Faculty

Our dedicated team of professors is here to support you in your technical, design, and professional learning. In addition to teaching courses, professors also advise students on their pathway to graduation. They represent a wide variety of engineering disciplines and experiences.

Dr. Ron Ulseth; DIrector

Ron Ulseth, Ph.D, P.E. is the founder of Iron Range Engineering. He teaches thermodynamics, fluid mechanics and heat transfer for Iron Range Engineering. Ulseth has been teaching engineering since 1989. He has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of North Dakota, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Central, and a Ph.D. in Project Based Learning from Aalborg University.​
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 218-259-9782

Christine Kennedy; Director of Student Success

Christine Kennedy is the Director of Student Success and is part of the first set of students who pioneered and graduated from the IRE program. She graduated high school from Laporte, MN and went on to her A.S. in Engineering from Itasca Community College before attending IRE where she received her B.S. in Engineering. Since then, she worked 5 years in heavy industry where she managed multi-million dollar projects as well as designed structures and mechanical systems, and supervised an operations crew. Christine graduated with her M. S. in Engineering Management in May 2018, with her thesis being in the realm of Industrial Psychology. For fun, she likes to sing and play guitar (though not in public), exercise, spend time outdoors, and be with her family and friends. 
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 218-766-9536

Dr. Elizabeth PlusKwik; ​ASSOCIATE Professor

Dr. Elizabeth Pluskwik leads the Engineering Economics, Entrepreneurial, and Lean competencies at Iron Range Engineering and Twin Cities Engineering,  two project-based engineering education programs of Minnesota State University, Mankato. She also facilitates Statistics, Leadership, Teamwork, Communication, and Professionalism learning with the engineering students.  Before joining IRE in 2012, Elizabeth was a faculty member in the College of Business at St. Ambrose University, Davenport, Iowa. Her industry experience includes five years as Controller with MSI Mold Builders in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and four years as an Auditor/Tax Accountant for McGladrey & Pullen, CPAs, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  Her Ph.D. in Organization and Management is from Capella University in Minneapolis, MN, and her research interests include Lean and Six Sigma, Project Based Learning, managing change, and the integration of engineering and business to best prepare engineers for successful careers.  Having been raised in Virginia, MN, Elizabeth enjoys kayaking, hiking, and photographing the natural beauty of northern Minnesota’s wilderness with her family and friends. 
Email: [email protected]

Dr. Yuezhou Wang; ​ASSOCIATE Professor

Dr. Yuezhou Wang is a Mechanical Engineering faculty in Iron Range Engineering. He joined MNSU in August 2017. His leading competencies are in areas of materials science, structural analysis, finite element modeling and dynamic systems. His research focuses on multiscale modeling on mechanical behavior of nano and granular materials. He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Shanghai Jiaotong University, China and Ph.D in Materials Science from University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
Email: [email protected]

Dr. Emilie A. Siverling; ​ASSOCIATE Professor

Dr. Emilie Siverling is an Assistant Professor of Integrated Engineering at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and she is also a Professor at Iron Range Engineering . She facilitates core technical competencies of materials science, statistics, and mechanics of materials. Emilie recently completed a Ph.D. in Engineering Education and an M.S.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction - Science Education at Purdue University. During her graduate studies, she focused on K-12 engineering design-based STEM integration, primarily using engineering design to support secondary science curricula and instruction. Prior to her graduate studies, Emilie was a high school chemistry and physics teacher at Todd County High School on the Rosebud Reservation from 2009-2013. She maintains a South Dakota Teaching Certificate for secondary chemistry, physics, and mathematics. Before teaching, she received a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2009. During her undergraduate studies, she completed an eight-month internship in 2008 as a co-op engineer in the Department of Biomaterials at Biomet, Inc. In her free time, Emilie enjoys yoga, hiking, reading, and spending time with family and friends.

Dr. Darcie Christensen; ​ASSISTANT Professor

I, Darcie Christensen, PhD, am a faculty member at IRE. I grew up in Tremonton, UT graduated with all three of my degrees from Utah State University in Logan, UT (better known as the motherland). I received a B.S. in Biological Engineering in 2017, a M.Eng. in Environmental Engineering in 2019, and a Ph.D. in Engineering Education in 2021. I am adamant that all people should take a water treatment class so you know how you get tap water and where it goes after it goes down the drain. After being in school for so many years, I became very passionate about effective learning and student success, especially in those efforts that happen outside of the traditional classroom environment such as mentoring and advising. There's so many other parts that are critical to education, yet the traditional perception of education is lecturing. During my dissertation research under a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, I focused specifically on students' peer mentoring needs, providing a foundation for the development of peer mentoring initiatives within a college of engineering. I am excited to be able to integrate my excitement for teaching, learning, and student success with my enthusiasm for the nitty-gritty technical understanding of engineering (I love knowing how things work). 

