Haven, CT. She is also an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. She obtained her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech. She received her Bachelors of Engineering from MIT. Her research focuses on the nontraditional engineering student-understanding their motivations, identity development, and impact of prior engineering-related experiences. Her work dwells into learning in informal settings such as summer camps, military experiences, and extra-curricular activities. Other research interests involve validation of CFD models for aerospace and industrial applications, as well as optimizing efficiency of thermal-fluid systems. Dr. Nadiye O. Erdil, University of New Haven Nadiye O. Erdil, an associate professor of industrial and systems engineering and engineering and operations management at the University of New Haven. She has over eleven years of experience in higher education and has held several academic positions including administrative appointments. She has experience in teaching at the undergraduate and the graduate level. In addition to her academic work, Dr. Erdil worked as an engineer in sheet metal manufacturing and pipe fabrication industry for five years. She holds B.S. in Computer Engineering, M.S. in Industrial Engineering. She received her Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Binghamton University (SUNY). Her background and research interests are in quality and productivity improvement using statistical tools, lean methods and use of information technology in operations management. Her work is primarily in manufacturing and healthcare delivery operations.