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IMAGINE. INNOVATE. INSPIRE.
SHILEY-MARCOS SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO, FALL 2021
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Imagine. Innovate. Inspire. At the University of San Diego, we believe in an engineering education that develops the ability in engineering students to consider the broad impact of the things they design and the problems they solve. If they have this ability, they are better enabled to design and make the world a better place to live. With this in mind, I’d like to tell you how value has enabled USD to emerge as a national leader in engineering education. For more than 30 years, I have been immersed in the vocation of engineering education. It chose me —— like a wand chooses a wizard —— sometime after I had graduated from 16 years of higher education and had tested more traditional employment. Many years after entering academia and exploring universities worldwide for best practices, I felt strongly that I had figured out how to create an exceptional engineering education for students. I became a dean to do just that. My pathway has been a hornet’s nest at times, and much of the challenge is rooted in the question of what engineering is and what it is not. Engineering is many things to different people, reminding me of the parable of the blind men who discovered an elephant only by each feeling some part of it. Some tell me that engineering is applied math and should focus on modeling and technical problem-solving. Some say engineers are tinkerers who take things apart and put them together because they like to know how things work. Some believe engineers are inventors and entrepreneurs, while others believe that engineering is a way of thinking systematically to solve problems. Some say engineers should remain focused on the technical realm and leave the issues of impact to others because it is messy and engineers are not social scientists. Engineering can be any or all of those things, depending on the path you take to get to engineering, and I believe that it is long past time that engineers take responsibility for their designs and that they are purposeful in exploring impact. At USD, we believe that engineers are a hope for the future. Our engineering graduates will have a unique set of skills that will enhance any of the engineering pathways they choose. They will seek to balance their ideas with dialogue and thought regarding who is affected, who is empowered, who is marginalized and how the environment is impacted, alongside deep analysis into technical viability and economic impact. This ability is a foundational element of leadership and of what we call a Changemaking Engineer. We hire faculty members who care about our pathways, who have developed many curricular modules and created courses that address this broad perspective. They are now teaching workshops across the country to help others incorporate this work. Many are now adopting what we do, recognizing the USD difference. With this recognition and acceptance, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering has emerged as a national leader in engineering education. Though our efforts continue to evolve and we acknowledge that there is still much to be done, it is exciting to see years of work actualized while developing the foundation that will propel USD into the future. In this issue, we are proud to share with you some of the stories of how we go about confronting humanity’s urgent challenges through the holistic education of our engineering students.
Chell Roberts Founding Dean, Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering Darlene Marcos Shiley established USD’S Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering in 2013 with a transformational gift that honors the philanthropist’s dedication to education and pays tribute to her late husband, Donald P. Shiley, renowned engineer and inventor of the tilting disc artificial heart valve. Her gift gives USD engineering and computer science students the chance to be true Changemakers.
USD’s Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering Chell Roberts, PhD Founding Dean croberts@sandiego.edu Elisa Lurkis Director of Development/ Alumni Relations elurkis@sandiego.edu Michelle Sztupkay Communications Manager michelles@sandiego.edu Magazine Staff DESIGNER
Marcy Alyn Associate Director Creative Services EDITOR
Michelle Sztupkay WRITERS
Karen Gross Elisa Lurkis Allyson Meyer Michelle Sztupkay Daniel Telles Contact University of San Diego Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering 5998 Alcalá Park San Diego, CA 92110 (619) 260-4627 sandiego.edu/ engineering
Contents 2
Engineering With Empathy USD’s Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering is leading the way in the field of sociotechnical engineering. BY KAREN GROSS
4
Mou Riiny Is Lighting up South Sudan Alumnus Mou Riiny is changing the course of a nation. BY ELISA LURKIS
6
It Starts With an IDEA Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Action committee addresses complex challenges in today’s global society. BY MICHELLE SZTUPKAY
8
Providing Hope in Challenging Times Benefactress Darlene Marcos Shiley provides critical relief for students in need. BY ELISA LURKIS
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16
BY ELISA LURKIS
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Willie Matteson: Honoring a Humble and Generous Man Willie Matteson’s memory lives on through the impact of his generous gifts.
Faculty Achievements Catch up on the latest research, publications and more from our devoted faculty members.
Champions of Change Professional online master’s degree programs are the next step in the School of Engineering’s evolution.
Showcase Spotlights Resilience The Engineering and Computing Showcase is an opportunity to appreciate what determined minds can accomplish.
BY MICHELLE SZTUPKAY
BY DANIEL TELLES
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19
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Fearless Founders Are Innovators USD entrepreneurs are building companies with heart and soul. BY MICHELLE SZTUPKAY
14
Planets Align for Amanda Gates Nuclear Research Engineer Amanda Gates ’16 reveals her work on the Perseverance rover generator. BY ALLYSON MEYER
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Baja Sponsors Take Buggy for a Spin Long-time sponsors, Richard and Susan Pennington, take USD’s Baja car for a test-drive. BY ELISA LURKIS
News Briefs Explore highlights on our new center for data science, new hires, the EXSJ Research, Development and Community Fund and alumni selected for NASA’s Artemis training program.
20
Alumni Notes Read about what our computer science and engineering alumni have been up to.
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Class of 2021 See what’s new for our recent graduates.
Engineering With Empathy The University of San Diego’s Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering is leading the way in the burgeoning field of sociotechnical engineering. Busting stereotypical assumptions and approaches, faculty and students are designing and modeling an exciting new framework with a national reach. When Dr. Chell Roberts arrived at USD back in 2013 as the founding dean of the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering (SMSE), he carried what many in the field considered an unorthodox agenda, bolstered by a focused determination to see it through. “My hope was to create something that would last and that would be consistent with the mission and vision of the university,” he says. “So, I worked hard to identify what makes USD unique, and how as an engineering school we could be more unique. We wanted to try to change the narrative about what engineering is and what it is not.” Engineering at the University of San Diego was in many ways already unique. Students had to complete a liberal arts curriculum in addition to their STEM course requirements, culminating in a distinctive dual BS/BA degree. The university’s Catholic underpinnings and its commitment to
2 | I 3 @ USD, FALL 2021
compassionate service, along with its designation as a Changemaker campus, tended to draw a cohort of more socially minded students. And some of the department’s faculty had begun doing the groundwork that would make realizing Roberts’ vision a bit easier than it might have been under other circumstances. “There were some of us who’d been working on this for a long time, and when the dean came, he supported us,” says Susan Lord, PhD, chair of the new department the group created, now called Integrated Engineering. “He pushed us to apply for the National
Science Foundation’s Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) grant, which forced us to really consider whether we could take it to the next step. Could we help students see engineering as sociotechnical? Could we redefine the canon?” More precisely, could they actually write a canon —— an inclusive one, which looked beyond the equations, the circuits and the metals and considered the ideas, the users, the designs, the origins and their impacts? Winning the five-year, $2 million RED grant gave them momentum and fueled a renewed sense of
purpose. The award helped to attract a cluster of young faculty members with an interest in this area and drew the attention of established leaders in the field of social justice engineering. Caroline Baillie, PhD, a pioneer who co-founded the Engineering, Social Justice and Peace network in 2004, joined the department as professor of praxis in engineering and social justice. “Here was a school that was really trying to do this right, and I had literally been all over the world, so this was very encouraging to me,” she says. “It was a great set of circumstances. The funding potential, which we’d
been working on for 20 years, was met with a dean who was willing not only to do this but to embrace it. And a university whose mission is following those lines anyway. So, there was a very strong foundation.” Alex Mejia, PhD, came in as part of that cluster as well. A materials and metallurgical engineer, Mejia’s pivot to engineering education came after he began to consider the impact of his work on people, resources and communities. “I think engineers see themselves as being detached from the objects they create,” he says. “What social justice engineering tries to do is say, ‘How we can work with a community in a way that is beneficial for the community too?’ Social justice engineering is not creating technology for the sake of creating technology, but creating a technology that provides access to everybody in an equitable manner.” With funding from the RED grant, SMSE established new programs, courses and partnerships across campus and in the community. The school hired postdoctoral fellows whose social science expertise helped faculty broaden the scope of their technical teaching to include questions about conflict minerals and other controversial issues that don’t usually come up in STEM classes. Caroline Baillie launched the Engineering Exchange for Social Justice, which brings community members together with experts, students and academics to co-create and design innovative and sustainable projects that impact everything from waste recycling to quarry restoration to alternative energy sources. Baillie, along with colleagues from across campus and the community, also sits on a postCOVID task force established by
SMSE to reevaluate the role of engineers in preparing for future disasters as crucial partners in decision-making rather than just as responders. “Engineers did great things with masks and ventilators,” she says. “But we need to be at the table preparing for the next disaster. Policy makers will talk about engineering in practically every sentence, and yet they don’t consult engineers in the creation of the policies.” Across the country, USD is increasingly looked to as a leader in the emerging sociotechnical sphere. Fellow RED grant recipients and other Catholic universities seek its faculty’s advice and expertise. Last year’s Black Lives Matter protests intensified the spotlight on SMSE’s efforts, forcing discussions about long simmering racial tensions within engineering education itself, including highly controversial terminology that’s still used today in electrical engineering textbooks. “One thing we’ve been doing in my department is offering workshops on antiracism in engineering,” Lord says. “We’re still trying to figure it out ourselves, but maybe you don’t need all the answers to be a leader. You can say this is what we’ve learned, and let’s help further the conversation.” Adds Roberts: “It’s a hard issue. But finally, I have a group of faculty that are concerned about it and want to do something about it.” As the integrated engineering department’s first graduates enter the workforce, they bring a refreshing holistic perspective that’s still widely unfamiliar at more traditional engineering institutions. Eduardo Ortega ’20 (BS/BA) is headed to Duke University, where he’ll pursue a PhD in electrical and computer engineering. He’s convinced his educational background helped set him apart.
