People

Dr. Noemi V. Mendoza Diaz is Assistant Professor in the Technology Management Program (TCMG)-College of Engineering with a courtesy appointment in the School of Education at Texas A&M University. She is an Electronics and Communications Engineer and holds an MS in Telecommunications Engineering. Her PhD is in Educational Administration and Human Resource Development and she completed a 2-year postdoctoral experience with the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University. Her engineering education research areas of expertise are computer education and minorities in engineering with emphasis in the Latinx community. She has been recipient of the Apprentice Faculty Award by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE)-Education Research Methods (ERM) as well as recipient of two NSF awards in the Research in the Formation of Engineers Program. She’s published in journals such as International Journal of Engineering Education, Advances in Engineering Education and Journal of STEM Education among others. She is a member of ASEE and IEEE and attends and publishes in their annual national and international conferences. She is member of the Steering Committee for the Frontiers in Education Conference (ASEE-IEEE) as the IEEE-Computer Society representative and is the Technical Program Chair for the FIE2023 to take place at Texas A&M University.  She also serves as faculty advisor for three student organizations; the TCMG Student Organization, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) and Latinos in Engineering and Science (MAES).

IEEE member since 2018

I’ve been a various forms of professor in the School of Computer Science at the University of Oklahoma for more than thirty years. I am also appointed in Women’s and Gender Studies. I have a B. A. in Physics and Mathematics from Albion College, M.S. in Applied Mathematics and M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science, all from Michigan State University. I came into computing through the back door. I was a mathematics instructor at William Penn College (now University) when I was forced to start teaching beginning programming classes. When I pointed out that I had little knowledge in this area to share with students my boss found a scholarship for me to attend the University of Northern Iowa for a summer and learn some computer science. I repaid his generosity by leaving the college a year later to pursue a doctorate in computer science.

My original research area in computer science was in artificial intelligence, specifically computer vision, although I’ve long since moved on to studying how universities advantage some students over others in the ways that we design and provide computing and engineering education. I’m also trying to figure out how to make engineering and computing more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. While most of my professional life has been lived in academia, I founded a company that made electronic textbooks, called Beyond Paper, Inc. and used it commercialize some of my research from the University of Oklahoma. While the company was ultimately unsuccessful, the experience made me a better software engineering and allowed me more fully to appreciate the joys of being a faculty member.

I’ve won many awards for teaching, research, and service, mostly at the University of Oklahoma. The awards from the last decade or so are the: Gallogly College of Engineering Pursuit of Excellence Faculty Award, Ronald J. Schmitz Award for Outstanding Service to the Frontiers in Education Conference, President’s Associates Presidential Professorship, William Elgin Wickenden Award from the American Society for Engineering Education, and the Board of Regents Superior Teaching Award.

I love to teach the beginning programming classes, have taught nothing else for many years, and intend to teach nothing else in the future. Seeing a student who has never programmed before learn to be proficient and grow into a software engineer is one of the great joys of my life. Outside of OU are the other great joys of my life: my Mother and sister. I spend a couple of hours a day walking my dogs, running, bicycling, or doing yoga, Zumba, and/or Pilates. I also like to make quilts, knit, crochet and cook.

Dr. Meier is a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). He received B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Engineering from Iowa State University. His computer engineering specialty is Computer Architecture. Dr. Meier is a member of IEEE, IEEE-HKN, and the IEEE Computer, Education, and Professional Communications societies. He joined IEEE as a student and has a 30-year history of membership and service.

Dr. Meier grew up on a large farm on a Sioux Indian reservation in Nebraska. Agricultural machines fascinated him. He loved examining and fixing tractor engines, augers, combines, automatic livestock feeders, and other equipment. He also like solving agriculture problems using tools and determination. While he was in high school, the personal computer era dawned and fantastic new machines running software changed his world. These machines had parts hidden inside ceramic chips and magically used electricity to do cool things! The Apple II and TI-99/4a were simple compared to modern computers, but they became his platforms to explore automation and control using the BASIC and Pascal programming languages. He quickly discovered his passion for computing and enjoyed helping his classmates learn about how computer hardware and software work. By the end of high school, it was clear that a professional career in engineering and engineering education was his future. Dr. Meier enrolled as a first-generation college student and had an amazing freshman year because he got to learn Fortran – a language he stills writes programs in today.

As a professor at MSOE, he mentors future engineers in the areas of digital logic, computer architecture, digital electronics, and computer networking. He has a 30-year history of teaching excellence at the undergraduate and graduate levels. His teaching skills have been recognized with an Iowa State University Teaching Excellence Award, the Iowa State University Warren B. Boast Award for Undergraduate Teaching Excellence, and the MSOE Oscar Werwath Distinguished Teacher Award. The IEEE elevated him to Fellow for contributions to global online engineering education. And the International Society for Engineering Education awarded him the title International Engineering Educator Honoris Causa for outstanding contributions in the field of engineering education.

His engineering education research interests are in computational thinking, first-year experience, emotions and their impact on student success, and enculturation to the engineering profession. His technical research interests are in computer architecture, embedded systems, and evolvable hardware.