SEMS Newsletter Fall 2015

School of Engineering, Mathematics & Science FALL

2015

> School Highlights

The 2014-15 academic year was the first year of the implementation of the Strategic Plan, 2014-19, with special emphasis on accreditations, hiring, improvement of facilities/infrastructure, SEMS School-Wide Assessment Committee, Student Advisory Board, new curriculum in response to industry requirements, and several other established and new initiatives. You can read our new mission and vision statements highlighted on the back page.

This year we also celebrated the SEMS 15th anniversary with a dinner event in November that drew 100 people, including students, faculty, staff, alumni, Board of Trustee members, Board of Visitor members, and industry partners.

Other SEMS 15 festivities included the September Water Quality Conference in the Department of Science and the Actuarial Career Expo in the Department of Mathematics.

SEMS continues to build a strong team that is guided by the strategic mission and vision of the school to benefit students and faculty, to grow our research agenda, to brand the school image, to build a strong giving body of the Board of Visitors, to build a strong international agenda and so much more. Most of all we are dedicated to the success of our students and faculty and their professional and academic growth.

My Best Wishes,

M A R I A V. K A L E V I T C H , P H . D . , DEAN & UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR

> VISIT RMU.EDU/SEMS TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR DEPARTMENTS & PROGRAMS.

> From the Dean

As of Fall 2015, SEMS total enrollment stood at 1,048 students. Engineering and biology are the fastest growing majors.Out of 16 freshmen Presidential Scholars at RMU last fall (students who receive a full scholarship based on academic achievement), 10 were enrolled in a SEMS discipline Undergraduate engineering enrollment increased to just under 787 in Fall 2015 from 656 in Fall 2014.

Undergraduate mathematics and science enrollments increased: 361 in Fall 2015 vs. 318 in Fall 2014.

Enrollment in the master’s program in engineering management remained steady at 42.

SEMS faculty received seven research grants in 2014-15 for awards totaling more than $283,637.

All 15 actuarial science graduates landed full-time positions upon graduation.

Eight graduating science seniors have been accepted to graduate and professional programs: Hunter Schaff Palmer College of Chiropractic James Wes Heinle Thomas Jefferson Medical School Tyler Hays LECOM PostBacc Hannah Hoffman Seton Hill University Physician Assistant program Alexis Ebersole Kings College Physician Assistant program Alena Esposito Chatham University Physical Therapy Neil Roman Accepted into both New York Chiropractic College and Life University College of Chiropractic David Rigatti Temple University Dental School

> Department News

>> ERGIN ERDEM

>> ACTUARIAL CAREER FAIR

>> SCIENCE DAY

Engineering

Mathematics

Science

The number of combined bachelor’s and master’s enrollment reached a record high of 698 in Fall 2014. Mechanical engineering remained the largest concentration with 194 students, followed by industrial (130), manufacturing (124), biomedical (111) and software (96).

The Actuarial Science Program was re-accredited as a Center of Actuarial Excellence for another five years. In November, Chris Groendyke became director of the Actuarial Science Program. RMU hosted the 12th annual Actuarial Career Fair for summer internships and full-time positions, with 15 regional and national employers participating.

At the start of the Fall 2014 semester, 110 students were enrolled in the B.S. Biology program and 32 students in the B.A./B.S. Environmental Science program. In the 2014-15 academic year the Science Department offered a total of 245 course sections, 129 in the Fall 2014 and 116 in the Spring 2015 semester.

This represents a nearly 90 percent increase since the 2008-2009 academic year.

Although the enrollment in the master of science of engineering management program remained stable, it is worth noting an increase in the number of students pursuing an integrated bachelor’s/master’s degree. These students are counted in the undergraduate enrollment. Eleven students are pursuing our master’s program online.

Engineering faculty produced 53 scholarly works in 2014-15, including 20 classified as Category A. A student chapter of the Institute of Industrial Engineers has been formed on campus.

Dr. Ergin Erdem was hired as an Assistant Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering.

Dr. Erdem holds BS and MS degrees both in Industrial Engineering from Middle East Technical University (Turkey) and a Ph.D. in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering from North Dakota State University (NDSU).

Most recently he was a researcher at the Veterans Engineering Research Center at NDSU. He previously worked as a lecturer in the Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department.

Mathematics faculty members had at least nine articles published or accepted for publication in 2014-15. The department continued a solid practice of outcomes assessment. Course-level outcomes assessment measures were implemented in at least 25 sections ranging over 17 different courses. This included a uniform multi-section outcomes assessment measure in the 7 sections of MATH1010 during the Spring 2014 semester.

Mathematics Professor Monica VanDieren received a grant from the National Science Foundation for $134,600 to create visual teaching materials to allow students to more easily understand complex calculus concepts.

She and colleagues at the University of Buffalo and Monroe Community College (Rochester, N.Y.) will use the popular Java applet CalcPlot3D to study how visualization helps students understand multivariable calculus concepts.

Administrative Changes Dr. Chris Groendyke became a Director of the Actuarial Science Program in November 2014 Dr. Dave Hudak serves as the Department Head of Mathematics

Faculty members published seven peer-reviewed publications in peer-reviewed journals or scholarly books with several additional works (Category A) in the submission and review process for publication in the next year.

The Science Department held its fourth annual Science Day, including presentations from students that have completed a senior thesis or other research project and/or an internship.

A new chapter of Alpha Epsilon Delta, the Pre-Professional Honor Society, was installed at RMU in the Spring 2015 semester.