“When I was meeting with my future advisor, he’d never heard of integrated engineering. I think that was a main selling point,” he says. “I believe the interdisciplinary nature of my degree and my broader skill set were big positives.” Ortega, who specialized in embedded software and minored in leadership studies, will pursue research involving VLSI technologies with the goal of improving accessibility to novel hardware solutions. Sophia Austin, class of ’22, is a Stanford Innovation fellow who spearheaded a drive to bring OZZI reusable container boxes to USD. She also founded the Alliance of Disability Advocates, a supportive and safe space for differently abled members of the campus community and their allies. “I have some very positive ideas of how I can really try to make a difference in the world,” she says, adding that she got an early start with a summer internship this year in the environmental services department at Southern California
Edison. “I’m super passionate about pursuing sustainability and trying to combat global warming.” Roberts is determined to solidify the school’s commitment to sociotechnical engineering and to broaden its influence as an innovator and incubator. With new and supplemental grants already in the works, he plans to hire another cluster of groundbreakers within the coming year. “I think we will continue to emerge as a leader in issues of social and environmental justice and our engineering school will be different and ahead of most in addressing these issues,” he says. “I think the people who lead are the people who can see the broader context. And I believe we’re giving our students a foundation to think about the social issues that embody engineering; to have those conversations and to lead in the design of our future.” —— Karen Gross Video: www.sandiego.edu/ EngineeringEmpathy
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Mou Riiny Is Lighting up South Sudan Most people who choose to make their careers in higher education say that they believe in the power of education to change the world. At least, that’s certainly the hope. High hopes aside, it’s hard to
program, which had not yet
home in a Boston suburb, where
become the Shiley-Marcos School
he continued his education.
of Engineering. A project this
“After spending time in Boston, I
complicated —— with international
decided that I did not want to go
travel and supply chain
to university in a place where it
implications —— had never been
snowed,” Riiny says with a smile.
attempted before at USD and
“My foster parents told me there
would be a challenge for any
was a place called University of
student team.
San Diego. I applied without even
South Sudan was selected
visiting. And in fall 2007, I packed
come up with many examples of
because Riiny was born there
my things and that’s where I
someone literally using their
—— in the middle of the civil war
went.”
educational experience to change
between north and south Sudan
the course of an entire nation. But
—— and understood the great need
year at USD, when he came up
that is exactly the outcome of Mou
for electrical power in that
with the idea of “engineering a
Riiny’s story.
country. Without electrical power,
brighter Sudan.” Their senior
it’s difficult for kindergarten
design team had to propose the
through 12th grade students to go
idea to Susan Lord, PhD, and,
to school or study. For this project,
according to Riiny, they were all
a primary school in the small
very nervous about this. They did
village of Theou, where Riiny was
not know how she would respond,
born, was identified as the
since not many people knew
recipient for receiving solar power.
about solar power at that time and
The hope was not only to bring
the proposed project was quite
electricity to the school, but to
complicated.
make the source of power a sustainable one. Riiny’s journey from South Sudan to becoming an engineering student at USD is remarkable. He
Fast forward to Riiny’s senior
Much to their delight, Dr. Lord said, “Yes.” The team looked at each other and thought, “Now what?” The next thing they realized was
was one of many born into the
that they would need to raise
1983-2005 civil war taking place in
funds to bring this project to life.
Riiny was a senior electrical
Sudan at that time, which drove an
With the help of Associate Vice
engineering student in 2010 when
estimated 20,000 young boys and
President of Development Sandra
he and fellow students Emmett
girls from their families. After
Ciallella and USD’s Office of
Pearl, Michael Rios and Enrique
walking hundreds of miles as a
Planned Giving, they learned how
Rayon first came up with their
young boy, he wound up in Kenya,
to pitch their project to donors.
senior design project idea. Suffice
where he spent five years in a
Ciallella and her husband, Kenneth
to say it was a big idea: They
refugee camp. From there, his
Shurko, made a personal donation
wanted to bring solar power to a
name was placed on a United
to support the project and
school in South Sudan. At the time,
Nations list of children without
recently noted that it was one of
USD engineering was a small
parents who would be considered
the most impactful gifts they had
for entry to the United States. He
ever made.
was eventually placed in a foster
The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
4 | I 3 @ USD, FALL 2021
provided seed funding and
one power grid and it only covers
guidance on the initial business
a portion of the country. Sungate
model. An NGO called Village Help
is looking to create microgrids
for South Sudan also provided
across the entire nation and is
assistance. Before long, the team
piloting its first one in a small
was off and running.
village. They also recently won a
After leaving USD in 2011, Mou
big grant from the Norwegian
created Sungate —— a solar power
government to conduct a
company dedicated to improving
feasibility study (in addition to two
the standard of living and
other grants from Humanitarian
development of South Sudan
Grand Challenges Canada to
through the delivery of sustainable
expand the microgrid and to pilot
energy.
a study on using electricity for
“The reason you are interviewing me today is because of that senior design project,” Riiny says. “My company started with that project.
cooking). They currently have no competitors. “The lack of governance, bad
We literally came up with the name
roads, insecurity, have really
Sungate in one of the engineering
chased away the would-be
labs. We even came up with the
competition,” Riiny says. “I
logo at that time.”
personally have never seen these
The company began in 2013 as a
things as a challenge. I know what
solar power company for charging
to avoid when, and my family is
electric lighting and cell phones.
safe. I know the place. But the
Customers would pay a nominal
environment is not conducive to
monthly fee to rent a battery pack,
foreign competition.”
which they would take home.
Sungate is growing and is
However, according to Riiny, this
committed to hiring locally. Their
business plan did not work.
biggest challenge is finding
Customers would regularly let their
qualified women to hire. They are
batteries run out or would be
looking to hire a chief operating
delinquent with their monthly
officer and Riiny would like to fill
payments.
that position with a qualified
So, with support from the Dunn
woman. But most of those have
Family Charitable Foundation
moved to the United Kingdom or
(www.dunnfcf.org), they pivoted,
the United States.
changed their business plan
“I’m not looking to hire women
completely and decided to start
to be politically correct,” Riiny
selling the entire systems rather
explains, “I just see it as a good
than renting them out. They
business practice.”
started with 10 units and sold out
Judging by Sungate’s progress
in three months. Their customers
so far, it’s a safe bet to trust
were individuals working for NGOs
Riiny’s instincts. After all, he
or banks, or people who already
literally is turning a bright idea into
had diesel generators and wanted
a transformative moment for an
to alternate their power source.
entire country. The future is
Today, the company is entering a new phase, where they will be
looking bright in South Sudan. —— Elisa Lurkis
helping to power the grid across the entire country of South Sudan. Currently, South Sudan only has
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We believe that by increasing the number of diverse engineers and computer scientists, including women and people of color, and facilitating an environment of learning and engagement that is truly inclusive and respectful of differing ways of being and knowing, we can address and create solutions for the complex, multicultural, multidisciplinary challenges that exist in today’s global society.
It Starts With an IDEA In the summer of 2020, the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd refueled international outrage and discourse against systemic racism and the resulting intergenerational impact on all facets of society. In response, after collaboration with some of USD’s Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering (SMSE) faculty and staff members, Dean Chell Roberts of SMSE issued a public statement of solidarity with Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) students, faculty and staff, and made a commitment on behalf of the school to actively engage in and promote diversity and inclusion. The ensuing civil unrest and united demonstrations were a “cry out for change as a reaction to our
6 | I 3 @ USD, FALL 2021
country’s chronicles of racial injustice.” Roberts acknowledged the “pain and unrest of our African American citizens, as a result of the death of George Floyd and the many others before him,” and made it very clear that we —— as individuals, as an institution, as a nation —— can “no longer turn a blind eye to these continued injustices.” Included in Roberts’ public statement were six specific commitments, one of which was the establishment of a task force that focuses on diversity, inclusion and social justice within the school. Members of the SMSE faculty and professional staff were invited to serve on this inaugural task force, including Odesma Dalrymple, PhD (committee chair); Saturnino Garcia, PhD; Rhonda Harley; Susan Lord, PhD; Elisa Lurkis and Alex Mejia, PhD.
The group quickly came to a consensus that their charge is a long-term, ongoing effort. Rather than assembling a temporary task force with a foreseeable end date, they formed a new standing committee —— the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Action (IDEA) committee. The team began to chart a course for their work at hand, actively laying the foundation for, defining the purview of and facilitating the formal introductions of the newly assembled team. Many colleges and universities at this time were called to answer Black faculty and student demands for equity and inclusion both inside and outside the classroom. The first IDEA meetings focused on reviewing and discussing such recommendations outlined in a letter from USD Black faculty, as well as a letter and video from USD Black students, which had been
submitted to USD’s leadership administration in the summer of 2020. Further sessions included engagement with USD’s interim vice provost for diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as engineering and computer science students who identify as Black and have contributed to advocacy efforts on behalf of Black students at USD. These students were invited to share their insights, experiences and recommendations with the committee. Harley recalls the power of this moment —— witnessing USD National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) student leaders lean in and effectively demonstrate the “skills and abilities required for Black students to traverse predominately white spaces.” “I watched these students take responsibility for the collective experience of Black students and
offer insight and strategies for Preliminary Outcomes faculty, student affairs Though the team acknowledges professionals and upper their collaborative work will take administration, all of whom are in years to yield significant results, positions of authority on campus, preliminary outcomes thus far to create a space to keep [the appear promising. students] at USD. To offer a Notably, USD Board of Trustees resource-rich narrative of how to member, industry partner and make things better in creating a Professor of Practice Tom Lupfer more inclusive space for everyone. established the Clarity Design They led the conversations. They Engineering and Computer Science were asked for permission to learn Diversity Fund in the fall of 2020 to from them. They were in charge.” support identity-focused student The IDEA team researched organizations, including NSBE, the sources from other institutions and Society of Hispanic Professional scholars at the forefront of the Engineers (SHPE) and the Society national movement for change of Women Engineers (SWE). —— especially in engineering. They “Tom Lupfer is absolutely gained insights from related USD dedicated to diversifying the field committees and task forces across of engineering,” professes Lurkis. campus, on which members of this “Not only because it is the right group also serve. And they thing to do, but because having collaborated across campus and in diverse teams creates better the community to exchange innovation.” information on the efforts of SMSE The fund covers conference and the wider USD community and registration, travel and lodging, and to learn about potential supports meals at student club opportunities at the university level meetings. Participation in these to support initiatives at the school clubs and conferences provides level. students with the opportunity to In Fall 2020, the IDEA committee grow academically, professionally brought in consultants from and personally —— to be VISIONS —— a nonprofit organization surrounded by people that look like that provides training and them in a place of belonging. consultancy in diversity, inclusion “The NSBE conference was unlike and multiculturalism —— to anything I’d ever seen, with 15,000 strategize next steps for engaging Black engineers all at one place,” SMSE leadership and the wider says recent electrical engineering faculty and staff members. graduate and 2020-21 NSBE “They started with deep, honest President Devin Devlin. “There are self-reflections, where we came to not a lot of people where I am from recognize which attributes of who are engineers —— engineering ourselves are in categories that wasn’t really taught. Through these would be considered dominant or conferences, I found that this is privileged, and those that are 100% possible for Black kids and minoritized,” recalls Lurkis. “Then helped me drive other Black we created guidelines for civil engineers to push for more.” discourse, such as trying to use ‘I’ IDEA’s efforts have also helped statements, never shaming others promote the work of USD student in conversations, using ‘and’ in organizations that seek to promote place of ‘but,’ which laid the diversity, equity and inclusion foundation for the ongoing work in through the Diversity Matters event this area.” co-hosted with SHPE, SWE and NSBE in the fall of 2020.
