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Here's what instructors are saying about our textbooks. We're passionate about making sure all our titles get raves like these...
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Dr. Alan G. Gomez
 Dr. Alan G. Gomez is a former Engineering Instructor and CTE coordinator for the Sun Prairie Area School District, and is currently a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin in the College of Engineering. He received his B.S. in Technology Education from the University of Wisconsin-Stout in 1995 and his M.S. in Industrial/Technology Education from Stout in 2004. Alan completed his Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2008.
He has taught at several locations including Fort Worth, TX, Minneapolis, MN, and Madison, WI. Alan is a nationally-recognized expert on K-12 Engineering and STEM education, and frequently holds state-wide and national workshops to encourage and inform instructors and administrators about teaching math and science through an engineering education curriculum. Alan was a member of the technology education standards writing team for the state of Wisconsin. He has written a National Foundations of Technology curriculum and a National Introduction to Engineering curriculum for ITEA's Center to Advance the Teaching of Technology & Science. Alan has published materials in professional journals and in the Proceedings for the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). Alan is also a reviewer for the ASEE conference proceedings and the National Science Foundation. He is the principal author of "Engineering Your Future: A Project-Based Introduction to Engineering" and of "Survey of Engineering," textbooks for use at the high school and middle school levels, respectively.
Dr. William C. Oakes
 Dr. William C. Oakes received his B.S.M.E.. ('85) and M.S.M.E.. ('87) from Michigan State University. After receiving his masters, he accepted a position with GE Aircraft Engines where he worked primarily as a mechanical design engineer. He also became involved in campus recruiting and interviewing for GE. He returned to school at Purdue in Mechanical Engineering to earn his Ph.D. (received in '97). After receiving his Ph.D., he remained at Purdue University and is currently an assistant professor in Freshman Engineering where he teaches Introduction to Engineering and Introduction to Computer Tools, and also serves as an academic adviser. Other teaching responsibilities include teaching Fluid Mechanics in the Mechanical Engineering School and serving as an adviser to the Engineering Projects in Community Service teams, which are comprised of freshman through seniors from the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering programs. He's married and has three terrific daughters. In his spare time, he serves as the youth coordinator and Sunday school teacher at Sunrise Christian Reformed Church in Lafayette, IN.
Dr. Les L. Leone
 Dr. Les L. Leone is Director of Cooperative Engineering Education and Director of the Applied Engineering Sciences Program at Michigan State University. For the past 35 years, he has held a variety of administrative positions in the College of Engineering. His current responsibilities include monitoring the activities of over 400 co-op students in nine engineering majors. In recent years his duties have been expanded to include the coordination of the Applied Engineering Sciences Program, an interdisciplinary engineering major with 250 students enrolled.
Dr. Leone's previous experiences also have included the coordination of all engineering international activities for faculty, staff, and students, including the development of several new overseas study programs. He also has developed, and currently teaches, "Engineers and the Engineering Profession," an introductory course designed for freshmen and sophomores. He holds three degrees from Michigan State, with his Ph.D. in Educational Administration. He enjoys photography, tennis, cycling, and travel activities with his family.
Dr. Marybeth Lima
 Marybeth Lima is an Associate Professor in the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department at Louisiana State University. Her current responsibilities include teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in biological engineering and advising graduate and undergraduate students on research and design projects. Lima's research contributions have included the broad areas of biological engineering and engineering education. Specific research projects include the use of ohmic heating to improve drying and extraction processes, and determining optimal milling parameters for new rice varieties. She is a registered professional engineer in the state of Louisiana.
Lima has performed extensive work in engineering education and has pioneered the use of educational techniques such as service-learning in engineering and the integration of communication and teaming skills across the Biological Engineering curriculum. She has worked with the local community, engineering students, and public schools to create and build kid-designed, safe, fun, accessible playgrounds. Lima is passionately committed to improving the community through engineering-community partnerships that bring the principles of engineering alive for children and tangibly use engineering to enhance democratic society.
Lima has been nationally recognized for her service-learning work by the American Society for Engineering Education and The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. She was the recipient of the 2005 Ernest A. Lynton Award for Faculty Professional Service and Academic Outreach. Her rice research and playground design work was profiled in Changing Our World: True Stories of Women Engineers (ASCE Press, 2006).
Craig J. Gunn
Craig J. Gunn received his Bachelor's and Master's Degrees from Michigan State University in English, taught for 13 years in the public school system, and then came back to MSU where he now serves as the Director of the Communication program in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. During a normal academic year, which for him is twelve months, he teaches three courses (two technical communication courses for juniors and seniors and one introductory engineering course for freshmen.) The technical communication courses give students many varied experiences for creating text, addressing audience concerns, and experimenting with language. The introductory course focuses on getting the students ready for the university experience. Hopefully, this also helps them to build stronger foundations for their pursuit of their engineering degrees. He actively creates art, including paintings, sculpture, poetry, novels, and furniture. He plays an animated game of racquetball, loves to downhill ski, and bicycles whenever he can. As an only child, he has always been very close to his parents, who have always supported his many endeavors.
Dr. Merle C. Potter
Dr. Merle C. Potter has a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering and an M.S. in Engineering Mechanics from Michigan Tech U; his M.S. in Aerospace Engineering and Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics were received from The U of Michigan. He is the author or co-author of the texts "The Mechanics of Fluids", "Fluid Mechanics", "Mathematical Methods", "Thermodynamics", and "Differential Equations". Currently he is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State University. He retired from "jungle" basketball and now spends his free time on the links.
