First-Year Faculty

Thirteen professors specialize in teaching first-year engineering courses to help new students meet the challenges of the first year.


Richard Whalen
Director & Teaching Professor,  First Year Engineering Program

Engineering Education, Evidence-Based Teaching, Pedagogy, Assessment, Thermo-fluids Engineering, Microscale Heat Transfer, Numerical Modeling of Laser Welding of Plastics, Thermal Effects in Nonlinear Optical Material


Photo of Schulte-Grahame
Kathryn Schulte Grahame
Teaching Professor and Associate Director,  First Year Engineering Program
Affiliated Faculty,  Civil and Environmental Engineering

Service-learning in engineering, first year engineering success, sustainable urban design; alternative energy sources; green roof technology; soil-liquid infiltration physics


Nicole Batrouny
Nicole Batrouny
Assistant Teaching Professor,  First Year Engineering Program

Engineering education; decision making; engineering design process, especially novice engineers; social implications of and within engineering


Kaylla Cantilina
Kaylla Cantilina
Assistant Teaching Professor,  First Year Engineering Program


Duncan Davis
Associate Teaching Professor,  First Year Engineering Program


Susan Freeman
Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education,  Office of the Dean
Teaching Professor,  First Year Engineering Program


Andrew Gillen
Andrew Gillen
Assistant Teaching Professor,  First Year Engineering Program
Affiliated Faculty,  Civil and Environmental Engineering


Joshua Hertz
Joshua Hertz
Teaching Professor,  First Year Engineering Program


Angelina Jay
Angelina Jay
Assistant Teaching Professor,  First Year Engineering Program
Affiliated Faculty,  Civil and Environmental Engineering


Leila Keyvani Someh
Associate Teaching Professor, Oakland,  First Year Engineering Program
Affiliated Faculty,  Civil & Environmental Engineering

Resilience Engineering, Engineering Education, Evidence-Based Teaching, Pedagogy, Progressive Collapse


Bala Maheswaran
COE Distinguished Professor,  Electrical and Computer Engineering and First Year Engineering Program

Current Research: Experiential Engineering Education via Innovation and Invention. Focus on the Technical Design, Energy System, and Medical Engineering (MedEng) Design Innovations via Prototyping and Proof of Concept. Past Research: High-Temperature Superconductors, Two-Dimensional Electron Gas, and Engineering Physics Education.


Constantine Mukasa
Associate Teaching Professor,  First Year Engineering Program


Yafeng Wang
Yafeng Wang
Assistant Teaching Professor,  Philosophy and Religion & First Year Engineering Program
Assistant Teaching Professor,  First Year Engineering Program


Adetoun Yeaman
Adetoun Yeaman
Assistant Teaching Professor,  First Year Engineering Program

Empathy in engineering, design education, character education, community engagement and multimedia learning


Brian O'Connell
Associate Teaching Professor,  First Year Engineering Program


Matthew Burns
Matthew Burns
Academic Operations Manager,  First Year Engineering Program


Nicholas Cunningham
Nicholas Cunningham
Operation & Technology Manager,  First Year Engineering Program