Another ongoing initiative is the celebration of commemorative months throughout the year (e.g., Black History Month, Latinx Heritage Month and National Women’s History Month) that recognize the rich cultural heritage and contributions of historically minoritized and marginalized groups. Marketing and Communications Manager Michelle Sztupkay has spearheaded this effort, working collaboratively with the IDEA committee to provide a public-facing space for SMSE students, alumni, faculty and staff from these communities to speak their truth and tell their stories —— both struggles and triumphs —— during these nationally recognized months. Lauren Washington, a senior industrial and systems engineering major who led student discussions with USD’s vice provost for diversity, equity and inclusion and incoming president of NSBE for 2021-22, remarks about her opportunity to participate as one of 10 Black engineers spotlighted for Black History Month. “I am grateful for the opportunity to be interviewed and highlighted on our USD Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering website. It is an honor to be able to share my experience in the National Society of Black Engineers through the student spotlights.”
struggling and are at risk of leaving the major with women who are recent CS alumni or in their final year. Two other ideas being explored are to increase student representation within the school through the adoption of an ambassador-type program with leaders from NSBE, SHPE and SWE, as well as a focus on the development and adoption of acceptable, nonoffensive language within the engineering profession. Lastly, the group will continue to work with VISIONS to bridge cultural and identity gaps and help guide constructive employee dialogue. “There is so much at stake and so much emotional ‘baggage.’ Having an external partner without a vested interest can help minimize backlash and enhance potential for impact,” explains Dalrymple. “The time is right, on a much bigger scale, and people are more open to these kinds of discussions and these
Proposed Next Steps To ensure that their collaborative efforts have a meaningful and lasting impact, the IDEA committee is now synthesizing the valuable essential changes. Once we feedback and research they have establish and honor these norms, collected to propose new initiatives then we can really start to move and action items for the group to forward with deeper pursue as they move forward. conversations.” One such initiative is the Women —— Michelle Sztupkay in Computer Science (CS) NearVideo: www.sandiego.edu/USD-IDEA Peer Mentoring Program, which pairs women CS students that are
W W W.S A N DIEGO. EDU/ENGINEERING | 7
Providing Hope in Challenging Times This challenge is particularly amplified within the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering. As a new school, the alumni base is small and young with a handful of relatively small, established scholarship funds available to provide student support. “We do everything we can to raise scholarship support for our engineering and computer science students,” Dean Chell Roberts states. “Each year, we are able to raise a little more funding. But it does not come close to meeting the financial need of our students.” When the pandemic hit, the outreach from students seeking scholarship support notably increased. “I was receiving emails from students daily,” recalls Elisa Lurkis, director of development and alumni relations for the school. “I kept wishing that I had a magic wand so I could say yes to all of the funding requests I was receiving.” Ask and ye shall receive. As the financial need continued to build, the school’s equivalent of a fairy godmother swooped in to provide some immediate relief. Mrs. Darlene Marcos Shiley, the school’s benefactress, saw that she could once again make a difference with her extraordinary generosity. Using her magic wand,
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” —— Winston Churchill
Obtaining a college education can
help support students in need. But
be an expensive endeavor. As a
student need often exceeds
private institution, the University of
available resources. Add to this
San Diego is committed to creating
shortfall an unprecedented
a community characterized by a
pandemic and the economic
rich diversity of people —— and to
impact that such a scenario
that end, the university strives to
unleashes on an institution and its
provide financial assistance to
community, and the need for scholarship support multiplies.
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she made a gift of $1,060,000, nearly half of which will provide scholarship support for engineering and computer science. The scholarship funds will be distributed to students over the next couple years, based on merit and financial need. The remaining
funds will support renovations in
“I want to express my gratitude
the Shiley Theatre and provide
for the scholarship I received. Your
meal assistance for USD’s food
generous gift has eased financial
insecure students.
stress on myself and my mother
“When my late husband, Donald,
as I finish my last year at USD. As
Willie Matteson: Honoring a Humble and Generous Man
and I married in 1978, we decided
a graduating senior, I reflect on my
our entire estate would transfer to
four years that I spent at
education, health and the arts,”
University of San Diego and am
Mrs. Shiley states. “We both came
very thankful for my time here. The
from poor beginnings and knew
Shiley-Marcos School of
the role education, especially,
Engineering gave me a wonderful
plays in life. To be able to assist
education that I know will set me
students over the years, and now
up for my future career. Between
to provide them funds based on
the hands-on learning, challenging
hard work and solid values, that
courses and Changemaking
summer tennis camp on the campus many years ago,
brings fulfillment for all of us.
mindset, I was able to receive a
taught by then-tennis coach Ed Collins.
The first distribution of
well-rounded education.”
scholarship funds took place in
—— Alyssa Beamish, mechanical
the Spring semester of 2021. A
engineering
little more than $136,000 was
invaluable to me because it allows
engineering and computer science
me to be able to finish my classes
students, across every major in
without having to pick up extra
the school. The timing was crucial
work hours. It also allows my
given the campus shutdown.
mother to be able to keep money financial struggles to worry about.
engineering and computer science
I am extremely grateful to be able
students? A world of difference.
to grow and absorb knowledge,
Student thank-you letters to Mrs.
despite the global pandemic. The
Marcos Shiley came pouring in,
Shiley Scholarship allows me to
painting a clear picture of this
devote my efforts towards
gift’s impact:
becoming a Changemaking Engineer in the coming years.”
the bottom of my heart as a
—— Brandon Micale, electrical
recipient of the Shiley-Marcos
engineering
School of Engineering Scholarship.
“The generosity of our
This scholarship has already made
wonderful Darlene Marcos Shiley
a difference, as it reduced the
knows no bounds,” Dean Roberts
amount of loans I needed to take
says, “Not only has she alleviated
on. Money is not always readily
the financial burden of so many
available in my family, as my
students, but she is doing so by
parents have worked multiple jobs
investing in future technology
throughout their lives. Their
leaders. We are so grateful for
sacrifice has taught me the
everything she does to support
importance of a college education.
our young and exciting engineering
Thank you for giving me this
school and our beloved university.”
opportunity and supporting my
—— Elisa Lurkis
journey, as I hope to do for others
Video: www.sandiego.edu/ShileyGiving
someday.” —— Austin Peters, integrated engineering
in February 2021 at the age of 98. His original connection to the University of San Diego came from attending a
Years later, in 2017, Matteson read an article in the San Diego Union-Tribune about the high demand for cybersecurity experts in the region. He decided to do something about this. So, he reached out to the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering to arrange for his first gift annuity, in the amount of $250,000, to support cybersecurity scholarships.
in her pocket, as she has her own
gift making in the lives of USD
“I would like to thank you from
USD’s Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, passed away
“The Shiley Scholarship is
awarded to 22 deserving
How much of a difference is this
Willard (Willie) Matteson, generous gift annuity donor to
Ultimately, he created three gift annuities between 2017 and 2019, totaling over $600,000. At his passing, there was approximately $450,000 remaining, which will be used to create three endowed scholarships in cybersecurity, computer science and STEM, per Matteson’s wishes. He was a very humble man and never wanted anyone to make a fuss over him. All he asked for in return was the occasional lunch at La Gran Terraza on campus. Matteson’s niece, Laura Lang, remembers her “Uncle Bud” with great fondness. She shared a childhood memory from when she was 14. Uncle Bud drove across the country from Santa Monica, California, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1973 to pick her up, along with her 11-year-old brother. He then drove them back to his home for a family visit. Lang said there was no air-conditioning in the car and it was summertime, but her uncle knew how to make things fun, regardless. She also shared a more recent memory from 2001 when Lang and her sons, then ages 12 and 15, flew out to Encinitas, California, to visit Matteson. He arranged for all of them to take a hot-air balloon ride, which his grandnephews absolutely loved. “That was such a loving thing for him to do,” Lang states, “He picked exactly the right thing for his niece and grandnephews to enjoy and remember.” A generous and giving man on many fronts, Willie Matteson’s memory will live on through the impact his gifts will provide for our students. —— Elisa Lurkis To find out more about gift annuities visit: www.sandiego.edu/GiftAnnuities
W W W.S A N DIEGO. EDU/ENGINEERING | 9
There are many dynamics now taking place in higher education. Trends over the next five years are indicating a decline in the number of high school graduates across the nation. Fewer students attending college and changes in student population demographics are making rising tuition costs less attainable for those entering college. Staying ahead of this trend requires stronger scholarship support and funding to reduce net tuition costs and create new, innovative programs in order for universities to attract new students.
