PLI Day November 2nd

The College of Engineering will host Professional Learning Institute Day on November 2, 2007. Students are invited to participate in workshops led by education and industry leaders and CSU speakers. The Professional Learning Institute (PLI), a series of interactive workshops led by industry leaders and CSU faculty and staff, recognizes and addresses the need for professional skills, in addition to hands-on technical abilities in the 21st century work environment. The program is essential to creating well-rounded engineering graduates capable of competing in a global workforce.

Several industry and public sector speakers will lead workshops Friday, November 2nd, including two industry execs, one city manager, and one associate provost. Karan Watson, Dean of Faculties and Associate Provost at Texas A&M University will kickoff the day's events.

Featured Speakers Include:

Dr. Karan Watson

Dean of Faculties and Associate Provost at Texas A&M University
Workshop: Morning Kickoff  8:30- 9:15 in the LSC North Ballroom
Karan L. Watson has been Dean of Faculties and Associate Provost since February 1, 2002. She joined the faculty of Texas A&M University in 1983 in the Electrical Engineering Department, where she is currently a Regents Professor. Dr. Watson is a registered professional engineer and has been named a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). She received the US Presidents Award for Mentoring Minorities and Women is Science and Technology, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) mentoring award, the IEEE International Undergraduate Teaching Award, the TAMU Association of Former Students University Award for Student relationships, the TAMU Provosts Award for Diversity, the TAMU Womens Week Award for Administrators, the College of Engineering Crawford Teaching Award, and was named a TAMU Regents Professor. She has chaired the doctoral committees of 32 students and over 60 master degree students. In 2003/4 she served as a Senior Fellow of the National Academy of Engineers Center for the Advancement of Scholarship in Engineering Education, and since 1991 she has served as an accreditation evaluator and commissioner for engineering programs for ABET, both in the US and internationally. Additionally, from November 2005 to September 2006, she served as the Interim Vice President and Associate Provost of Diversity.

Jim Voss
Director of Engineering, Pelco
Workshop: "Managing You"  9:30 a.m.
Jim Voss began at Pelco four years ago. At Pelco Voss spent his first two years as Senior Marketing Manager and the last two as the Director of Engineering. Most notably, two years ago, Voss started the Pelco Northern Colorado office which is now home to approximately 40 engineers developing camera products as a remote satellite office for Pelco headquartered in Clovis California. Voss earned his Bachelors and Masters degrees of Science in Electrical Engineering from Montana State University in 1992 and 1994 respectively. He also holds a MBA from the University of Maryland University College. Previous to his position at Pelco, Voss spent 10 years working for Hewlett Packard in a variety of technical positions including Workstation and Microprocessor Design followed by several positions is strategy and business management.

Darin Atteberry
Fort Collins City Manager
Workshop: Ethics in Engineering  1:30- 2:30 in LSC 220
Darin Atteberry is the City Manager for Fort Collins, Colorado.   He has worked in Fort Collins for more than 11 years, serving as City Manager for the past three and a half years and Assistant City Manager for 8 years. As City Manager, Darin has led the City government through a time of transformational change, moving the organization from a "trust us" model to one that uses a data-driven, performance based approach. Darin is an advocate for community collaboration and has built strong relationships with both public and private sector partners.  Prior to coming to Fort Collins, Darin worked with cities in California, Washington, and Georgia.   He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in City and Regional Planning from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California, a Master's Degree in City Planning and a Master of Science Degree in Civil Engineering, both from Georgia Tech.    

Mike Applegate
Applegate Consulting
Workshop: "Ethics and Community, An Engineers Responsibility"  2:45- 3:45 in LSC 226
Mike Applegate is President and CEO of Applegate Group, Inc. The company specializes in water resources engineering and was founded in 1985. Mr. Applegate is a 1974 graduate of Colorado State University with a B.S in Civil Engineering. He is the past president of the Professional Engineers of Colorado (PEC) (1990-91). He was awarded Engineer of the Year for the State of Colorado in 1993 by PEC. He was named as Outstanding Engineering Alumni by CSU in 1994. He was the recipient of the George Washington Award for Outstanding Community Service by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Colorado in 2006. He was recently reappointed by the 8th District Court to the Board of Directors of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District. This district is the local managing partner of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, a Bureau of Reclamation project that delivers 25% of the water supply for Northeastern Colorado. Mr. Applegate has served on this board since 1991 and has been President and Chairman of the Board since 1998. He is on the organizing committee for the CSU Morgan Library Water Tables of Content Committee and serves on the Industrial Advisory Board for the CSU College of Engineering. He grew up in the Fort Collins area and has two daughters, one attending CSU. His presentation will focus on the stages of ethical development we experience and progress to. The discussion will focus on Kohlberg's Six Stages of Moral Judgment and the practical application in our everyday lives. Ethical values apply to how we do our work and interact with community. Our role as a professional translates into a responsibility to community.

Dr. Brad Brooks

Global Manager of Toxicology and Chemical Management and IBM Distinguished Engineer
Workshop: "Innovation vs Invention"  2:45- 3:45 in the LSC North Ballroom
Dr. Brad Brooks describes himself as a recovering academic, and in fact IBM is his second career. Prior to joining IBM he held a dual appointment in the Department of Preventive Medicine, Cornell University and the NY State Diagnostic Laboratory, Cornell University. As a technical executive, he leads one the three main teams of IBM's Corporate Environmental Affairs - Toxicology and Chemical Management. He also serves on IBM's Academy of Technology, a group chosen from IBM's top scientists and engineers to assist senior management in technology decisions and strategies. Dr. Brooks and his team of scientists have responsibility for a broad range of activities that involve the initial understanding of horizon research and development materials, the chemicals necessary for use in emerging technologies, as well as oversight of those chemicals that are used to manufacture IBM products and maintain/service them once in the field. Because this field is heavily regulated in the 180 countries in which IBM does business, his team has a significant regulatory compliance responsibility as well. Dr. Brooks' team also undertakes extensive research on the chemicals that might be emitted from electronic products in common use today and what materials could be substituted to reduce the chemical footprint of a product. This research has been published in medical textbooks and peer-reviewed scientific publications. The results of this research provided the foundation for an international standard on product chemical emissions (ECMA-328). Post-9/11, Dr. Brooks was also given a significant mission to develop and deploy chemical security measures for IBM's global portfolio of sites and facilities. He holds patents, and has patents pending on several chemical security inventions.



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