Master of Science in Engineering for Sustainability and Health Faculty

Master of Science in Engineering for Sustainability and Health

Faculty

Faculty committed to working towards a more sustainable and just future.

All of the MESH instructors bring their unique combination of academic and industry experience together to embody our mission of transdisciplinary education. Our faculty’s work bridges the gaps between engineering, sustainability and health in order to further the causes of social and ecological justice, global health politics and the empowerment of marginalized and indigenous communities.

As a student, you can look forward to instruction, mentoring and project-based work that will challenge your existing knowledge frameworks in order to enable new, more effective and just means of solving global health and ecological problems. 

Dr. Caroline Baillie Academic Director MESH, Professor Engineering and Social Justice Read More

Dr. Caroline Baillie

Academic Director MESH, Professor Engineering and Social Justice

Degree Program

  • Master of Science in Engineering for Sustainability and Health

Dr. Caroline Baillie is Professor within the School of Integrated Engineering at the University of San Diego and Academic Director of MESH.

Baillie’s main area of expertise is engineering as it relates to social and environmental justice. In order to practice what she preaches, Baillie co-founded the not-for-profit Waste for Life organization (wasteforlife.org) in 2006, to “socialize” her materials engineering knowledge in support of vulnerable communities wishing to develop upcycled waste-based businesses. She also co-founded ESJP – the “Engineering, Social Justice and Peace” network (ESJP.org) in 2004. Baillie’s research considers socio-technical processes and systems, which enhance social and environmental justice, and the educational systems that promote them. She brings lessons learnt from these studies and practices into the classroom of all ages, to facilitate the transformation to a more equitable and just future. Baillie co-founded and is the Director of Strategy for the Engineering Exchange for Social Justice at USD (ExSJ) based on her previous work with European “science shops” and other equitable knowledge exchanges.

Dr. Baillie brings 30 years of academic and professional experience to MESH. Previously she was Chair of Engineering Education for the Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics at University of Western Australia; Chair of Engineering Education at Queens University, Canada; Educational Developer and Materials Lecturer at Imperial College, UK and the University of Sydney; and held a three-year position as the founder and director of the Materials Engineering Subject Centre in the UK.

Professor Baillie has published 27 scholarly books, an edited series of books on “Engineers, Technology and Society” and over 200 peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, and conference papers.

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Dr. Paul I. Kadetz Professor of Practice, Co-Director of MESH Read More

Dr. Paul I. Kadetz

Professor of Practice, Co-Director of MESH

Degree Program

  • Master of Science in Engineering for Sustainability and Health

Dr. Kadetz is a Professor of Practice in the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering at USD and serves as the co-director of MESH. He is also a Senior Lecturer in the Institute for Global Health and Development at Queen Margaret University in Scotland and an Honorary Fellow of the Centre for China Health at University College London.

Paul completed his doctorate in International Development at The University of Oxford and works across the areas of Global and International Health, Medical Anthropology, and Sustainable Development. He has designed and directed global and public health undergraduate and graduate programs in The Netherlands, China, Rwanda, the UK, and the US, and clinically is a registered nurse, an adult nurse practitioner, and an acupuncturist. His research and scholarship have concerned antimicrobial resistance; post-disaster recovery and resilience; the impact of foreign aid on local healthcare; the impact of global health policies on local health; the anthropology of safety; and healthcare challenges in China, The Philippines, Guatemala, and Madagascar.

Paul’s research has been published in over 100 journals, book chapters, and conference abstracts. His co-edited and co-authored volume, Creating Katrina, Rebuilding Resilience: Lessons from New Orleans on Vulnerability and Resiliency, was recently published by Elsevier, as was his co-edited Handbook of Welfare in China (Elgar). His forthcoming Encyclopedia of Health Humanities, for which he serves as joint Editor-in-Chief, is being published by Springer in 2022.

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Dr. Julia Cantzler Associate Professor Environmental Sociology Read More

Dr. Julia Cantzler

Associate Professor Environmental Sociology

Degree Program

  • Master of Science in Engineering for Sustainability and Health

Dr. Julia Cantzler is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of San Diego. She teaches in the areas of Environmental Sociology and Law and Society. Her research examines the intersections of race, culture, and politics, focusing on social movements, law, environmental justice, youth climate advocacy and the rights of Indigenous peoples. She is the author of Environmental Justice as Decolonization: Political Contention, Innovation and Resistance over Indigenous Fishing Rights in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States

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Dr. Venkat Shastri Professor and Electrical Engineer Read More

Dr. Venkat Shastri

Professor and Electrical Engineer

Degree Program

  • Master of Science in Engineering for Sustainability and Health

Venkat Shastri is currently Associate Dean of Graduate Programs, the De Sanctis Professor of Engineering and Entrepreneurship and the Director of Industry Partnerships at the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering at the University of San Diego. He also serves as the Chairman of Darroch Medical, and as Director of ALZPath and Primo Wind.

Prior to joining USD in 2016, he served as Chief Industry Advisor of PCN Technology, Inc., a position he assumed in December 2013 to strengthen the company’s strategic positioning in the market. In the preceding eight years, as President and CEO, he grew PCN into a market leader in communication, industrial networking and energy management solutions. Between 2002 and 2004, Venkat was VP of Engineering at Palomar Technologies, a packaging equipment and process solutions company serving the semiconductor, telecom and medical industry. He led the engineering team at Palomar and was responsible for all product releases and product roadmaps. Before this, he was Senior Director of Engineering and Product Development at KLA-Tencor, where he managed its automation products and solutions and was a key customer interface to Intel. From 1988–2000, at JPL and then at SRI International, Venkat conducted research in robotic manipulation, legged locomotion, adaptive control and nonlinear systems. At JPL, he worked in the Space Telerobotics, Mars Pathfinder and Sample Return programs.

Venkat received his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Massachusetts in 1988. He is the author of a book entitled, “Dexterous Robot Hands,’‘ (Springer-Verlag, 1990), and has published over 30 scientific articles in journals, magazines and conferences. He was Research Scientist at Yale University (1994–1996) and Consulting Professor at Stanford (1998–2000).

Venkat has served on the Editorial Boards of IEEE Computer Society and IEEE Control Society, and led the publication of two special issues in the IEEE Robotics and Automation Transactions and International Journal of Robotics Research. He holds patents in controls, robotics, Bio-MEMS and electro-active polymers, and has served as Principal Investigator on large multicenter research grants and contracts.

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Dr. Odesma Dalrymple Associate Professor and Director of the Engineering Exchange for Social Justice Read More

Dr. Odesma Dalrymple

Associate Professor and Director of the Engineering Exchange for Social Justice

Degree Program

  • Master of Science in Engineering for Sustainability and Health

Dr. Odesma Dalrymple is an Associate Professor in Industrial Engineering and Faculty Lead for the Engineering Exchange for Social Justice in the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering at University of San Diego.

Her professional pursuits are focused on transforming engineering education and its public image, making it more inclusive and socially connected. This mission is partially actualized through her research, which explores the wealth of embodied knowledge, skills and practices that under-represented/marginalized communities can bring to bear on engineering practice. These insights are in turn used to inform the development of asset-based engineering learning experiences for middle and high school populations that predominantly comprise students of color from low-socioeconomic neighborhoods, and the creation of guides on how engineers can collaboratively work with communities on grass roots socio-technical challenges.

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