Champions of Change The University of San Diego’s Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering (SMSE) educates its undergraduates with personalized faculty attention, hands-on labs and smaller classes. Recognizing the impending enrollment trends in higher education and the need to infuse new programs into the school’s offerings that will bring in additional resources without breaking away from this unique student experience, Dean Chell Roberts is facing this conundrum head on with the support of his
board, chairs, faculty and administrators. “When I joined USD as the
were invited by the dean to
founding dean, I wanted to build a
identify new opportunities for the
great engineering school. My goal
school. Roberts gave the team
was to increase the number of
background context. Other
undergraduates, increase building
schools were building master’s
space and bring in forward-
degree programs —— both
thinking faculty and staff who
academic and professional. He
share the vision of the university
had seen this trend coming
—— and we did. But in doing so, we
because he had looked at
have outgrown our space. As a
patterns of other institutions
private institution, it is hard to
across the country.
expand our physical footprint on
“Chell had asked me to
campus,” admits Roberts. “So, I
participate in this group
had to ask myself, ‘What is the
discussion,” recalls De Sanctis
next step in our evolution?’”
10 | I 3 @ USD, FALL 2021
In 2017, department chairs, faculty members and the board
Professor of Engineering and
proposition for values, but for
creating new positions that
Entrepreneurship Venkat Shastri.
consideration in your engineering
enabled more growth and
“This was the official genesis of everything. We discussed whether
As the programs were developed and approved, the Shiley-Marcos
and technical solutions and in
scalability, as well as furthering our
School of Engineering, in
what you program or design. And
ability to serve the campus.”
partnership with Professional and
the programs should be traditional,
how does the bigger picture and
As a result of the process, PCE
Continuing Education, launched
professional or certificate based.”
the health of the world play into
now provides world class technical
the Master of Science in Applied
engineering?”
and administrative support to any
Data Science program in Fall 2020,
USD unit in the development of
led by Program Director Ebrahim
online degrees and courses.
Tarshizi, followed by the Master of
There was a split in consensus among the group. Some were
It was around this time that the
concerned that an academic
dean of Professional and
master’s program, which leans
Continuing Education (PCE) left
more toward the theoretical, would
“PCE has a broad and talented
Science in Applied Artificial
USD. When USD’s provost asked for
marketing and market research
Intelligence, led by Ramesh
dilute the faculty’s focus and the
feedback from the deans, Roberts
arm,” says Roberts. “I challenged
Rajagopalan, in Spring 2021 and
undergraduate program would
wrote a white paper about the
the group for a list of best
the Master of Science in Innovation
suffer as a result. Others preferred
challenges, the structure and
potential degrees to choose
Technology Entrepreneurship, led
the traditional model.
ultimately about what PCE could
strategically, not only because the
by Program Director Jeff Teza, in
become —— how they could help
market was growing but because
Fall 2021.
school could increase its
the university grow. He sat with
of the uniqueness of the region.”
reputation, size and finances by
President Harris and Provost Baker
focusing on the bigger market of
and together they agreed upon a
sessions was combined with PCE’s
Sustainability and Health is slated
people who are already working
plan for Roberts to lead PCE as
list. What emerged was a “whole
to launch in Summer 2022, led by
“It was becoming clear that the
—— and that lends itself to
Feedback from the SMSE
Moving forward, the Master of Science in Engineering for
associate provost, initially for a
lot of engineering and technical
Program Director Caroline Baillie,
professional master’s degrees,”
limited term, in addition to his
prospects.”
followed by the master’s in
says Shastri. “We could use our
leadership role at SMSE.
existing cybersecurity program as
“After completing my five-year
Roberts and Shastri began
engineering management and
monthly meetings, and by 2019
leadership, likely in partnership
engineering strategic plan, I
started constructing the next
with the School of Business and
wanted something challenging,”
series of programs. It was during
led by Program Director Michael
joined USD in 1996, provides
admits Roberts. “The advantage I
this time that USD was in the midst
Lawless.
a model.” Associate Dean Rick Olson, who historical context. “Twenty years
had in working with PCE was that I
of planning to change its budget
ago, the internet wasn’t ready for
had been thinking about this for
model to give schools the
implementation of these new
online degrees. Engineering didn’t
some time. I already knew what I
independence to pursue these
programs, the Shiley-Marcos
have the faculty or the space to
was going to do.”
types of innovative projects.
School of Engineering now offers
SMSE and PCE had already
the most online master’s degree
house graduate students. Over the
The first task at hand was to
As a result of the vision and
years, students have asked when
create a strategic plan for PCE that
launched the first on-ground
programs at the University of San
engineering would add a master’s
was focused on the values that
cybersecurity engineering
Diego, expanding educational
degree program, to which the
could enhance the whole
master’s program in 2016, but now
opportunities to new and broader
standard response was, ‘Not in the
university —— one that the other
had a bold goal to launch three
working audiences in San Diego,
foreseeable future.’ But this time,
deans and VPs would like, and see
online master’s annually for the
regionally and nationally. At the
with a professional program, Chell
PCE as an integral part of the
first few years. Building on its initial
same time, they are aligned with
said, ‘Yes.’”
university. Then came the
success, the school started to
USD values, creating a different
restructure to create an efficient
offer an online Cybersecurity
source of revenue to help
degree,” says Roberts. “What we
operation to be able to run these
Engineering program, led by
subsidize undergraduate programs
can do is embed a mission and
sorts of programs.
Program Director Chuck Bane,
by providing funding necessary to
starting in May 2020.
award scholarships and maintain
“Any school can put up an online
vision inside of a master’s degree
“We identified and implemented
that touches on a Catholic identity
a new organizational structure
and the associated values. It
that could fully leverage our
the first associate dean of
face-to-face learning.
In Fall 2020, Shastri was named
that richness of experience with
means caring about people, caring
strengths in pursuit of our
graduate programs for his
—— Michelle Sztupkay
about our environment, embedding
mission,” recalls PCE Senior
instrumental development in the
social justice —— not as a
Director Brandon Gregory. “We
school’s new master’s degree
Video: www.sandiego.edu/OnlineMasters
strengthened our internal Online
programs.
Program Management structure,
W W W.S A N DIEGO. EDU/ENGINEERING | 11
The journey of the entrepreneur is a personal one. Pathways taken are often shaped by one’s threshold for enduring risks, wielding an ambitious mindset for solving problems and heeding the soulful calling to create something of value —— all for the greater good.
Fearless Founders Are Innovators For the past five years, the University of San Diego’s ShileyMarcos School of Engineering (SMSE) has been developing founders through the Etrack entrepreneurship program. These pioneering innovators have accepted “failing to succeed” as an essential learning process —— nimbly pivoting to keep innovative ideas moving forward and resulting in extraordinary outcomes on this road less traveled. “Etrack is providing a unique learning experience that discovers and nurtures the entrepreneurial mindset within our students,” says Etrack co-faculty lead Jeff Teza. “Our entrepreneurs have a quiet sense of confidence. They are building companies with heart and soul —— they are humble founders. Each has their own unique story to tell.”
12 | I 3 @ USD, FALL 2021
Step back to 2017, only a year after the Etrack program launched. Anthony Shao ’18, Colby Bishop ’18 and Jacques (Jack) Yeager ’18 started Darroch Medical as an entrepreneurship Capstone Design project. The idea was to create a bedside monitoring platform capable of integrating data from medical instruments to provide medical practitioners with a comprehensive patient profile that supports decision-making, enhances patient insight and reduces the incidence of preventable adverse events. While at USD, the team took advantage of the plentiful campus resources made available to aspiring entrepreneurs. They were granted access to USD’s nursing expertise, perfected pitches at USD’s V2 Pitch and Global Social Innovation Challenge and they connected with Etrack co-faculty lead Venkat Shastri and industry mentor Gareth De Sanctis —— who now both sit on Darroch’s board.
Shao acknowledges Shastri and staff as the most influential people in Darroch’s success. “Venkat meets with us regularly, preparing us for next steps and pushing us to reach our next goal. He has taught me how to ‘be comfortable with being uncomfortable’ and measurably affects the outcome of what we are doing.” The team’s first two years were defined by technological milestones. But when the pandemic hit in 2020, the shutdown derailed the ability to get live patient testing going. Bishop explains the pivot, “This year allowed us to do more R&D, so it was a good trade-off.” Moving forward, Darroch’s goals are to achieve product commercialization and obtain FDA approval. Bishop marvels at how far the company has come in a short amount of time. “We started three years ago in a lab in school. I just got back from the University of Toledo Medical Center where we are now setting up live patient testing.”
“Our company gave us the opportunity to better the human condition,” says Shao gratefully. “You can’t go into this for the money.... We have this opportunity to create something for ourselves, not just benefiting ourselves, but those around us. That is what Etrack has distilled in us.” For mechanical engineering alumni Austin Hirsh ’19, his journey took him in an entirely different direction. This ambitious entrepreneur nurtured two business venture ideas during his four years at USD. His first was Picket, an automated lawn mower inspired by his lawn-mowing jobs as a youth. Although he was successful in the University of San Diego’s V2 Pitch competition and had a potential investor, he pivoted away from the mechanically focused Picket mower to a more sustainable business model in his final year at USD. “I was looking at the biggest impact I could make right after graduating and was surprised by a
statistic that reducing food waste is the best way to prevent global warming of 2% by the year 2050, according to Project Drawdown,” says Hirsh. And thus, the 2050 Company was born, inventing nutritious, convenient food products while eliminating waste throughout the supply chain. “After graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering, it was daunting to pursue a food venture with seemingly no relation to engineering concepts,” admits Hirsh. “But I do think I utilize my background as an engineer every day. USD infused a broader problem-solving mindset through its unique mix of technical and liberal arts courses. This built a foundation for any problem —— even if it involves fruits and powders instead of gears and blades. USD is made unique by people like Chell and Venkat, who have a broader way of thinking about what engineering means. It’s not just manufacturing parts. It’s engineering a solution.” Hirsh attended the University of Washington to obtain his Master of Science in Entrepreneurship, all the while focusing on the 2050 Company. “I’m not sure I would have taken marketing or law without the program at USD. This helped me transition to business school. I otherwise might not have made that jump.” In early 2021, he brought on board Greg Gibson ’19 from the USD School of Business. “The 2050 Company was founded by an engineer and an economist, so we’re very focused on metrics and data,” states Hirsh. “Through our two unique paths, we brought in complementary perspectives. We are always thinking about the future… doing our part to provide an example of how a business can make an impact.”
