Board Profiles
Nebojsa Jaksic
Leader and Role Model
It’s characteristic of Nebojsa Jaksic that his patented method for making carbon nanotubes sprang from a class he was teaching at Colorado State University, Pueblo, where he is a professor of engineering. Back in 2007, he was explaining the workings of an electric discharge machine in a manufacturing processes course when, like “a little spark,” it occurred to him that the same machine could be used to produce nanotubes.
In Jaksic’s telling, there’s scarcely a line between teaching and invention. A strong believer in learning through experimentation, he joins students in discovery. “Sometimes you do the normal stuff and say, ‘What if . . . ?’” His field, industrial and systems engineering, lends itself to exploring new ways of teaching, with new tools, to meet emerging industry needs. When he found, for example, that few textbooks adequately covered linear motors, used increasingly by high-tech firms, he went on eBay to find a linear stepper motor, an ironless motor, and a drive/controller for less than $850 and developed a combination lecture and lab module for a third-year mechatronics course. And when his students needed sophisticated robotics software and sensors for a senior-level design course, he built an experiment around “a remarkable and inexpensive set of sensors” found in Kinect for Xbox 360, a robotics starter kit, and a miniature PC.
Jaksic’s own fascination with robotics developed from reading science fiction while growing up in the Kosovo province of the former Yugoslavia. He pursued an electrical engineering degree at Belgrade University and then sought “to be in the place where robotics started” – the United States. He got a scholarship to Ohio State but was summoned home for military service before the Balkan wars of the early 1990s. He was assigned to train soldiers at a shooting range until the day his commander urged him to return to the United States: “Who knows how this is going to come out?” Completing his Ph.D. in Columbus, Jaksic taught multiple courses at the local DeVry University branch before joining CSU-Pueblo in 2000.
A follower of – and contributor to – research on learning, Jaksic gets students to buy into certain exercises and homework by citing the literature: “If you want to learn, this is a proven method.” It seems to work. CSU-Pueblo’s mechatronics program, which he launched in 2005 with two students, now bursts at the seams with 200. In a part of Colorado where graduates tend to stay, Jaksic has had gratifying encounters with former students who tell him their careers advanced because of skills he taught. “Now you trust me,” he’ll reply. In ASEE, where he chairs the Zone IV Council of Sections, he wants to build up grass-roots strength with more regional activity.
Once hoping to build things that change the world, he’s now content to do so “one student at a time.” As for commercializing his patent, that will have to wait for a sabbatical.
Barbara Bernal
Software Engineering Pioneer
Most careers take unexpected twists. But Barbara Bernal’s journey from San Juan schoolgirl to standout engineering educator and Zone II chair includes a textbook example of how not to attract more women to the profession.
The daughter of one of Puerto Rico’s first psychoanalysts, Bernal always “adored math” and took physics at a boys’ school when her all-girls Catholic high school didn’t offer it. That passion propelled her to Georgia Tech and electromagnetic engineering – one of the toughest areas in a difficult major. She earned an F on her first calculus pre-test for spelling sine and cosine in Spanish. Physics was “an assembly line” with 150 young men and an elderly professor who reserved a front seat for his lone female student. “Do I want to pave my way through all of this?” lamented Bernal, who transferred to Georgia State to pursue a “safer” teaching degree.
Bernal landed her first job while student teaching. The calculus teacher at a neighboring high school quit after one day, and the principal hired her. Four years later, in 1984, Southern Polytechnic State University tapped her to teach computer graphics, which was mostly math. There she prospered despite lacking a doctorate, becoming a full professor and internationally recognized authority on user-centered design. She also established SPSU’s software engineering program, one of the country’s first, which she chaired from 2005 to 2006.
Active at both the section and national levels, Bernal considers ASEE her “biggest mentor.” Her initiation occurred at the 2000 Southeastern Section’s conference, where she presented her first ASEE paper – on software engineering as a distinct discipline. Section leaders invited Bernal to start a new division. “Imagine going from presenting a conference paper to active division leadership!” she recalls. Bernal served as chair of the Software Engineering Division in 2001 and subsequently. “I’m one of the few members who don’t have a Ph.D., but I’ve been able to make my mark in ASEE and earn the respect of my colleagues,” says Bernal, who retired earlier this year when changes in Georgia’s state pension plan made it disadvantageous to keep working.
Bernal foresees ASEE’s reach increasing as interest in engineering and engineering technology spreads beyond high school math and science whiz kids like she once was. She notes that a year ago, the young man who serviced her iPhone recently was waiting tables; now he works for Apple. “More people will enter the engineering arena, but through smaller tributaries,” she predicts, “and one of them is through technology.” Involvement in ASEE, with its collegiality and “everyone playing in the dirt” talking about teaching and learning, is the “best vehicle” for reaching those new “customers.” She notes: “ASEE has always been an organization that gives back so much. You do leave your mark.”
