ASEE RMS Conference 2024: Keynote Speakers

• 9 a.m. Thursday, May 16
• Koelbel 352

LCDR Alex Dietrich is an F/A-18F strike fighter pilot from the VFA-41 “Black Aces” of Lemoore, California, having logged over 1250 hours and 375 carrier arrested landings serving two combat deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Her last deployment was boots-on-ground as a Provincial Reconstruction Team Engineer in Ghazni, Afghanistan. Her combat honors include Air Combat and Bronze Star medals.

Alex served three years in the Pentagon as an aide-de-camp to the chief of naval personnel, director Navy staff, and the director Navy irregular warfare.

Alex was then an assistant professor of Naval science at GW’s NROTC unit, where she earned the national NDIA Leo Codd award for “Most Outstanding NROTC Instructor” within her first year of teaching. She spent seven years teaching leadership & ethics at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, where she retired from active duty in spring 2021.

She is now a scholar in residence at the University of Colorado Boulder, teaching leadership & ethics in the College of Engineering and Applied Science, where she earned the "Best Should Teach" in 2024.

• 8:30 a.m. Friday, May 17
• Koelbel 352

Kevin Terry’s professional and academic experiences span the fields of aerospace, mechanical, and biomedical engineering. After getting a BS in aerospace engineering at the University of Florida (UF), he became a flight test engineer for the U.S. Air Force at Holloman AFB, New Mexico. He then became an experimental engineer at Pratt & Whitney Government Engines before returning to UF to get his MS in mechanical engineering. Afterwards, he then moved to Colorado to work at Ball Aerospace as a test engineer and integration & test manager before returning to school at the University of Texas at Austin for his PhD in biomedical engineering.

Kevin’s research focus is human balance and mobility, with post-doctoral research appointments at the Kessler Foundation Research Center in New Jersey and the Center for the Intrepid in Texas. His research included the analysis and exploration of walking and standing stability in individuals with multiple sclerosis, recovering from stroke, and walking with prosthetic limbs. He taught at George Mason University in the field of rehabilitation science and at Boise State University in the Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, before moving to the Gunnison Valley to teach at the Rady School of Computer Science and Engineering, where he supports the programs curriculum in thermal-fluid sciences, aerospace, and biomedical engineering.

Kevin's teaching approach provides an open environment that welcomes discovery and inquiry, encourages students to learn fundamental engineering concepts, and emphasizes connecting and applying these concepts to critical problem-solving. These problem-solving skills emphasize developing science-based solutions that also consider social and environmental impacts, so that solutions are both practical and sustainable. Lastly, he encourages and supports the pursuit of the many career paths that require the unique and adaptable knowledge, perspective, and talents provided by an engineering education.