Emerging founders from the class of 2021, Marley Collins and Sabrina Smith also share a passion for sustainable design. Their original idea was to find a way to provide convenient consumer access to solar energy. “We didn’t know the exact field we wanted to apply our research in, so as juniors, we led a senior design team for independent study, allowing them to use our idea for powering electric rental scooters,” says Smith. With this collaboration came the first iteration of Discrete Solar. “My biggest lesson I learned is that everything changes,” admits Collins. “Design would be going one way until we started testing and had to come up with another solution. We had to be able to go with the flow.” The duo took the knowledge and experience they learned from the scooter project as a jumping-off point to apply their solar energy design to another passion —— alternative lifestyle living. They formed a senior design team of seven for the second iteration of Discrete Solar, offering an externally mounted solar energy system that takes the headache out of do-it-yourself and professionally installed solar. “Our DS 200 is designed for alternative lifestylists and is completely self-contained and allows the user to maximize interior livable space in their van, boat, RV, camper van or tiny home,” says Collins. Discrete Solar ended up winning significant seed funding at multiple pitch competitions across campus. The team took home the top prize for the Larry Kull Endowed Student Award in Engineering and Entrepreneurship at Etrack’s inaugural Torero Entrepreneurship Challenge (TECh) in 2021. This
brand-new SMSE competition specifically awards technologybased venture ideas and encourages social innovation. “The competitions with femaleled ventures were really inspiring,” says Collins. “Competing in a male-dominated space, women see things from a different perspective. It was really empowering.” “We are women in STEM and women entrepreneurs, which is not common to be both,” adds Smith.” It is a major hurdle for us, having to put in the extra work, gaining respect from our engineering cohorts and getting to the place we are now. I recommend it to any female. There
were struggles at times, but it was worth it.” Very few universities offer an entrepreneurship program within their engineering schools —— most are housed within the business schools. Shastri revels in the success of the teams he and his colleagues at the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering have nurtured year after year, providing a unique pathway for these founders. “You can see in them that they are fearless and fierce and have their own DNA. We are simply giving them tools, guidance and freedom to evolve into visionary and socially responsible leaders.” —— Michelle Sztupkay Video: www.sandiego.edu/USDEtrack
W W W.S A N DIEGO. EDU/ENGINEERING | 13
Planets Align for Amanda Gates From sunny San Diego to the windswept Martian landscape, Amanda Gates ’16 (ME) is charting her own path. A nuclear research engineer with the United States Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Gates has literally seen her career soar.
As the world watched the launch and landing of the Perseverance rover on Mars in the summer of 2020, Gates held her breath as the rover generator she helped build touched down on the planet. A native of North Bend, Washington, Gates’ quest for warmer weather and beaches led her to San Diego for college, where she immediately discovered a home away from home at the
14 | I 3 @ USD, FALL 2021
University of San Diego’s ShileyMarcos School of Engineering. As a work-study undergraduate student for the engineering school, Gates quickly immersed herself in the program, taking advantage of the access to professors, the small class sizes and the ability to pursue hands-on learning opportunities in the school’s machine shop. “Just having hands-on experience on how things are machined really makes us better engineers,” says Gates. “Knowing
how the process works —— since I’ve done it firsthand —— helps me design something that is practical.” An excitement for the unknown and a desire to learn continued to define Gates’ focus as she contemplated the next phase of her life. In the winter of 2015, Gates began working in Colorado during Intersession so she could pursue another passion —— skiing. It was there that a random conversation opened up an unexpected opportunity.
“One day, a guy came in and asked what I was doing. I said, ‘I’m applying for all these internships.’ He asked me what my major was and I said, ‘mechanical engineering.’ His dad used to work at INL and he told me they have a lot of internship opportunities, so I said, ‘OK, I’ll look into it.’” It was that chance encounter with a stranger that prompted Gates to apply for an internship with the laboratory, a position she ultimately received due to her machining education. “What really got me in the door at INL was having machining experience, because a lot of engineers don’t have that opportunity within their undergraduate education,” she says. For Gates, it’s clear “the stars aligned,” but little did she know that the internship would eventually lead her to postgraduate employment and the surface of Mars. After graduating from USD in 2016, Gates joined the INL team. For the past five years, she’s been part of the group responsible for assembling, testing and delivering the rover generator. “Specifically on Perseverance, it’s a multimission radioisotope thermoelectric generator,” says Gates. “It’s the generator that fuels the rover. The rover has lithium-ion batteries to power it, and those are all charged by our nuclear power generator.” Gates sees each day at work as a unique experience in the field she loves. “This might be the coolest job I’ll ever have,” she admits. “One of the reasons I really love this job is that no day is the same. We have to go through and make sure everything is going to work as planned because we don’t have a back-up generator.
This is all or nothing, so the margin of error needs to be zero because the planets literally aligned for us to make the launch window.” For Gates, being a part of space exploration is an awe-inspiring and worthwhile mission, one made even more essential by her role as a female engineer in a maledominated field. In her work at INL, Gates has been actively involved in outreach to young girls, showing them they too can pursue a path in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. “I think the biggest reason there aren’t very many women in engineering is that not many women are seen in it. It’s a very male-dominated field,” says Gates. “I’ve taken that on as my own responsibility to try to do outreach to younger girls.” As one of two women engineers who worked on the generator, Gates is proud of the opportunity, but sees areas for growth in the field. “This is just a step for people to know if they see it, they can do it. You can do whatever you put your mind to.” So, as Gates watched the rover land on the red planet, the importance of the moment was not lost on her. “I was taking pictures of the video I was watching, circling the rover, and sending it to my friends saying, ‘I did that. I’ve touched something that’s in that, that’s on another planet.’” While Gates may be earthbound, it’s clear her work is paving the way for current and future generations to see themselves in her shoes, exploring frontiers that might just be beyond our sight. “Dare mighty things,” she says. “You’re only limited by what you think you can do.” —— Allyson Meyer Video: www.sandiego.edu/AmandaGates
including trees, jumps, logs, railroad ties, boulders and ditches. The track is designed to push vehicles past their limit and it is extremely rare for any vehicle to make it through the race without stopping for repairs. Back in 2017, when the USD team participated in the regional competition, the Penningtons attended to watch their son compete, but soon found themselves busy searching the Bakersfield area for gear and equipment that would meet the strict safety standards set by the SAE judges. “It was so much fun to watch the competition and we were grateful for the strict safety standards as we watched other cars flip over, fall apart and collide on the course,” Susan Pennington recalls. That first year, USD’s Torero Racing team placed 30th in the overall competition out of 94
Baja Sponsors Take Buggy for a Spin USD’s Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering was thrilled to host long-time Baja car sponsors, Richard and Susan Pennington, on campus in October 2020 for a fun test-drive. They have been involved with the Baja car program since their son, David Pennington ’17, was a student at USD. He and fellow alumnus Brock Wilson ’17 started the Baja car program as a Capstone Design project during their senior year.
Since then, a senior design team has led the Baja car program each year. Although the program is small compared to many of the Society of Automotive Engineers’ (SAE) programs at universities across the country, it continues to thrive each year. SAE International’s mission is “to advance mobility knowledge and solutions for the betterment of humanity.” One way that they do this is by holding annual regional Baja car-racing competitions, which take place over a three-day period. There are static and dynamic components of the competition, culminating in an endurance race as the main competitive event. For four hours, all vehicles race wheel to wheel on a track riddled with obstacles,
teams. Not bad for a small team’s first attempt. Over the years, the Penningtons have remained key sponsors of the program. Sponsorship provides critical support for parts, tools and travel costs to bring the team and the car to the competition each year. So, it was with great delight that the 2020-21 team hosted the Penningtons for a test-drive on the gravel lot to the west of campus. Both Susan and Richard took turns driving the car, wearing the required helmet and cramming themselves into the very small driver’s seat. They both enjoyed taking the car for a spin around the parking lot. But then, as with the competition itself, the unexpected happened.
One of the students took a turn too quickly and plowed head-on into a closed garage door of a storage unit at the end of the lot. Everyone ran to see what had happened. Although the car’s nose was sticking vertically up in the air, the student remained strapped in his seat and was completely unharmed. That’s because SAE places safety first, with many rules of compliance that must be followed. Steve Saxer, mechanical shop manager for the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, was not worried that the student would be hurt in this incident or in any situation that may arise in the competition. “Our team has done extensive finite-element analysis of the frame design to ensure that the driver’s compartment can withstand a 5G incident without compromising the driver’s compartment.” Still, engineers sometimes have to try to break a product to test it. And even though this test was accidental, the car passed with flying colors. Susan Pennington was thrilled to have been back on campus to test drive the car and meet the current team —— who placed first in the sled pull at the 2021 SAE Collegiate Design Series competition. “We love supporting this program and seeing each year’s students embrace the challenge of designing, constructing and ultimately getting in the driver’s seat and racing their engineering achievement!” —— Elisa Lurkis BAJA CAR SPONSORS INCLUDE:
Terrible Herbst The Pennington Family The Taylor Foundation Betty Libman The Power Family Extreme Terrain
W W W.S A N DIEGO. EDU/ENGINEERING | 15
Faculty Achievements Our esteemed educators come from a diverse range of backgrounds with a deep commitment to challenging, mentoring and inspiring students. Their dedication is one of the reasons the programs at USD are so highly rated among peer institutions. Caroline Baillie, PhD, professor of integrated engineering founded the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering (SMSE) post-COVID task force —— designed to prepare graduates for an unknown future. Dr. Baillie served as the principal investigator and collaborated with a team of faculty members across SMSE to direct a VentureWell upcycling project to support vulnerable communities in Tijuana. The team was awarded a threeyear, $30,000 VentureWell faculty grant for the 2020 Sustainable Design grant cycle. Additionally, she published the book Socially Just Mining: Rhetoric or Reality? Lessons from Peru, with Eric Feinblatt, Alex
Mejia and Glevys Rondon, and also
presenting some of their work at
Dr. Gibbons is truly an ambassador
published a chapter in The
the Biomedical Engineering Society
of excellence for USD and is
Routledge Handbook of the
annual meeting in Orlando, Florida.
distinguished through a Fellows
Philosophy of Engineering, titled
Odesma Dalrymple, PhD, associate professor of industrial and systems engineering uses her
Project and her interactions with
passion for engineering to create
“Engineering and Social Justice.”