Division Reports and Announcements
Mathematics Division Report From the 2013 Meeting
Below are the highlights of Mathematics Division activities at the 2013 ASEE annual conference in Atlanta:
- There were 22 technical papers given during four technical sessions.
- Charles Hadlock, Trustee Professor of Mathematical Sciences, Bentley University, made a presentation on “Science, Math, Service-Learning, and the Local Fire Department” to the Joint Meeting with the Physics Division.
- The 2013 Mathematics Division’s William T. Guy, Jr. Distinguished Educator and Service Award was presented to Henry Zwick, Utah State University – Eastern. Professor Zwick received a plaque, an ASEE certificate, and having his 2013-14 ASEE dues paid by the Mathematics Division.
- The 2012 Mathematics Division Best Paper Award was presented to Helen Doerr, Syracuse University. Professor Doerr received a plaque, and her 2013-14 ASEE dues were paid by the Mathematics Division.
- It was announced that the 2013 Mathematics Division Best Paper Award went to Gregory Richard Baker, Ohio State University, for the paper “Cross-Discipline Coherence: Mathematics and Physics for Engineering.” Professor Baker will receive a plaque at the 2014 ASEE Meeting in Indianapolis and will have his 2013-14 ASEE dues paid by the Mathematics Division.
Meet Your Staff
Dollars and Good Sense
Kazuki Ko has worked for six years as part of the silent motor that keeps the gears of ASEE turning – the accounting department. Specifically, Kazuki works as the financial lead on seven projects for our Fellowships and Research Opportunities Department, a unit that brings in many federal contracts. Kazuki is the fiduciary manager on existing awards, including processing payments, submitting invoices and reports, and providing financial analysis to project managers. He also manages the financial preparation of new proposals.
Kazuki joined ASEE in the summer of 2007, working initially in our International Department as an intern from UNC-Wilmington. As his internship was wrapping up, ASEE had an opening in the accounting office; supported by his degree in finance, he applied. “I pretty much just stayed right here.”
Kazuki has a truly multicultural background. He was born in Harbin, a city of 5 million in northeastern China, and moved to the bustle of Tokyo when he was in third grade. After graduating from high school, he came to the United States for college…and he takes all this mobility in stride. “During my high school years I knew I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and try something new. I love learning new languages and cultures so my first instinct was to study abroad,” says the man conversant in three languages and with training in two more. In fact, in mid-September the world traveler returned from 10 days in Italy where he enjoyed getting lost in the maze-like Venetian streets and discovering hidden local eateries and shops.
When not at work, Kazuki enjoys playing the piano, a skill initially developed as a young child. He loves to play tennis and to be outdoors and has competed in several half marathons and 5- and 10-K races. In addition, he is an avid scuba diver – a hobby that has taken him to some of the world’s most gorgeous locales, with the waters off Palau being a personal favorite.
Being somewhat sequestered from ASEE members, Kazuki loves getting to the annual conference, where he gets to meet a lot of new people. Vancouver was a particularly enjoyable meeting, he says, in part for the aesthetic beauty. If he happens to check you in at registration next year in Indianapolis, say hello….or nĭ hăo, konnichiwa, hola, or bonjour!
OBITUARY
Ray M. Haynes
ASEE Vice President, Finance (2009-2013)
Ray M. “Doc” Haynes, 69, a retired aerospace executive, educator, ASEE board member, and champion of diversity in engineering education and the workforce, died of a heart attack Sept. 22.
Most recently ASEE’s vice president for finance, Haynes held a series of leadership positions in the Society over the years, lending the unique perspective of his Cherokee and Mexican ancestry and long experience in both industry and academe. His easy-going demeanor belied a passion for innovative education at the K-12, community college, and university levels, and for encouraging underrepresented minorities in the STEM fields.
With a B.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Arizona, a master’s in systems engineering, an M.B.A., and a Ph.D. in operations research management, Haynes spent much of his career in aerospace, working for AiResearch, RCA, TRW, TRW-Fujitsu, and Northrop Grumman. He retired in 2009 as director of the University Strategic Technical Alliances office at Northrop Grumman.
He began teaching in the 1980s, first as adjunct professor of operations management at Arizona State University and then, taking a leave from industry, as professor and co-director of the graduate engineering management program at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo. He published more than 100 articles and case studies. Haynes returned to TRW in 1999.
In retirement, Haynes was executive in residence at the Tribal Knowledge Initiative and STEM education director for DaVinci Schools, a group of industry-sponsored start-up California charter schools. He also participated in a National Academy of Engineering project, Infusing Real-world Experiences in Engineering Education, which issued a report early this year.
Besides being elected twice as vice president of finance, Haynes represented both PIC V and the Corporate Member Council on the Board of Directors. He was also a director of the College-Industry Partnership Division; member of the Diversity and K-12 special interest groups, and on the board of the Pacific Southwest Section. He believed that “a sense of humor and ready smile helps to bridge any real and/or perceived differences in individuals and goes a long way towards mitigating the challenges of working, living, and studying together.”