Faculty at Iron Range Engineering are focused on building strong ties to our student body. One of our goals is to respond to students as well as give feedback within 24 hrs. We not only state that we are a student centered organization, but also showcase that we are student centered through our actions. Reach out to us anytime, we love what we do and are open to sharing ideas and helping students succeed in an exciting field.
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Christine Kennedy is the Director of Iron Range Engineering 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.
As the director, Christine manages IRE’s budget, coordinates recruiting and other events around campus, facilitates student project teams, teaches advanced project management techniques, ensures IRE maintains its ABET Accreditation, and works on continuous improvement efforts. 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: christine.kennedy@ire.minnstate.edu Phone: 218-766-9536 |
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: elizabeth.pluskwik@ire.minnstate.edu |
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Ron Ulseth, PhD PE is the director of academics and research of Iron Range Engineering. He teaches thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, statics, dynamics and physics in IREs upper and lower division programs. 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: ron.ulseth@ire.minnstate.edu Phone: 218-259-9782 |
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Andy Lillesve is an EIT who joined Iron Range Engineering as a Project Facilitator in January 2011. In addition to facilitation roles, Andy has ownership over the material science and heat transfer technical competencies as well as the design course. In Summer 2016, along with Ron Ulseth, Andy began IRE preparations for ABET reaccreditation. His engineering education began at Itasca Community College later transferring to Michigan Technological University. There he graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 2009. From there, he received a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Michigan Technological University with summa cum laude honors.
Email: andy.lillesve@ire.minnstate.edu Phone: 218-742-9168 |
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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: yuezhou.wang@ire.minnstate.edu |