Chuck Bane, MS, professor of practice and program director for the Master of Science in Cybersecurity Engineering
community.
partnerships and hands-on
Gordon Hoople, PhD, assistant professor of integrated engineering had an interesting
program obtained his CERT
experiences that foster
year teaching from his home office
Cybersecurity Engineering and
socioconscious discussions about
while his two young kids did their
Software Assurance Professional
social justice issues. On March 29,
best to provide comic relief in the
Certificate. This program targets
2021 Dr. Dalrymple was named a
midst of Zoom classes. ENGR 101
software-reliant systems
Woman of Influence in Engineering
was a particularly fun class for all
engineering and acquisition
by the San Diego Business Journal.
involved, as students had to
activities to infuse an awareness of
She also founded the school’s
complete their design projects with
cybersecurity and an approach to
Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Action
resources they could find in their
identifying security requirements,
(IDEA) committee to actively
homes or residence hall rooms.
engineering risk and supply chain
engage in and promote diversity,
Never have Amazon boxes found so
risk early in the life cycle.
inclusion and social justice within
many uses.
Mark Chapman, PhD, assistant professor of integrated engineering launched his
the school. Dr. Dalrymple was also
inaugural NSF-funded U.S.-Sweden Clinical Bioinformatics Research Training Program this academic year. Six student interns got the
learning opportunities, community
part of a collaborative USD team that was awarded a $1 million NSF grant for the project titled Engaging with Community for Undergraduate Success in Mathematics, Science and Engineering.
Frank Jacobitz, PhD, chair and professor of mechanical engineering received USD’s 2020-21 International Impact Award in recognition of his contributions to promote global understanding through international education. In collaboration with Professor Haim
Stockholm, Sweden, where they
Melissa Gibbons, PhD, assistant professor of mechanical engineering was one of only 29
were involved in cutting-edge
faculty members from across the
Engineering Innovations during the
bioinformatics research. In Fall
U.S. to have been named an
Spring 2021 semester, which follows
2021, these same students will be
Engineering Unleashed 2020 fellow
the Collaborative Online
chance to join research groups at the Science for Life Laboratory in
by the KEEN Foundation.
16 | I 3 @ USD, FALL 2021
the Engineering Unleashed
Suchowski from Tel Aviv University, Dr. Jacobitz developed and taught
students and colleagues on
Field Learning Pedagogies,” in the
Employment Outcomes
research projects on developing a
peer-reviewed International
filtration device for E. coli removal
Journal of Sustainability in Higher
The USD Career Development Center compiles data on
and on the impact of roughness
Education. Dr. Ngo collaborated
elements on drag forces. Dr.
with Dr. Caroline Baillie to develop
Jacobitz continued research with
and co-teach a new upper
computer science graduates are taking as they embark
colleagues from Aix-Marseille
division elective coffee course for
University to perform research on
all engineering and computer
on their careers. Of the 173 students who graduated
the acceleration of fluid particles in
science majors with a global
stratified shear flows.
diversity level-2 flag. She also
Susan Lord, PhD, professor and chair of integrated engineering
worked with two undergraduate
International Learning (COIL)
Engineering Education Using
approach. He also collaborated with Project-Based and International
published an editorial in the Journal of Engineering Education on “Dissolving the Margins: Leaning Into an Antiracist Review Process,” with colleagues from Arizona State University and the University of Florida. While on sabbatical in 2020-21, she virtually attended
engineering students during Summer 2021 on a research project aiming to establish a field implementation plan for their 2022
students completing their undergraduate degrees. Here is a snapshot of the next steps USD engineering and
between July 2019 and June 2020, 69.9% provided data on the ways they have launched their futures. GRADUATE OUTCOMES
91.2
%
of 2020 respondents are employed, in graduate school, in the military or in full-time volunteer service.
76% Employed full time
2.4% Self-Employed
the Dominican Republic. The
4.8% Employed part time
0.8% Military Service
research is sponsored by the USD
7.2% Furthering Education
8% Seeking Employment
humanitarian engineering trip to
SURE program and SMSE and focuses on plastic recycling and
0.8% Other
REPRESENTATIVE EMPLOYERS OF GRADUATES Amazon
G2 Ops
SpaceX
community.
AT&T
General Atomics
Tesla
Northrop Grumman
Thermo Fisher Scientific
Bucknell University, Dr. Lord
Charles Pateros, PhD, professor of practice had a busy Spring
Clarity Design, Inc. Cubic
Qualcomm Viasat
facilitated workshops on effective
2021. He had his 27th U.S. patent
teaching using Zoom through the
No. 10,975,485 (electrochemical
National Effective Teaching Institute
layer deposition by controllable
(NETI). With Drs. Chen, Hoople and
anode array) issued and also
Mejia, she facilitated workshops on
received the student-nominated
conferences in Portugal, Sweden, England and Austria. With colleagues from Purdue and
repurposing for the local
antiracism in engineering education. USD Career Champion Award. Last
Truc Ngo, PhD, professor and chair of industrial and systems engineering published a research article, “Students’ Attitude Toward Sustainability and Humanitarian
year, Dr. Pateros met Michael Korody ‘20 in Donald’s Garage and, thanks to Dr. Bryan Cornwall, introduced Korody to a local company. Michael is now at Fabric8Labs, creating the next generation of 3D printers for printing metal. Dr. Pateros encourages alumni to connect on LinkedIn so he can introduce them to the next generation of technical Changemakers.
PAG E 16
FIRST JOB OFFER
73.6
%
of 2019-20 respondents who are employed full time reported that they received their first job offer within three months of graduating (46% before
graduating, 27.6% within the first 3 months, 25.3% within 4-6 months and 1.1% more than 6 months.)
ANNUAL SALARIES
75,923 58.8% $
of respondents who are employed full time reported that they received more than one job offer before accepting a position.
This chart represents a detailed breakdown of the respondents’ job offers. 41.2% One offer
Susan Lord, PhD
2 9.4% Two offers
PAG E 17
Odesma Dalrymple, PhD
NUMBER OF JOB OFFERS
Mark Chapman, PhD Caroline Baillie, PhD
Average
8.8% Three offers 2 0.6% Four offers
W W W.S A N DIEGO. EDU/ENGINEERING | 17
Showcase Spotlights Resilience Seniors from USD’s Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering gather for an afternoon to show off their capstone projects —— projects that have been dreamt up, tinkered with, deconstructed, built again and refined over the course of the year. For those in attendance at the annual Engineering and Computing Showcase, it’s an opportunity to appreciate what inquisitive, determined minds can accomplish.
This year’s event started with a
Participants then enjoyed virtual presentations and interactions
complex, and because of that we all
Chell Roberts, who then turned it
with student groups about their
had to be extremely flexible in our
over to special guest San Diego
projects, which spanned from
roles,” says Samuel Ferguson ’21. “I
Mayor Todd Gloria to deliver
industry sponsored to
am extremely happy to say that we
welcome remarks. Gloria, who
entrepreneurial to social justice
have created a prototype, and a
graduated from the University of
and community-focused projects.
prototype that’s actually being used
San Diego in 2000, addressed the
The showcase displayed close to
right now.”
170 participating students in their
40 projects across all engineering
respective virtual rooms.
and computer science degree
their own practical solutions to real
programs.
world challenges, creating solutions
“This has been a heck of a year. But you all have been so persistent,
Students who worked with
Other teams envisioned and built
like a self-contained solar panel
so resilient, in moving forward,”
industry partners were tasked with
system for people with “on the go”
Gloria says. “And that’s ... why I
projects that directly impacted
lifestyles and roofing tiles made
wanted to be here. In a year where
real-world companies. For
from upcycled wind turbines. One
we can’t celebrate as we normally
example, a team working with
team called How Bout Now (HBN)
do, we have to find every way to
Glaukos, a medical device
developed a “culturally
support one another, to mark
company in San Clemente,
conversational” chatbot to make
these milestones and to really
developed a new automated
mental health services instantly
count them for what they are.”
system for testing its products that
accessible to anyone with a
helps treat chronic eye diseases.
18 | I 3 @ USD, FALL 2021
“Our project was incredibly
rousing, virtual kickoff from Dean
smartphone, focusing especially on
shops or high-tech labs, it is not
underserved communities.
hard to be amazed at what was
“My main drive into this project was really ... that the project’s
accomplished. “[The students] got a lot further
vision was well-aligned with my
along than I would have thought
values,” says Jacqueline Puga ’22.
possible.... I am shocked at how
“I felt that, through this project, my
much progress they made,” says
mission to be a Changemaker at
Gordon Hoople, PhD, assistant
USD would be fulfilled.”
professor of integrated
Some teams received project
engineering. At a time when
ideas by working with community
engineers in all industries are
members. For example, one project
facing similar challenges, Hoople
was designed to be used directly
believes students from the class
by teachers in City Heights to
of 2021 learned in a special way to
engage and excite middle
navigate constraints and grow in
schoolers by building a remotely
planning, collaboration and
operated vehicle.
delegation skills.