Outside of my formal studies, I was involved in many extracurricular activities such as Tau Beta Pi, Society of Women Engineers, Engineering Council, and Engineering Ambassadors, which were some of my favorite and most valuable experiences in my education both in gaining experience and building relationships. They were also the activities that helped me most in learning to manage time and succeed academically. I also spent a lot of time yelling and cheering at Aggie sporting events. My favorite season of the year is winter because there is nothing better than skiing Utah powder. I enjoy hiking, baking, celebrating food holidays, taking pictures, planning and going on trips, visiting National Parks, laughing, watching March Madness and HGTV, playing tennis and pickleball, and spending time with family and friends.
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Dr. Jennifer Karlin; Professor

Dr. Jennifer Karlin received her undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis and her PhD in industrial and operations engineering from the University of Michigan, specializing in engineering management. Her dissertation defined lean logistics. As far as her committee could determine, she was the first person in the industrial and operational engineering department to successfully defend a solely qualitative methodology dissertation. While a graduate student at the University of Michigan, she taught a senior elective and worked for the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. Jen spent the first half of her faculty career at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, where she was a professor of industrial engineering held the Pietz Professorship for entrepreneurship and economic development. She taught courses in engineering management, quality, strategy, and operational excellence (e.g. lean and six sigma) in both the industrial engineering and engineering management undergraduate and graduate programs. She served a five year term as the Coordinator of Faculty Development for the university.
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Jen is happy to have joined the progressive, innovative team in the department of integrated engineering where she learns alongside her colleagues, whether they be students, faculty, or staff. In her research, Jen studies colleges and universities as organizations and how adjustments in organizational infrastructure can create positive change. She considers infrastructure artifacts at all levels, including learning spaces, policies and procedures, governance, and interactions across the ecosystem. Jen’s work is rooted in the core areas of economic development, organizational excellence, and holistic learner development. Within organizational excellence, she specializes in transformational processes, such as lean thinking, six sigma, and effective change management (both strategic change and process improvement). She has also combined these areas to develop systems for change in, and evaluate organizational health of, universities as organizations. These systems include organizational learning, organizational culture and climate, faculty development, and other precursors for student and faculty success. This combination resulted in a National Science Foundation CAREER award. Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the United States Air Force (through a congressional earmark), and the Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA).

Dr. Justine Chasmar; Adjunct professor

​Justine is a professor for Iron Range Engineering through Minnesota State University, Mankato. She teaches self-directed learning classes for the professionalism curriculum, one of the three pillars of IRE. Dr. Chasmar earned a Ph.D. in Engineering and Science Education and M.S. and B.S. in Mathematical Sciences from Clemson University. She is a STEM educator, practitioner, and scholar. 
 
Dr. Chasmar spent the last decade serving in and directing learning centers. Most recently, Dr. Chasmar served as an Assistant Professor of mathematics and the founding Director of the Quantitative Reasoning Center at Goucher College, supporting student numeracy and STEM programs across campus. Prior to that, she coordinated large student support programs in learning centers at Clemson University and the Georgia Institute of Technology.
 
Dr. Chasmar’s research focuses on student motivation, self-directed learning, numeracy education, and professional identity development. Through her background in learning centers, she has applied this research to undergraduate students and peer learning programs.
 
Her position with the Bell Program provides Dr. Chasmar the opportunity to enjoy teaching and student interaction while also raising a toddler. She enjoys spending time with her husband, friends, and family, researching childhood development, sipping a good cup of coffee, reading for pleasure, traveling, and snuggling her three cats.

DR.  lauren singelmann; ASSISTANT professor

Lauren received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Biomedical Engineering, an M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering and STEM Education at North Dakota State University. Her research focus is in learning analytics, an emerging field that uses machine learning and data mining techniques to better understand student learning. She is especially interested in how we can use learning analytics to support student creativity and innovation. She was originally drawn to engineering because she wanted to help people, and her main goal as a teacher and researcher is to help students create value for both themselves and the world around them. In her free time, she likes hiking, backpacking, traveling, and reading.

Dr. Catherine spence; ​ASSOCIATE Professor

Why IRE?
I have devoted much of my energy to improving engineering education. In learning about what Iron Range Engineering has done to innovate how we educate the next generation of engineers, and what Bell is doing to continue to make systematic and widespread change, I decided I needed to be a part of that innovation. I left the warmer climates of South Carolina to move to the Iron Range of Minnesota, and have loved the community in this region and in IRE.
 
Experience
I have my BS in Electrical Engineering and PhD in Engineering and Science Education in Clemson University. I completed a masters equivalency in Electrical Engineering as part of my PhD program. I have experience with autonomous vehicles and robotics through an internship with the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Panama City and through research projects designing engineering outreach tools at Clemson University. I dove in to communication systems in my master’s coursework connected to my experiences as a licensed amateur radio operator. I have shared my knowledge and experience in Electrical Engineering and Engineering Education through teaching at innovative programs at Colorado State University and Iron Range Engineering.  
Research
My research has focused on engineering education, particularly around career goals and motivations. I find my research has many direct and practical applications to the Bell's science-based framework. I have looked at open-ended problem-solving strategies and metacognition, or thinking about thinking—an important aspect of engineering and IRE. I am continuing my work in career goals and motivations to include a focus of well-being and mental health in engineering education.
 