Promotions Dr. Sushil Acharya was promoted to Professor of Software Engineering Dr. Catherine Hanna was promoted to Associate Professor of Biology (received non-probationary status) Dr. Tony Kerzmann was promoted to Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering (received non-probationary status)

> New Faculty Dr. Jameela Al-Jaroodi is an associate professor of software engineering.

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 Nebraska-Lincoln. She also received a M.Ed. in Higher Education Management from the University of Pittsburgh. She was an Assistant Professor at the United Arab Emirates University and most recently became an independent researcher. Her research interests/experience includes middleware, software engineering, systems software, data analytics, distributed systems and cloud computing.

Dr. Sangho Shim is an assistant professor of industrial and manufacturing engineering.

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.

Hired as an Engineering Lecturer/Advisor.

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.

> Changing Lives Through Empowerment Dean Maria Kalevitch has been named to INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine’s 100 Inspiring Women of STEM. The national honor recognizes Kalevitch’s efforts both to attract women and girls to careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and to build the ranks of RMU faculty in those fields.

In a magazine interview with Kalevitch and two other female STEM deans, one from California Polytechnic and one from New York Institute of Technology, Kalevitch discusses RMU’s new Women’s Leadership and Mentorship Program. “I think having mentorship and guidance along the way is really something that helps to sort of inoculate your self- confidence,” Kalevitch says in the interview. “I think a network of mentors and people you can go to who can guide you is essential to building self-confidence.”

Kalevitch is one of only 28 female deans among the 466 four-year schools of engineering in the United States approved by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), according to statistics from the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation.

Kalevitch notes that while only 6 percent of the nation’s top engineering schools have female deans, one-third of her faculty and staff are women, including several professors she has hired recently. Those include engineering professor Rika Carlsen, an expert in using microdevices to understand traumatic brain injury; mathematics professor Heather Elfen, who studies functional equations and group theory; and science professor Melissa Hillwig, whose focus is on genetics. Tamiko Youngblood, who founded RMU’s first student chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers, was another inspiring female professor and has been deeply missed since her death in March from cancer at the age of 46, Kalevitch said.

Kalevitch points to Khulood Al Ali, a female biomedical engineering student who at graduation this spring won the Presidential Transformational Award, RMU’s top honor, as an example of the school’s successes with female students in STEM. Al Ali was one of four RMU students accepted in a new linkage program between RMU and Carnegie Mellon University, where she will be earning a master’s degree in biomedical engineering.

Under Kalevitch’s leadership, SEMS has expanded outreach programs to local schools, including a focus on attracting more girls to STEM fields, with strong mentorship and advising components. Kalevitch also recently collaborated with RMU’s Uzuri Think Tank to co-chair “Strength In Numbers,” a three-day downtown symposium that focused on increasing the number of African Americans in STEM careers.

Written by: Mark Houser excerpted from Foundations Magazine

> Visiting Scholar

> RMU Presidential Transformational Award

The Presidential Transformational Award is given annually to a graduating student who has been transformed by his or her experience at RMU, and has transformed the university through his or her engagement in learning, leadership and community service.

“I screamed and I cried when I heard the news. It’s the payoff for the last four years, and at the same time it’s a responsibility,” said Al Ali. “It’s like carrying the value, the mission, the core values, and the university name. So I have to be the ambassador for the university. It’s a big thing.”

In December, Al Ali captured the university’s other major student honor, the Rising Star Award, which goes to a senior who demonstrates academic success, individuality, determination, passion and potential in her or his chosen field.

She is now enrolled in the master’s program in biomedical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.

> We’ll Be Getting A Facelift We couldn’t be happier for our colleagues in the School of Nursing and Health Sciences (SNHS), who are moving over the course of the fall semester into their new home, a state-of-the-art, 30,000-square-foot facility adjoining John Jay Center. Of course, that means SEMS will take over all of John Jay Center, which we shared with SNHS. The university will renovate John Jay with high-tech laboratories, classrooms, and other learning spaces to accommodate our fast-growing school. These phased upgrades are set to start in December and continue at least through May 2017. With the opening of the new building for SNHS, each of RMU’s five academic schools will have its own dedicated space, a true milestone of transformation for our great university.

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Robert Morris University has awarded its highest undergraduate honor, the Presidential Transformational Award, to Khulood Al Ali, who came to RMU from Saudi Arabia and graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering.

Dr. Majid Hashemipour, a Rooney International Visiting Scholar, is a professor at the Eastern Mediterranean University, Cyprus, in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering. Dr. Hashemipour holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering, an MSc in Manufacturing Engineering from Warwick University and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Eastern Mediterranean University. His research interests include: distributed control manufacturing systems; wireless sensor networks; collaborative networks, enterprise competency modeling in practice; application of radio frequency identification in multi-agent control system; intelligent manufacturing systems - holonic manufacturing systems.

> SEMS Mission & Vision Statement The School of Engineering, Mathematics and Science transforms lives by building knowledge, skills, and citizenship to prepare students for scientific and technical careers in a rapidly changing world. Our graduates effectively address complex problems with innovation and integrity. Our students benefit from personalized engaged learning, interdisciplinary education, enriched communication and business skills, and strong alliances with industry.

School of Engineering, Mathematics, and Science graduates will combine solid technical skills with communication and enterprise skills to provide productive talent to organizations that employ them.

Contact Us

412-397-4020 kalevitch@rmu.edu

1020-48-15 - 09.15

MARIA V. KALEVITCH, PH.D. Dean, School of Engineering, Mathematics & Science