Praised for his scholarship and teaching abilities, Jeffrey Glass, professor of electrical and computer engineering and Hogg Family director of Engineering Management and Entrepreneurship, is adjusting his focus to a new position as senior associate dean for education of the Pratt School of Engineering.
Pratt Dean Tom Katsouleas announced the appointment when Glass began work July 1. Glass succeeded Tod Laursen, who had held the position since 2003 and is now serving as the chair of mechanical engineering and materials science.
"Jeffrey Glass has distinguished himself as a teacher and as a scholar," Katsouleas said. "His research makes him one of the most highly cited scholars of the school of engineering for his work on nanofabrication and in the [Institute for Scientific Information] index for that work. He has built up the Master of Engineering Management program... so he's got the experience to really help our master's programs in the other departments to grow and flourish as well."
As senior associate dean for education, Glass said he will oversee the master's programs and undergraduate educational programs, but will focus more of his time developing the former. Glass will work closely with April Brown, senior associate dean for research, and Linda Franzoni, associate dean for student affairs, to optimize engineering education as a whole.
Emphasizing "globalization and innovation," Glass is striving to make engineering a more interdisciplinary field.
"In order to implement engineering solutions, [engineers] have to understand a basic aspect of all levels of business, how to work on teams [and] customer needs," Glass said. "Whereas 20 years ago they would just need to know engineering issues, they now have to provide a complete solution."
Glass said he will work to expand existing programs and develop new ones. The "Four Plus One" program, on which members from the educational programs are working, would allow students to graduate with a bachelor's and a master's degree in five years, Katsouleas said. Glass said he is also hoping to investigate distance learning opportunities, which would give students more flexibility in earning master's degrees by combining online learning with brief residencies at Duke.
The incoming senior associate dean is also involved in revising the engineering curriculum and increasing collaboration between Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and Pratt. To achieve this goal, he helped create the Energy and Environment certificate last Spring and is working to launch the Uncertainty and Optimization certificate next year, Katsouleas said.
Glass's research focuses on the growth and characterization of thin films and development of sensors with a focus on carbon-based materials, including carbon nanotubes, diamond, diamond-like carbon and silicon carbide. He has published more than 130 papers and book chapters, edited six books and is listed as co-inventor on 11 patents.
Having given more than 50 presentations in 12 different countries, Glass served as a member of a Presidential Science Advisor's committee for the assessment of diamond technology in Japan, consulted for venture capital firms and Fortune 500 companies and testified as an expert witness in patent litigation.
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