Pezeshki to direct new area of industrial engagement

PULLMAN, Wash. – Chuck Pezeshki has been named director of industrial engagement in Washington State University’s Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture. He will maintain his appointment as full professor.

The new position, which reports to the dean, entails assisting and mentoring faculty in the recruitment of industrial partners for education and applied research.

“Industrial engagement is key to the Voiland College’s mission of providing transformational educational experiences for our students and to making us THE undergraduate engineering program of choice in the Pacific Northwest,” said Don Bender, interim dean of the college. “We look forward to Chuck’s leadership in further developing these critically important industry design experiences for our students.”

Pezeshki, a professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, has led the school’s Industrial Design Clinic since the 1990s. With support and funding from industry partners around the region, the program provides project-based, experiential learning for students as they work on real-world projects in their capstone senior design classes.

Funds from the program support clinic operations, engineering student clubs and participation in student competitions.

Pezeshki conducts research in active and problem-based learning, including in global engineering, design of high-performance work environments and understanding relationships between design and organizational social structure in innovation communities. He blogs on these and other issues at http://empathy.guru.

He has received several teaching awards, including WSU’s Sahlin Award for Outstanding Instruction.