Dayton Engineer

The University of Dayton School of Engineering Vision Awards recognize the innovation, creativity, entrepreneurial thinking and outstanding performance of our faculty and staff for their work as it relates to our School's values of community, innovation, excellence, and engagement and service. Four Vision Awards are presented annually: Community, Innovation, Scholarship and Engagement and Service.

This year’s Vision Award winners were recognized during the Dean’s Welcome Back Meeting on Aug. 16.

Vision Award for Excellence in Community — Colleen Bretland

Colleen Bretland serves as the director of engineering co-ops and internships, helping our engineering students connect and find work placements. She is integral to building and strengthening the relationships of hundreds of employers across the U.S. who hire our students. Colleen also supports a group of staff members who mentor and stay connected with students while co-oping, helping them find the unique value of their experiences.

Her leadership is instrumental in the implementation of innovative strategies for student recruitment, development of career-ready skills from experiential learning and improvement of policies for more equitable engagement. Key examples of Colleen’s impact include her leadership of the $4.5 million Broadband-5G Super Rapids Grant, collaborating with UDit to develop a Cognos report to track student engagement in experiential learning, contributions to the restructuring of the SoE seminar curriculum and supporting programming to teach international students strategic ways to understand U.S. culture and find and secure career opportunities.

One nominator noted that “Colleen’s remarkable dedication and innovative spirit have left an indelible mark on our institution.”

Vision Award for Excellence in Engagement and Service — Jessica Hinders

Jessica Hinders serves as the senior administrative assistant for the Office of Student Success and is key in helping the office and advisers run smoothly.

On top of her exceptional support for engineering students and contributions in the Office Student Success, Jessica willingly makes additional contributions and collaborates to advance the community while caring for the individual.

This is evidenced by her servant leadership as the only staff member on the Dean’s Circle, the transformation of the course scheduling and room assignment process, impactful morale building contributions to the SoE events committee, grace when handling challenging situations, service on several search committees, support for student recognition events such as the Senior awards and Order of the Engineer/POET and organization of food drives for the UD Food Pantry.

One nominator said “We tell our students ‘UD is family’. Jessica represents that concept. Without the title of leader, she demonstrates on a daily basis through her engagement with students, faculty, staff and our UD community what it truly means to be a servant leader.”

Vision Award for Excellence in Scholarship — Robert Lowe

Dr. Lowe works in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He is the director of the Behavior of Advanced Materials and Structures (BAMS) Lab. Dr. Lowe’s research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of mechanics, materials, structures and computational modeling.

His research has resulted in broader impacts receiving significant interest from U.S. Congressional representatives. In particular, Dr. Lowe’s scholarship activity includes serving as PI or co-PI for $1.8 million of research sponsored by the National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, Department of the Air Force and the Air Force Research Laboratory. He has 22 peer-reviewed journal publications and conference publications and he authored a book on continuum mechanics.

He has successfully mentored a postdoctoral researcher, doctoral student, 18 master’s students, 4 honors thesis students, 21 undergraduate researchers and one high school student. Several of his mentored students were awarded regional and national fellowships, scholarships and best presentation awards.

One nominator stated that “his scholarly contributions to mechanics and materials research, mentoring and education are addressing unexplored and essentially unknown areas.” 

Vision Award for Excellence in Innovation — Rydge Mulford

Dr. Mulford is a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. His research is focused on solving thermal problems in sustainability and aerospace applications. He is the co-director of the Dayton Thermal Applications Lab (DaTA Lab).

Dr. Mulford is recognized for his excellence in teaching innovations in thermal science through new course development, creating community in the classroom and hands-on learning. Notably, he led the creation of a new heat transfer sequence of graduate courses and advanced experiential learning of thermal fluids. With a teaching philosophy centered on engagement and building community, he has implemented innovative teaching practices such as group quizzes.

In 2022, he was one of the first faculty to be awarded an Experiential Learning Innovation Fund for Faculty Grant and constructed a “fluid demonstration cart” used to perform in-class demonstrations. He participated in a National Science Foundation program and obtained demonstration modules at no cost and used social media to crowdfund $5,000 to construct an outdoor solar demonstration facility for student experimentation in a renewable energy systems course.

One nominator noted that “Dr. Rydge Mulford’s significant early career innovations in teaching make him an outstanding candidate for the School of Engineering Vision Award for Excellence in Innovation.”