Title:

A model for inclusive excellence within the School of Mechanical Engineering

Speaker:

Dr. Jonathan Gaines

Affiliation:

Atlanta University Center Consortium, Inc. (AUCC)

When:

Wednesday, June 28, 2023 at 11:00:00 AM   Add to Calendar

Where:

MRDC Building, Room 4211

Host:

Lula Baker
lula.baker@me.gatech.edu
4046701591

Abstract

A model for inclusive excellence within the School of Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Jonathan E. Gaines is the Assistant Director of Engineering Education Innovation for the Atlanta University Center Consortium, Inc. where he leads collaborative initiatives between Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Spelman College. In this role he created the Institute for Dual Degree Engineering Advancement to increase innovation, diversity, engagement, and achievement in engineering using asset-based approaches. IDEA has led to multiple initiatives created to strengthen inclusive excellence for Dual Degree Engineering Program at the AUCC. These include workshops, engagement tools and initiatives, and professional development opportunities for alumni, students, faculty, and staff. In this role, Dr. Gaines also advises senior leadership at all three AUCC member institutions on best practices in engineering education and has provided a comprehensive vision for growth of the role engineering can play in collaborative and inclusive excellence both within the AUCC and amongst nine partner engineering institutions in AUCC DDEP.

Biography

Previously, Dr. Gaines served as an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of South Florida. There he was the inaugural Director of First Year Experiential Education and Learning, creating the first-year engineering design curriculum which is shared between the institutions seven departments and currently taught to over 1,500 students annually. For two years he also served as chairman for the Academy of Distinguished Engineering Educators at USF, an elite group of scholars tasked to promote engineering education innovation for 160+ engineering and computing faculty in the university. His expertise is in the areas of data acquisition, mechatronics, and engineering education research with emphasis on engineering identity and service-learning. At USF he leveraged these skills to create and develop leadership opportunities and outreach initiatives for underrepresented engineering students. Through funding procured from the National Science Foundation, his most prominent initiative researched engineering identity development of undergraduate students and middle school youth using engineering summer camps facilitated in a family environment. He is also an accomplished instructor, having taught over 5,000 students over the span of a 10-year career. Before coming to USF, Dr. Gaines earned his doctorate degree in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech in 2011 and graduated from Morehouse College and Georgia Tech through AUCC DDEP in 2005 with degrees in applied physics and mechanical engineering. At Virginia Tech, he designed sensor systems for unmanned aerial and ground robots. Currently, he uses this expertise to develop robotics systems and data acquisition platforms for educational purposes. He lives by the quote by Morehouse College visionary Benjamin Elijah Mays who once said, every man and woman is born into the world to do something unique and something distinctive and if he or she does not do it, it will never be done. As such, he strives to lead and inspire others to realize their potential to promote necessary and impactful change within the field of engineering.