“This is for the students, and this
Mayor Gloria summed up the
[is] for them to learn and grow
event’s significance by pointing
from,” says Vanessa Hernandez
out the essential skills these
Jimenez ’21. “So, every time [our
engineers will bring to building the
team] goes back to that … I think it
future: “To the students that are
makes us more happy and
here, I applaud you, I’m proud of
committed to this project.”
you.... You are going to be the
Considering all these capstone
future of this city, and I’m just
News Briefs USD’S NEW CENTER FOR DATA SCIENCE, AI AND SOCIETY
USD is proud to announce Maritza Johnson, PhD, as the director of a new center focused on data science, artificial intelligence and society. Johnson is a widely respected data privacy and security professional who joins USD from Google Research. The center will be led by USD’s Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, which houses the university’s computer science programs. The new center will engage the entire campus around issues of big data and artificial intelligence and their social implications —— ethics, privacy and fairness —— pursuing a mission to empower communities and technologists to work together to enable the ethical use of data. In addition to acting as a hub for the USD community, the center will serve the broader public through consulting outreach, lectures and events as we explore the farreaching impacts of these topics. NEW HIRES AND PROMOTED FACULTY MEMBERS
In a quest to build a cohort of teacher-scholars who are advancing the reputation of USD, recently hired and promoted faculty members are now working within the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering in partnership with Professional and Continuing Education to staff four new online master’s degree programs. Program directors include Dr. Ebrahim Tarshizi, Applied Data Science; Dr. Ramesh Rajagopalan, Applied Artificial Intelligence; Jeff Teza, Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship; and Dr. Caroline Baillie, Engineering for Sustainability
projects were largely developed
grateful for that role that you’re
from kitchens, garages and dining
going to play.” —— Daniel Telles
Integrated Engineering department as a full-time tenured professor.
room tables rather than machine
Video: www.sandiego.edu/Glaukos
Starting Fall 2021, Dr. John Glick assumed the role of interim
and Health, who after five years of part-time status joined the
department chair of Electrical Engineering and Dr. Venkat Shastri assumed the role of interim program coordinator. EXSJ RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNITY FUND
Walter and Csilla Foley have made a generous $50,000 pledge to create the Engineering Exchange for Social Justice (EXSJ) Research, Development and Community Fund. The purpose of the gift is to provide support for students engaged in engineering and social justice work during the summer months. The program began in Summer 2021, providing support for students to work on community-based projects, such as upcycling plastic waste in Tijuana and creating a database to map the various stakeholder efforts connected to water quality monitoring in the Tijuana River watershed. ALUMNI SELECTED FOR ARTEMIS LUNAR MISSION TRAINING PROGRAM
After nearly half a century since humankind last visited the moon, NASA is revving up a program called Artemis that could send humans back to the moon within this decade. On Dec. 9, 2020, the agency revealed which of its 47 active astronauts have been assigned to Artemis to train for humanity’s historic return to the moon. Among that distinguished group are two University of San Diego alumni: Matthew Dominick ’05 (electrical engineering) and Jonny Kim ’12 (mathematics). Before long, Dominick and Kim will be charting new courses in history.
W W W.S A N DIEGO. EDU/ENGINEERING | 19
Alumni Notes Across San Diego and around the globe, USD’s Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering alumni are doing extraordinary things and excelling in their careers. The spirit of our alumni community continues to grow and they are proud of their Torero heritage. Read about what your classmates and fellow Toreros have been up to.
International Space Station. While
Cordelia Miracle (ISyE) is working
2 019
working at the NASA Marshall Space
at Dexcom as an industrial
Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama,
engineer. She entered graduate
Alec Aguilera (ME) is serving as
he is assisting with the design and
school in the fall to focus her
Church in South Kensington,
development of the new NASA
studies and career on technical
London. He is also completing an
Docking System (NDS Block 2).
product management following her
internship with Holy Trinity
Jones is also happy to announce
master’s degree completion.
Brompton, studying Christian
his recent engagement to fellow
Creighton Morfitt (ME) is working as
theology and discerning a call to
Torero Olivia Greenwood ’19 (BA).
Max Escutia (CS) recently started his career at SAP as a member of the SAP Next Talent Program. He is one of 10 people in the U.S. to have been accepted into such a program. accepted a new position with Boeing as an electrical design and analysis engineer for the
in San Diego as a supply chain data
Operations Leadership
Brownell ’19 (biology) are settling
analyst at Bumble Bee Seafoods.
Development Program.
into their new lives in the UK and
He has accepted a graduate-level
Eduardo Ortega (IntE) started
internship at Amazon Headquarters in Seattle, Washington, where he works as a business intelligence Master’s in Operations Research Engineering at the University of Southern California in Fall 2021. Julia Mahroos (ME) is enjoying her first full-time position as an inside channel sales engineer for area. She loves taking her technical engineering degree and making it applicable outside of the classroom. She looks forward to growing within the company.
PAG E 2 0
Matt Gigli ’11 Badr Alouhali ’19 Jacob Goeres and Jessica Luhrs ’16 PAG E 2 1
Sergio Palacios’14 Nate Schneider ’01 Alec Aguilera and Rachel Brownell ’19
20 | I 3 @ USD, FALL 2021
England. Alec and his wife Rachel
part of Thermo Fisher Scientific’s
Schneider Electric in the Nashville
Andrew Jones (EE) recently
ordination within the Church of
Daniel Ley (ISyE) has been working
engineer before starting his
2 02 0
a manufacturing engineer as a
operations manager at St. Luke’s
working as an associate test
enjoying the opportunity to represent USD across the pond.
engineer for Insulet Corporation.
Badr Alouhali (ME) is working as
He was admitted to the Electrical
quality engineer at Noor Energy 1,
and Computer Engineering (ECE)
the largest CSP project in the
PhD program at Duke University as
world. He also was recently
an Alfred P. Sloan scholar and an
promoted to risk management
ECE departmental fellow.
champion for his involvement in
Carlee Szarek (ME) is a spacecraft
management activities.
systems engineer at Northrop
Max Beau (ME) joined Rivian in
Grumman working in support of
November 2020 as a junior CATIA
the Artemis Program. Since
solution engineer on the Product
graduating USD, Szarek has
Lifecycle Management (PLM) team.
become a commercial and
2021 is an exciting year for Rivian
multiengine pilot working toward
as production of their first vehicle,
becoming a certified flight
the R1T, is expected to start this
instructor.
summer. Beau brings his passion
and enthusiasm for automotive
product plans within a global
project manager 2 on the Global
Pharmaceuticals. He is currently
engineering with him to help Rivian
supply chain. Recently, she joined
Operations team. She works on
helping with the development of a
keep the world adventurous
the Worldwide Supply Demand
continuous glucose monitoring
key vaccine delivery system that
forever.
Management team at Apple. Kafka
devices for people with diabetes.
may eventually be used worldwide
Rafael Brennand (ME) recently got
is supporting Apple’s largest line of
Wade Pacheco (ME) is a U.S. Army
(one of which is a COVID-19
his certification in data science
business, the iPhone.
and visualization from the
2 01 8
University of California San Diego.
Jake Arlotti (ISyE) has recently
Interrogator and team leader. He plans on continuing to work at advancing his career when he
vaccine). Even more important, he and his wife just welcomed their first child, Waverly Drew Booth, in
returns from an overseas
February 2021.
University to receive his PhD in
assignment.
Katie Levy (CS) started a new
Industrial and Systems Engineering,
Connor Reuss (ME) started working
position as a software engineer at
with an emphasis on human
at EsGil: A SAFEbuilt Company right
Curtis Chambers (CS) continues to
factors and ergonomics. Arlotti is
after graduation. In his short time
provide support for USD’s new
currently working for NAVAIR on
there, he has gone from an intern
center focused on data science,
Coronado Island as a
to the senior mechanical plans
Fashion items using ML models.
artificial intelligence and society,
manufacturing engineer and looks
examiner. He recently passed the
the San Diego-Israel water
forward to attending USD football
mechanical PE exam, making him
2 016
program and scholarship support
games and other alumni events in
the youngest mechanical
for women from under-resourced
the near future.
professional engineer in company
He currently works as a financial analyst at Chosen Foods, bringing healthy food to the table of millions of Americans.
been accepted to Mississippi State
countries.
Devyn Bryant (ME) is nearing his
Katelyn “Katie” Dallmus (ISYE) is
three-year mark at San Diego Gas
currently serving as the ordnance
and Electric as an electrical
officer onboard the guided missile
engineer in the Substation
history.
Amazon in New York City. Her team focuses on providing size recommendations on Amazon
Mike Bagian (ME) has recently made the transition to controls design engineering work. This transition provides new challenges
Anthony Shao (EE) continues to
and is a great learning opportunity.
work as the CEO of Darroch Medical
He looks forward to seeing what
Solutions. They have recently been
will come next.
cleared to begin their medical
Jacob Goeres and Jessica Luhrs
destroyer USS John Finn (DDG 113).
Construction and Maintenance
She intends on beginning her
group. He recently had the honor of
engineering officer of the watch
joining the USD Alumni Board of
qualification process in the coming
Directors where he looks to
months after earning her surface
increase alumni engagement in
warfare officer qualification.
alumni affinity groups and support
a valuation of just over $4 million.
Lauren Kafka (ISyE) spent two
his alma mater.
2 017
breaks at USD. The couple moved
years in the semiconductor
Melanie Kliegel (ME) recently joined
Andrew Booth (EE) was hired as an
to Scottsdale, Arizona, where
industry executing end-to-end
Dexcom where she is a technical
electrical engineer III at Inovio
Goeres is an advanced senior
device’s clinical trials and are looking forward to making an impact in health-care institutions. Darroch Medical was also just given
(ISyE) got engaged at USD on July 3, 2020. Jacob chose the reflection pool for the big moment as that is where they would relax and take much-needed study
W W W.S A N DIEGO. EDU/ENGINEERING | 21
TO P
Devyn Bryant ’18 Kyle Oohoa ’1o B OT TO M
Anya Solovlov ’16 Anthony Shao ’18
quality engineer for Honeywell
program manager and was
Virginia Tech and is in her final
career in international technology
Aerospace and Luhrs recently
recently promoted while
years of her PhD studies in
policy. After graduating from the
started her own process
overseeing more than 500 special
Engineering Education at Virginia
University of Cambridge in 2020,
improvement consulting company,
projects for delivery stations. She
Tech. In Fall 2021, she will be
Julian currently works as project
Modern Efficiency, LLC. The two
is most excited about piloting new
joining the Industrial and Systems
and research manager in the field
will marry May 28, 2022.
sustainability initiatives and the
Engineering department as
of autonomous vehicles.
Stephanie Hoertig, PE (EE) is
first net zero carbon logistics
adjunct faculty for the Shiley-
building. Her past year included a
Marcos School of Engineering.
Allyson Ward (EE) was recently
two-week quarantine while visiting
Julian Ringhof (ME) recently
program manager at Brain
received the prestigious
Corporation and leads new product
scholarship Mercator Kolleg for
development efforts for
International Affairs by the
autonomous robots. She also has
Mercator Foundation and the
been enjoying getting fit and
German Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
spending time with friends this
continuing to work for Burns & McDonnell as a staff electrical engineer here in San Diego. She is also currently pursuing her MBA at UC Davis. She recently got engaged and is planning a
her husband in Canada and working from there. While at home in Seattle, she’s grown a collection of plants and enjoyed a full
promoted to lead technical
Colorado wedding for January
harvest of cherry tomatoes.
