Associate Professor Leigh McCue has been appointed as interim chair for the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
McCue is taking the helm from the founding department chair, Oscar Barton, who started a position as dean of the Clarence M. Mitchell, Junior School of Engineering at Morgan State University in August. “The Department of Mechanical Engineering is young and growing, and Oscar Barton has handed it off in wonderful shape with many opportunities charted,” says McCue.
Their new Naval Ship Design graduate certificate program is one of these opportunities, and the department is also working on an application to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) for a PhD program.
McCue says she is constantly impressed with mechanical engineering faculty and their research, “People are collaborating and innovating in a number of novel ways, from materials to nanoscience, to fluid dynamics, to energy to robotics and autonomous systems, and more within our department, across Volgenau, with other schools at Mason, and with outside investigators,” she says.
Along with her new appointment, McCue is excited about a class she is teaching this semester that is designated as a Mason Impact course. “The designation has me reflecting a lot on the Mason Impact mantra of ‘Mason Impacts Students; Students Impact the World.’ This attitude was so apparent at Mason throughout spring and summer through many COVID-19 related research and outreach efforts made by students, faculty, and staff,” says McCue.