-edge research.
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DR. MARIA KALEVITCH Came to RMU in 2002 and became the Founding Chair of the Science Department in 2004. She developed the Pre-Medicine Program at RMU, which includes partnerships with Drexel Medical School, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Lake Erie Osteopathic School, New York Chiropractic College, and Palmer Chiropractic College. In 2009 Dr. Kalevitch became the Dean of the School of Engineering, Mathematics and Science, one of only 28 female deans of an accredited engineering school in the United States. Recently she received the Inspiring Women in STEM Award form INSIGHT into Diversity Magazine. Dr. Kalevitch has a Ph.D. in Biology/Microbiology from the Institute of Botany, Lithuanian Academy of Sciences and she earned her BS/MS in Bioengineering/ Biotechnology from the Moscow University of Biotechnology.
DR. CATHERINE HANNA
DR. TONY KERZMANN
Hired as an Assistant Professor of Science in 2010. Dr. Hanna received her B.S. in Biology at Xavier University and her Ph.D. in Biology with a focus on Ecology, Evolution and Behavior from the University of Louisville. Prior to teaching at RMU, she was an Assistant Professor of Biology at Alice Lloyd College. Her research addresses the effect of environmental change on the behavior and ecology of native species. Currently, her primary research focuses on the effects of pesticides on the behavioral ecology of beneficial cropdwelling spiders. She also is involved in a long-term study, in conjunction with Fern Hollow Nature Center, of the recovery of a population of Jefferson's salamanders following the loss of their breeding habitat.
Hired as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering in 2010. Dr. Kerzmann received a B.A. in Physics at Duquesne University. He then received three degrees in Mechanical Engineering: B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. He previously received the NSF IGERT Fellowship in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Material Science at the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests include sustainable energy, including solar, wind, tidal, and geothermal energy systems with expertise in the areas of fluids and heat transfer.
FACULTY
DR. BENJAMIN CAMPBELL
DR. MELISSA HILLWIG
DR. TAMIKO YOUNGBLOOD
Hired as an Assistant Professor of Engineering in 2011. Dr. Campbell received his B.S. in Physics (Electronics Concentration) and his M.S. in Electrical Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University and his Ph.D. in Engineering from Robert Morris University. In addition to working in the Engineering Department at RMU, he previously worked for Penn State’s Electro-Optics Center as a Research Engineer in Laser Technology. His research interests include applications of ultrashort pulse lasers, mechatronics, improving prostheses for touchscreen interaction, and STEM education.
Hired as an Assistant Professor of Science in 2011. Dr. Hillwig received her B.S. in Biology from The Pennsylvania State University – Behrend College and her Ph.D. in Genetics from Iowa State University. Dr. Hillwig was an Adjunct Professor at Grand View University. Her research interests include investigating gene regulation and nectar composition in Petunia hybrid, expanding current knowledge of microbial communities in soil affected by acid mine drainage using high throughput sequencing, and understanding the effects of aphid infestation on Arabidopsis thaliana plants with impaired abscisic acid pathways.
The late Dr. Tamiko Youngblood was hired as an Associate Professor of Engineering in 2011. Dr. Youngblood received three degrees from the University of Missouri – Rolla: B.S. in Mining Engineering, M.S. and Ph.D. in Engineering Management. She also received an M.S. in Information Systems Management from Loyola University. She was an Adjunct Faculty Member in the College of Management and Business at the National-Louis University and simultaneously, the Dean of Students and IT Specialist – Foundation Ministry at the Living Word Christian Center. Her research interests included data warehousing, data mining, business intelligence, project management, operations management, and ethnic hair. She passed away in 2015 and is deeply missed by students, faculty, and staff.
DR. CHRISTOPHE GROENDYKE Hired as an Assistant Professor of Actuarial Science in 2012 and currently serves as Director of the Actuarial Science program. Dr. Groendyke received his B.A. in Computer Sciences and B.S. in Mathematics at The University of Texas at Austin, and earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Statistics from The Pennsylvania State University. Prior to coming to Robert Morris University, Chris worked as an actuary at USAA Life Insurance Company in San Antonio, Texas and was a faculty member in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at the University of Waterloo. His research interests include applications of network inference and simulation and Bayesian methods, computational statistics and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms.
DR. JASON HONG
DR. WON JOO
Hired as an Assistant Professor of Actuarial Science and Mathematics in 2013. Dr. Hong received his B.A. in Economics from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Mathematics from Purdue University. Dr. Hong was an Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Actuarial Science in the Department of Mathematics at Bradley University and served as the Actuarial Science Program Coordinator there. His research interests include actuarial science insurance and risk management, applied statistics and partially ordered topological algebraic systems.