Hobbies
I love to spend time recharging in nature with my husband and our adventure pup. We go hiking, backpacking, kayaking, rock climbing, and some attempts on my part at mountain biking. The Iron Range of Minnesota has been a great place for all of these, and a chance for me to gain more comfort with winter activities of skiing/snowboarding. 

Dr. ERIC JAMES; ​Adjunct Faculty

L. Eric James is an employee of The Minnesota Polytechnic and Applied Learning Institute (MinnPoly) which offers students the opportunity to learn-by doing. It is the first and only polytechnic institute in Minnesota​, a program within Minnesota State University, Mankato. A former Manager with Huron Consulting’s Higher Ed Research Division, and Associate Vice President for Research for the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, Dr. James is a researcher in the field of research administration, economic development, and has strong ties to the engineering education research community. He has been assisting faculty in research design for over 10 years. While at IRE he has assisted in the launching of 7 student-based companies.

Dr. Bob Nelson; ​Adjunct Professor

Robert M. Nelson (M'84–SM'94) received the B.A. degree in mathematics from Northland College, Ashland, WI, in 1977, the M.S.E.E. degree from Washington State University, Pullman, in 1981, and the Ph.D. degree from North Dakota State University (NDSU), Fargo, in 1987.,He is currently a Professor of electrical and computer engineering at NDSU, where he has been a faculty member since 1989. While developing this paper, he was employed part-time by Jacobs Technology, Inc., Eglin AFB, FL. Previously, he has been a member of technical staff at Bell Telephone Laboratories, has served as a faculty member in the Electrical Engineering Department at the University of Idaho, and has consulted with the Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering, Fargo, ND; Sverdrup Technology, Eglin Air Force Base; Boston Scientific, Maple Grove, MN; Otter Tail Power Company, Fergus Falls, MN; and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, New London, CT. He has been working (teaching and research) in the area of applied electromagnetics, including antennas, transmission lines, microwave engineering and electromagnetic interference/compatibility (EMI/EMC) since 1981. He has recently been working on RFID problems—with emphasis on investigating RFID systems using antenna theory and design.,Dr. Nelson is very active in the IEEE EMC Society, currently serving as Chair of the IEEE EMC Education and Student Activities Committee. He has also been active in the IEEE at the regional level, serving in the capacities of Secretary, Vice-Chair and Chair of the IEEE Red River Valley Section. Bob teaches AC Circuits, Electricity and Magnetism, and other Advanced Electrical Competencies at Iron Range Engineering.

Kurt Nelson; ​Adjunct Faculty

Experienced Mechanical Engineer with a demonstrated history of working in the mechanical or industrial engineering industry. Skilled in Geology, Environmental Compliance, Remediation, Sustainability, and Hazardous Waste Management. Strong engineering professional in training with a Bachelor of Science focused in Mechanical Engineering from Minnesota State University, Mankato, Iron Range Engineering, Virginia, MN. ​Kurt teaches Solidworks to Iron Range Engineering students. 

DR. Jack Elliott; ​Assistant Professor

Jack Elliott is currently an Assistant Professor of Integrated Engineering at Iron Range Engineering in Minnesota. Originally from Pocatello, Idaho Jack spent two years studying mechanical engineering at Montana State University. After these two years, he took a break from school to serve for four years in the U.S. Army Infantry. With a newfound determination, Jack completed his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Utah State University with the original intent to work on the aerodynamics of fixed-wing aircraft. However, Jack’s experiences as a teaching assistant during this time redirected his focus to combine his interest in aerodynamics and teaching through a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, focusing on experimental fluid dynamics, and a Ph.D. in Engineering Education, focusing on quantitative and qualitative analysis of student-to-student interactions. Jack defended his dissertation in Dec. 2023 and will receive his Ph.D. in May 2024. Now, Jack’s research interests include developing accessible forms of state-of-the-art engineering tools such as Particle Image Velocimetry and influencing positive and persistent student interactions on an institutional scale.
In his free time, Jack enjoys the outdoors surrounding his home in Logan, UT with his wife and two dogs. These activities primarily include mountain biking in the summer, backcountry skiing in the winter, and woodworking between seasons. New to Northern Minnesota, Jack is now excited to be a part of the passionate team at IRE and experience what the area has to offer! 

DR. Ellen Thompson; Assistant professor

Dr. Ellen Thompson is an Assistant Professor of Integrated Engineering at Iron Range Engineering. She joined the IRE team in 2024 after completing a PhD in Environmental Engineering at the University of Michigan. Her background is in environmental engineering and geosciences, and her research is at the intersection of those two fields, studying fundamental geochemical processes for sustainable energy applications. Outside of the classroom, Ellen enjoys hiking, cross-country skiing, and cooking.