Who are we?
Engineering Division Chair: Christina Ivler, University of Portland
The Engineering Division was established at the 2013 Annual Business Meeting. This division is charged with providing national leadership and discipline-specific in developing undergraduate research in the area of engineering and engineering-related fields.
The goals of the division are:
- Create a professional community and support system for engineering faculty engaged in undergraduate research
- Advocate support for innovation through undergraduate research in engineering
- Serve as a virtual platform in identifying and sharing best practices for embedding undergraduate research in engineering curricular and co-curricular activities
- Provide networking opportunities in the areas of research development and extramural funding
| Name | Institution |
| Mohamed Ben Haj Frej | University of Bridgeport |
| Valentin Soloiu | Georgia Southern University |
| Name | Institution |
| Aaron Sakulich | Worcester Polytechnic Institute |
| Beena Ajmera | Iowa State University |
| Christina Ivler | University of Portland |
| Gustavo Vejarano | Loyola Marymount University |
| Heather Dillon | University of Washington Tacoma |
| Irene Reizman | Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology |
| Jeff Dusek | Baldwin Wallace University |
| Kristen Krupa | University of Dayton |
| Lisa Bosman | Purdue University – West Lafayette |
| Pareshkumar Hotchandani | Smith & Nephew |
| Patrick Tebbe | Minnesota State University, Mankato |
| Pratanu Ghosh | California State University-Fullerton |
| Tim Kane | The Pennsylvania State University |
| Wade Goodridge | Utah State University |
| Winny Dong | California State Polytechnic University – Pomona |
Division Activities
The Engineering Division of the Council on Undergraduate Research supports research in our discipline. To support these activities, we provide networking opportunities, activities, and resources for faculty, students, and others. Some of our active resources are provided below:
- Lessons from Award-Winning Engineering Mentors in Undergraduate Research
- Recorded on May 4, 2026, this webinar features the expertise of two CUR Engineering Division Leadership and Mentorship award winners: Lisa Bosman and Wujie Zhang.
- Perspectives on Excellence in Undergraduate Research
- Recorded on September 25, 2024, this webinar features the expertise from four of the CUR Engineering Division Leadership and Mentorship award winners: Beena Ajmera (2022), Heather Dillon (2024), Ala Qattawi (2024), and Rana Zakerzadeh (2023).
- CUR Conversation: Mentoring in Engineering Undergraduate Research
- This informal, virtual CUR Conversation from May 25, 2022 was hosted by the 2022 Engineering Faculty Mentor Awardees as they discussed their journey and ideas for excellence in undergraduate research.
- Engineering Division Facebook
- Engineering Leadership and Mentoring Awards – currently closed
- Engineering Student Research Video Award – currently closed
Ben Aaron – Spatial Variation in Structural Lumber Strength: Experimental Testing and Probabilistic Model
Ghaleeb Hakim – The Three-Tab Keyguard: A Novel, Low-Cost Device to Help Special Needs Students Communicate
Brenton Hall – Experimental Study of an Elastohydrodynamic Seal for Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Turbomachinery
Ihfaz Islam – Low-Power RISC-V Design for Edge Devices
Abigail Read – Development and Evaluation of Advanced Machine Motion Table for Kinematic and Dynamic MotionsÂ
Omkar Anand – Ansys Simulations for Thermal Analysis of a Bifacial Solar Panel
Satyaj Bhargava – A Novel Approach to Brain Vessel Segmentation Using MRI for Alzheimer’s Disease Research
Kyla Covato – Discovering the Effect of Red Blood Cell Lysis Buffer on the ESKAPE Pathogens
Akhil Manikandan – Ansys Simulations for Thermal Analysis of a Bifacial Solar Panel
Arun Mohan – Improving Operations Research Using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Approaches
Nicholas Rose – Algorithms for Characterizing Motion-Based Energy Harvesting Reproducibility
Kishan Sivakumar – Thermal Analysis of Flexible Micro Patch Antenna Excitation in Tumor DetectionÂ
Jorge Andres Vanegas Mendivil – Effect of PPy-PEDOT Nanoparticles on the Viability of Brain Tissue Scaffolds
Division News
