Community Leaders
Mary Besterfield-Sacre
E-mail: mbsacre@pitt.edu
Dr. Mary Besterfield-Sacre is an Associate Professor and Fulton C. Noss Faculty Fellow in Industrial Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the Director for the Engineering Education Research Center (EERC) in the Swanson School of Engineering, and serves as a Center Associate for the Learning Research and Development Center. Her principal research is in engineering assessment, which has been funded by the NSF, Department of Education, Sloan Foundation, Engineering Information Foundation, and NCIIA. Dr. Sacre’s current research focuses on three distinct but highly correlated areas – innovative design, entrepreneurship, and engineering modeling. She has served as an associate editor for the JEE and is currently associate editor for the AEE Journal. Currently, she serves on the NAE Frontiers of Engineering Education Advisory Board.
Jennifer Turns
E-mail: jturns@u.washington.edu
Dr. Jennifer Turns is a professor in Human Centered Design & Engineering in the College of Engineering at the University of Washington and the J. Ray Bowen Professor of Innovation in Engineering Education. Dr. Turns received her B.S. and M.S. in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia and her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech. Dr. Turns’ research focuses on the creation and examination of innovative educational practices in engineering education, with recent emphasis on professional portfolios, professional identity, and lifelong learning. She also focuses on understanding transformation in engineering education, with work on engineering educator decision making and the ways that research informs instructional decisions. Dr. Turns is an associate editor of the Journal of Engineering Education.