Michael F. Young
Michael F. Young earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics from Michigan Tech University in Houghton, MI, in 1990, and his Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, UT, in 1995. His Master's thesis focused on integrating ergonomic analysis and computer aided design tools. He has also worked as a Mechanical Engineer for General Motors, IBM and Terra Tek, Inc. He has been teaching since 1993 in the Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics department at Michigan Tech where he is responsible for courses in Engineering Graphics, Computer Aided Design and Ergonomics/Human Factors. He continues to satisfy his lifelong interest in automotive design by serving as the advisor for MTU's FormulaSAEª team and managing several related senior design projects.
Dr. John B. Dilworth
Dr. John B. Dilworth has taught courses in Engineering Ethics, Professional Ethics and Business Ethics for many years at Western Michigan University. He initially received his Ph.D. from the University of Bristol, England. He also has taught Computer Science at WMU, and is the author of several educational software packages, including the nationally-distributed CASES software shell, which displays a series of Engineering Ethics case studies produced with the aid of an NSF grant. A favorite leisure interest of his is learning about foreign languages and cultures through use of the Internet and the World Wide Web.
Mr. W. Ed Ball
 Mr. Ball served as curriculum coordinator for the Science and Engineering Team for the Montgomery County Public School system in Rockville, MD. He provided leadership in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) initiatives as an expert in the technology education and engineering disciplines as the county pursues full STEM literacy for all students. His responsibilities included supervising the technology education programs and Career Pathway Programs for engineering in a school system that serves over 144,000 students in 26 high schools, 38 middle schools, and 131 elementary schools. He also serves on the curriculum development team for The STEM Academy, for which Great Lakes Press is a curriculum partner. Prior to assuming his current position, Mr. Ball taught in the Ann Arbor Public Schools in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for 19 years. He served as Executive Director of the Learning Institute for Technology Education (LITE), and as an Adjunct Professor at Eastern Michigan University teaching two levels of technology education for the elementary teacher. In 1994, Ed was elected President of the International Technology Education Association (ITEA, now ITEEA). During his stint with ITEA, Ed served on the Technology for All Americans Project (TfAAP) team and on the middle school-level team responsible for the development of the National Standards for Technological Literacy (STL) published in 2001. From 2000-2002, Mr. Ball provided the national training for the ITEA Center to Advance the Teaching of Technology and Science (CATTS), which developed national curriculum resource materials for k-12 programs.
Dr. Heidi A. Diefes
Dr. Heidi A. Diefes has a B.S. and M.S. in Food Science from Cornell University. While at Cornell, she fell in love with the Food Engineering aspect of Food Science. She came to Purdue University to pursue her Engineering interest and received her Ph.D. in Food Process Engineering in 1997. As part of her dissertation work, Heidi used MATLAB and SIMULINK to develop a steady-state food process design tool for food engineers, food scientists, and food technologists. In the near future, she hopes to teach professors at other universities to use this tool in their classrooms. Through her faculty appointment in Freshman Engineering and Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Purdue University, Heidi has experience teaching courses in introductory software tools for engineers, thermodynamics with agricultural and biological engineering applications, food process unit operations and design, and properties of biological materials. When not devising schemes to get students excited about engineering, computers, and writing, Heidi enjoys theater, cinema, and traveling.
Dr. Ralph E. Flori, Jr
Dr. Ralph E. Flori, Jr. is a multi-disciplinary engineer, a highly regarded teacher, and a software developer. Educated as a petroleum engineer, he has worked in the petroleum industry, has performed geological engineering-related work, and has worked in research and development of new materials such as ceramic superconducting filaments and bioresorbable composites. Now an associate professor in the Basic Engineering department at the University of Missouri-Rolla, he teaches Statics, Dynamics, Mechanics of Materials and a freshman engineering design course. He also works with other faculty in developing educational software to improve how mechanics courses are taught and learned. He is the course director for a summer program, Introduction to Engineering, for high school rising seniors. He has received numerous teaching awards. For exercise, he swims. For fun, he enjoys his family and finds time for an occasional round of golf. Being involved in his church as an elder, teacher, and worship leader is also a source of great satisfaction.
Dr. Donald C. Woolston
 Dr. Donald C. Woolston has decades of experience working with first-year engineering students, as an instructor, adviser, and academic dean. He has met with literally thousands of prospective students and their parents over the years. Dr. Woolston is nationally known in higher education’s academic advising world, having served on the Board of Directors of the National Academic Advising Association and having founded the Engineering and Science Advising Commission. In previous years, he served as principal investigator for several major projects directed at enhancing the careers of math and science classroom teachers as well as counselors. He is delighted to collaborate on a book for prospective engineering students with one of his favorite former engineering students.
Dr. Suzannah Sandrik
 Dr. Suzannah Sandrik has lived the life of an engineering student, starting as an advisee of Dr. Woolston and earning a bachelor’s degree in Engineering Mechanics, with a specialization in Astronautics and a co-op experience at the NASA Johnson Space Center. Dr. Sandrik went on to earn master’s and doctorate degrees in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. During graduate school, a National Science Foundation fellowship allowed her to work with high school students exploring engineering through a Project Lead the Way curriculum. After graduate school, Dr. Sandrik devoted herself to advising and teaching engineering undergraduates. She was elated to return to her alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as an advising colleague of Dr. Woolston. She now teaches a variety of engineering courses at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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