Council of Engineering Management Academic Leaders (CEMAL)

A Note from CEMAL President

Thank you for being a member of the Council of Engineering Management Academic Leaders and your contributions to engineering management education! Please join me in congratulating and thanking Heather Smith for her election to be Secretary of CEMAL for the 2023-24 year. I also thank Ed Pohl for his service as President (and now Immediate Past-President) and Jena Asgarpool as Past-President.

As CEMAL President for 2023-24, I would like CEMAL to develop a strategic plan to help guide us as we move forward. I’m sure you have ideas and energy to contribute, so I look forward to working with you. Jena continues to lead efforts to reclassify EM back into the 14 CIP series (engineering), which is one of our current strategic goals.

We have two in person/hybrid CEMAL meetings planned for this year. First will be at the ASEE Conference & Expo in Portland in June and the second will be at the ASEM International Annual Conference in Virginia Beach in November. I intend to schedule Zoom meetings in between. CEMAL is affiliated with, but separate from, ASEE and ASEM. Stay tuned!

As 2023 draws to a close and 2024 quickly approaches, I would like to extend my best wishes as for a successful end to the fall term, a relaxing holiday break, and a safe and prosperous new year!

If you know of other EM academic leaders, please ask them to:

Write to cemal-join@lists.unl.edu and submit a request to join the listserv.
They will receive a confirmation email. They should reply to it and confirm their request to be added.

Best,

--Dave

Upcoming CEMAL Meetings

June 2024, ASEE Conference and Expo
Portland, Oregon
November 2024, ASEM International Annual Conference
Virginia Beach, VA

Dave Wyrick, PhD

President

david.wyrickatmail.wvu.edu

University of West Virginia

Heather Smith

CEMAL Secretary

hdsmith2atwisc.edu

University of Wisconsin - Madison

Ed Pohl, PhD

Past President

epohlatuarkdotedu

University of Arkansas

Current CEMAL Initiatives & Projects

1. Development and distribution of an academic and industry surveys to:

A. Determine the status of EM curricular content, relative to EMBOK

B. Capture and summarize data to help EM programs (Grad & UG) to gauge where they are relative to other programs – with respect to curriculum and other issues

C. Capture and summarize data to help EM programs to gauge where they are relative to what industry identifies as critical to know from EMBOK

2. Building a “community” of EM academic leaders:

A. Promote and create a professional network for EM academic leaders

B. Enable EM academic leaders to interact, collaborate, stay in touch, share information, and engage with each other about our programs, students, trends, best practices, challenges, and more.

C. Facilitate communication via this Listserv: cemal-join@lists.unl.edu.

If you are an engineering management academic leader (e.g., program director or department chair) and wish to join CEMAL listserv email cemal-join@lists.unl.edu

Expect to receive a confirmation email to which you must reply.

3. CEMAL-sponsored Panel at the 2021 ASEM International Annual Conference

A. Title: The Future of Engineering Management Profession & Discipline: Perspectives of Engineering Manager of the Year Award Recipients

B. Description: The role of engineering managers (EM) and issues and challenges they face are getting more and more complex. Today’s EM must respond to challenges that even a decade ago did not exist. From technology that grows and changes at the speed of light, to issues and ethics surrounding capture, process, and use of Big Data, to the Internet of Things and Industry 4.0, today’s engineering managers must stay abreast of these and other developments on a continual basis. Coupled with social and environmental concerns and events such as balancing the triple bottom lines of sustainability to epic events like the COVID-19 pandemic that has engulfed the entire world and stifled global economy, today’s engineering manager must understand the impact of such issues, formulate and execute timely responses in thoughtful and responsible manner, and develop plans for minimizing and mitigating risk of similar occurrences in the future. A panel of distinguished engineering managers who have been recognized for their career accomplishments by ASEM’s EM of the Year Award will discuss challenges facing today’s engineering management profession and will paint a picture of how EM as a discipline of study must respond to prepare our graduates for these new times and new challenges.

C. Panelists: 2015 – 2020 Engineering Manager of the Year Award Recipients.