2022.
2 015
Beginning in October 2021, Ringhof
year.
Anya Soloviov (ISyE) has grown a
Tawni Paradise (ISyE) has recently
will enter into this one-year
Kim Woodbury (ISyE) was recently
team as a preconstruction senior
attained a Master of Arts in Integrative STEM Education from
program working for renowned political organizations to pursue a
promoted to senior project manager in Thermo Fisher
I 3@USD is published annually each fall. Alumni notes are solicited each spring/ summer from alumni of the USD ShileyMarcos School of Engineering. Notes submitted should total 50 words or less and include professional and personal updates. Photos submitted should be high resolution (300 dpi). To submit your alumni updates for the upcoming issue, please email Director of Development and Alumni Relations Elisa Lurkis at elurkis@sandiego.edu. To submit a class note to USD Magazine, which is published three times a year, please email classnotes@sandiego.edu.
22 | I 3 @ USD, FALL 2021
Scientific’s Global Business
manager at National Instruments.
Operations. She also recently
She sells test equipment and
joined USD’s Engineering and
software primarily for 5G
Computer Science Alumni Council
applications to semiconductor
to help support her alma mater.
companies. Duvall is constantly
2 014
working on home improvement
Philip Hoskinson (ME) is a lecturer at USD and recently built a fiveunit rental property in the San Diego area. Sergio Palacios (EE) completed his Naval Nuclear pipeline and served as a main propulsion assistant onboard the USS Carl Vinson (CVN70). After obtaining his nuclear engineering officer qualification, he was selected to complete the Secretary of Defense program Tours with Industry with Qualcomm here in San Diego. He is currently working with automotive and telematics. 2 01 1 Matt Gigli (EE) and his wife Danielle recently moved to a new house in Escondido after living down the street from USD for the last five years. Their son, Carson, turned two this spring and they welcomed their second son in June 2021. Gigli still works at TrellisWare as a software team lead and Danielle works as an attorney working with local school districts. 2 010 Kyle Ochoa (ISyE) was recently promoted to director of operations at one of PCC’s premier aerospace fastener sites, Cherry Aerospace. He and his wife welcomed their third child in May 2021. He continues to be an avid soccer fan and USD Men’s soccer team supporter.
projects on her home in Escondido, where she enjoys spending time in the yard and pool with her daughters Lilly and Brooke. 2 0 01 Sally (Mahdavi) Herr (EE) was recently promoted to director, program management officer at TrellisWare Technologies. She also continues to support USD’s Engineering and Computer Science Alumni Council, often hiring engineering interns to facilitate growth and career advancement opportunities for her alma mater. Nate Schneider (EE) is a commander in the U.S. Navy based
Master’s Degree Program Class of 2021 USD’s Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering launched their first professional graduate program in 2016 with a Master of Science in Cybersecurity Engineering. The program has experienced strong recognition for its program excellence and we are proud to announce our graduating class of 2021. Amol Athawale Sean Ayersman Travis Beckwith Curtis Brown Ryan Cabusao Trevor Calton Giancarlo Coca Todd Cope Guy Derenoncourt Nicholas Fiorella Matthew Fong Ezra Fu Jerome Gamboa Madhuri Javiya Eric Jones
Thomas Kelch Ramon Leyva Samuel Lopez
Adam Ralston Tian Reed Clay Rivetti
Bennett Mallory Angel Millet Nicholas Misleh Osman Munoz Matthew O’Hare Kyle Ovanek Peyvand Pahang Chris Paul Alexsander Petrenko DeeAlane Pulido Homammed Othmane Rahmoune
Hamid Saeidi Robert Schmid Arash Shahrokhshahi Jason Sorum Benjamin Sugg Joshua Tahimic Henok Teketay Ersin Togmen Manuel Torres Campos Tai Tran Redith Wilson
in Kingsville, Texas, working as a professional flight instructor. 199 4 Andrew “Andy” Isaksen (EE), ’05 (IMBA) is working for Boeing in an enterprise role on their One Boeing Finance of the Future program supporting the Procure to Pay end-to-end value stream (aka supply chain and accounts payable) with responsibilities for business process transformation and digital transformation. He combines both his BS/BA electrical engineering (’94) and his IMBA (’05) degrees from USD to synergize business process improvement with technical solutions to enhance the way Boeing executes their business. Isaksen continues to sponsor the
2 0 02
Torero Trek visits to Boeing every
Lisa Duvall (EE) was recently
year with his fellow alumni at
promoted to level-4 account
Boeing.
W W W.S A N DIEGO. EDU/ENGINEERING | 23
Graduating Class of 2021 In 2021, USD’s ShileyMarcos School of Engineering graduated 166 undergraduate students. The class was composed of 41 computer scientists, 20 electrical engineers, 37 industrial and systems engineers, 8 integrated engineers and 60 mechanical engineers. We invite you to read what many of our innovators have been doing since graduating.
Nicolas Dennis is working as a
Inc. in San Diego, California.
and Electric in San Diego, California.
COMPUTER SCIENCE
Matthew Walravens is working out of
Alyssa Beamish is in a rotation program
Rosalin Arvizu accepted a position at Keesal Propulsion Laboratories in Long Beach, California, and is working as a solutions developer. Tatiana Barbone is working as a software engineer for Dell Technologies in Round Rock, Texas. Henry Berger is working as a software engineer in Northrop Grumman’s Space Systems in Clearfield, Utah.
cyber-risk advisory analyst for Deloitte in San Jose, California. Ava Gerami received two job offers and accepted a position locally in Carlsbad, California, as a test associate for Viasat. Gerami found the opportunity through Torero Trek networking. Tanya Keval is working for Cisco
Professional Corporation in Poway, California.
PhD in mechanical engineering. The
Caden Keese is working for Joylux, Inc. as a senior developer in Seattle, Washington. Raquel Valdez Diaz received four outstanding job offers before graduating from USD in an astonishing three years and accepted a position as a software engineer at Clarity Design,
Santa Monica, California, as a solutions
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
understanding how mechanics mediates biological signaling.
Discrete Solar, that she launched with co-founder Sabrina Smith. associate engineer for San Diego Gas
for Caterpillar, working as an associate
Logan Brown is working for Callaway in
Spectranetix in Sunnyvale, California, as a systems integration and test engineer. Perry Nesbet is working in San Diego, California, as an engineer I for General Atomics. He found the position through
Surface Warfare Center in Port
program in electrical engineering at Yale University.
INDUSTRIAL AND SYSTEMS ENGINEERING Melissa Arana is working as a project management coordinator for K2 Systems in Vista, California. Phillip Weston is working as a director of coaching for Soccer Shots in San Diego, California. Roy Emmanuel Medina accepted a job as a data engineer for Dexcom in San Diego, California.
CLASS OF 2021 VALEDICTORIAN
Gabrielle Bartolome is working as a gas
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING positions and accepted one to work for
bioengineering field and in
working on the startup venture,
mechanical engineer in Rapid City,
Brandon Micale was offered two
focus of her research is within the
Marley Collins is in Houston, Texas,
engineer for Oracle.
Lihao Zheng was accepted into the PhD
24 | I 3 @ USD, FALL 2021
and received two job offers before
project manager for Gold’s Engineering
California, Santa Barbara working on a
graduate programs at the University of
specializing in security.
concentration in embedded software
Andriana Tziouvares is working as a
California.
Hueneme, California.
computer science engineering and
Chadmond Wu graduated with a
capstone design project at USD.
a software engineer.
Brandon DalPorto was accepted to
attend UCSD and is now studying
California.
started as an entrepreneurship
Daniella Walter is at the University of
Adaly Solis is working for the Naval
California, San Diego. He elected to
engineer for K2 Systems in Vista,
venture, Discrete Solar, which they
engineer at Qualcomm in San Diego,
working with Amazon in Redmond,
California, Irvine and the University of
sustainability, is working as a design
continue to work on their business
Systems out of San Jose, California, as
USD’s Fall Career Fair.
Southern California, the University of
Mireya Roberto, who studied
accepting a position as an emulation
Shannon Bodemar accepted a job offer Washington, as a software engineer.
INTEGRATED ENGINEERING
South Dakota. Carlsbad, California, as an associate process engineer. Michael Casinelli is working as a technical operations engineering intern for Hawaiian Airlines in Honolulu, Hawaii. Gabriel DePaolo accepted a position at Anduril Industries as a mechanical engineering intern in Irvine, California.
As an electrical engineering major with
Brady O’Neill is a stress engineer for
a minor in mathematics, David Hunt
Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, California. Max Saenz received two job offers and accepted a position as a field engineer for Performance Resource Management in Carlsbad, California. He found the position through USD’s Career Development Center. Benjamin Schierman is an ensign, student naval aviator for the United States Navy in Cleveland, Ohio. Sabrina Smith is attending KTH (Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan) Royal Institute of
graduated summa cum laude, boasting a near-perfect 3.98 GPA. The true highlights of this humble Torero’s USD journey were surprisingly not about his academic success —— though he worked hard for this honor. What he valued most and what he attributed to his overall success were the relationships he made through University Ministry retreats, Guy Talk, Breakfast Club, faculty guidance, Theta Tau and intramural volleyball. Hunt now works as an associate systems engineer within Northrop Grumman’s
Technology in Stockholm, Sweden,
Space Systems.
pursuing her MS in Naval Architecture.
Link: www.sandiego.edu/ ValedictorianDHunt
She and co-founder Marley Collins will
W W W.S A N DIEGO. EDU/ENGINEERING | 25
NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE
PAID Belanich Engineering Center 5998 Alcalá Park San Diego, CA 92110-2492
S AV E T H E D AT E OCTOBER 12-17, 2021 Homecoming and Family Week
OCTOBER 15, 2021 Alumni Honors
DECEMBER 10, 2021 Engineering and Computing Expo
MAY 13, 2022
Engineering and Computing Showcase
MAY 28, 2022
Graduate Commencement
MAY 29, 2022
Undergraduate Commencement
SAN DIEGO, CA PERMIT NO. 365