BUIES CREEK, North Carolina — The Campbell University School of Engineering, which will enroll its first students in August 2016, has named three new founding faculty members:
- Dr. Lynn A. Albers, assistant professor of engineering, who earned her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from North Carolina State University in 2014 and has over 20 years of experience in industry and higher education as a systems application engineer and as a program manager, project coordinator, teaching assistant, and instructor in engineering-related fields.
- Mr. Lee Rynearson, instructor of engineering, who is expected to complete his Ph.D. in engineering education from Purdue University in May 2016, who has co-authored or co-presented on dozens of scholarly work related to undergraduate education, who has served as a research associate at an institution of higher education in Japan, and who received Purdue’s highest teaching award for graduate students.
- Mr. Stephen C. Hasselberg, engineering lab manager, who holds four patents and spent over a decade working as an engineer at the Johnson & Johnson Company and Eastman Kodak Company before becoming a high school physics and chemistry teacher.
“We are absolutely thrilled to be able to attract faculty of this caliber to Campbell University’s new School of Engineering,” said Campbell Engineering Founding Dean Jenna P. Carpenter. “Dr. Albers brings a wealth of innovative STEM education leadership experience from her time at North Carolina State University, in addition to a number of years in industry. Mr. Rynearson will graduate with his Ph.D. in May from Purdue University — arguably the top engineering education Ph.D. program in the nation — where he has received numerous awards. He also has a unique global perspective, having taught engineering in Japan.
“Mr. Hasselberg, whose degrees are from Penn State, spent a number of years in industry, holds four patents, and was an innovative AP Physics instructor at one of the largest private Christian K12 schools in the state.”
Under Carpenter’s leadership, the Campbell Engineering faculty team is planning and revising the curriculum, renovating labs, and designing an innovative, hands-on learning student experience as they prepare to welcome the inaugural engineering class next fall.
When Campbell’s School of Engineering opens, it will be only the second engineering school at a private college or university in North Carolina.
New Faculty Bios
Dr. Lynn A. Albers | Assistant Professor of Engineering
During her 20-plus-year career, Albers has served as a systems application engineer at Nortel Networks and as an instructor and a teaching assistant, project coordinator, and program manager at North Carolina State University’s College of Engineering.
At N.C. State, she served as project coordinator of the ARRA-funded Student Energy Internship Program in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (2010-12); a graduate fellow and a program manager of the NSF GK-12 RAMP-UP program (2005-09; 2009-11); instructor of Fluid Mechanics in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (2007-10); teaching assistant for several courses in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (2004-05); and an intern at the North Carolina Solar Center (2002-03). She has also co-authored or co-presented nearly two-dozen publications and presentations on topics related to hands-on learning, activity-based learning, and the education outreach model in engineering.
She began her engineering career as a project manager and systems application engineer at Nortel Networks (1994-01).
Albers earned her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from N.C. State in 2014. She specialized in engineering education, thermal sciences, energy systems, and K-12 STEM education. She also completed a certificate in computer science at N.C. State in 2003.
She received her undergraduate degree in mathematics, with a minor in music, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1992) and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, with a minor in nuclear engineering, from Manhattan College (1996).
Mr. Lee K. Rynearson | Instructor of Engineering
Rynearson is expected to complete his Ph.D. in engineering education from Purdue University in May 2016. His doctoral dissertation is on “Promoting Teaming Metacognition in a First-Year Engineering Course.”
At Purdue, he was a Future Faculty Fellow and taught two honors First-Year Engineering courses (2014-16). He also served as the lead graduate teaching assistant (2013-14), overseeing a team of 20 undergraduate students and four graduate students. He was awarded Purdue University’s 2015 Graduate Teaching Excellence Award, the university’s highest graduate teaching award. Other awards he has received include the Purdue University Teaching Academy Graduate Teaching Award (2014) and the Purdue University College of Engineering Magoon Award for Excellence in Teaching (2013).
He also has been the co-author or co-presenter of a dozen works of scholarship related to teaching undergraduates, including presentations at the ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition in 2015 and in the Transactions in STEM Education journal.
Before beginning his Ph.D. studies, he worked for over four years as a Project Education Center research associate at the Kanazawa Institute of Technology in Kanazawa, Japan (2008-12). In that position, he provided classroom instruction on engineering design, teaming, estimation, and other topics in English.
His industrial experience includes working as a technical intern at DuPont Engineering Mechanics (2007) and as a technical intern at BAE Systems (2005-06).
He earned dual Bachelor of Science and Master of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering degrees from The Rochester Institute of Technology in 2008.
Mr. Stephen C. Hasselberg | Engineering Lab Manager
Hasselberg has experience both in industry as an engineer and as a high school physics and chemistry teacher.
He most recently taught at Charlotte Christian School (2000-15), one of the largest K-12 private schools in North Carolina. There, he taught physics at all levels, including AP Physics 1, 2, and B. His students had a 94 percent passage rate on the AP exams. He also led the VEX Robotics Competition Team and was a SMART Certified Trainer for teacher professional development.
Before moving to North Carolina, he taught in the Caledonia-Mumford School District in New York (1999-2000).
Prior to becoming a high school teacher, Hasselberg worked in industry as an engineer for over a decade. He was a process engineer in Johnson & Johnson’s Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics division, a quality assurance engineer in the Johnson & Johnson’s Nucleic Acid Diagnostics division, and a biochemical engineer in Eastman Kodak’ BioProducts Division. He holds four patents.
He earned his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and Master of Science in Chemical Engineering degrees from Penn State University. He also completed graduate courses at the University of Rochester and the Rochester Institute of Technology. He earned his teaching license from Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York.