Hired as an Assistant Professor of General Engineering in 2013. Dr. Joo received three degrees in Mechanical Engineering: B.S. from Myung-Ji University, M.S. from Korea University and Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University. He was senior R&D engineer/manager in the medical device industry for 8 years and a tenure-track faculty in the Engineering Department, Mechanical Engineering Technology at Cuyahoga Community College before joining RMU. His research interests includes bone biomechanics, orthopedic medical devices, and FEA.
FACULTY
DR. LUIS MONTERRUBIO
DR. RIKA WRIGHT CARLSEN
DR. HEATHER ELFEN
Hired as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering in 2013. Dr. Monterrubio received three degrees in Mechanical Engineering: B.Eng. from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, M.S. from the University of Victoria (Canada) and a Ph.D. from the University of Waikato (New Zealand). He previously held a PostDoctoral position at the University of California San Diego in the Structural Engineering Department. His research interests include vibration, numerical methods, finite element methods, fluid-structure interaction, computational mechanics, and acoustics.
Hired as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering in 2014. Dr. Carlsen received three degrees in Mechanical Engineering: B.S. from the University of Pittsburgh, M.S. and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. She was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Carnegie Mellon University. Her research interests include injury biomechanics, and she developed computational tools to study the mechanisms leading to traumatic brain injury. She is now working with researchers at Harvard University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to develop experimental and computational models of traumatic brain injury.
Hired as an Assistant Professor of Mathematics in 2014. Dr. Elfen received a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Kentucky and a M.A. in Mathematics and Ph.D. in Applied and Industrial Mathematics from the University of Louisville. She was a Graduate Teaching Assistant while at the University of Louisville. While working at RMU she has become a highly regarded teacher. Her research areas of interest include functional equations, abstract algebra and stability theory.
FACULTY
DR. ERGIN ERDEM
DR. JAMEELA AL-JAROODI
DR. SANGHO SHIM
Hired as an Assistant Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering in 2014. Dr. Erdem received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Industrial Engineering from the Middle East Technical University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering from North Dakota State University. He was a lecturer and research associate for the Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department at North Dakota State University. His research interests include renewable energy, wind energy conversion systems, variance modeling, heuristic algorithms, reliability engineering, simulation, resource allocation for military engineering, and healthcare management.
Hired as an Associate Professor of Software Engineering in 2015. Dr. Al-Jaroodi received three degrees in Computer Science: B.S. from the University of Bahrain, M.S. from Western Michigan University, and Ph.D. from the University of NebraskaLincoln. She also received a M.Ed. Higher Education Management degree from the University of Pittsburgh. She was an Assistant Professor at the United Arab Emirates University. Her research interests and experience includes middleware, software engineering, systems software, data analytics, distributed systems and cloud computing.
Hired as an Assistant Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering in 2015. Dr. Shim received his B.S. in Mathematics from Seoul National University, M.S. in Computational Mathematics from Pohang University of Science and Technology, and Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. He recently has been working as a Research Associate in the Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences Department at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Dr. Shim has expertise in large scale computational optimization with applications in statistics. In particular, he is interested in bioinformatics and business analytics.
LECTURERS
MRS. KATHLEEN DONOGHUE Hired as a Lecturer of Mathematics in 2010. Prior to that, she served as an adjunct instructor for Robert Morris University. Ms. Donoghue received a B.S. in Education with majors in physics and mathematics from Duquesne University, and a M.S. in Education with a major in mathematics from the University of Pittsburgh.
DR. LEWIS STEIN
MRS. SUE SPADE
Hired as a Lecturer of General Biology and Anatomy in 2010. Dr. Stein received his B.S. in Chemistry from Seton Hall University. He completed his Post-Doctoral Residency in Podiatric Orthopedics and Surgery from St. Luke’s Medical Center and Doctor of Podiatric Medicine from Pennsylvania College of Podiatric Medicine (which is now known as Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine). During his practice years, he was Board Certified in Podiatric Surgery, Podiatric Orthopedics and Podiatric Primary Care while working in his own private practice. His research interests include increased prevalence of healthcare-acquired MRSA in the community at large, and immunization preservatives and their possible toxicities.
Hired as an Engineering Lecturer/Advisor in 2015. Mrs. Spade received her B.A. in Mathematics from Oberlin College, Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from the University of Dayton and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. She was an Adjunct Instructor for Allegheny County Community College, Robert Morris University, Community College of Beaver County and Pennsylvania State University Beaver. Sue is a successful female in the traditionally male STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields and one of her primary goals as an educator and advisor is to serve as a positive role model.
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