Hester Among 20 Engineering Management "Faculty to Know"

January 21, 2016

Patrick Hester

Old Dominion University's Patrick Hester, associate professor of engineering management and systems engineering, has been recognized as one of 20 "Engineering Management Professors You Should Know" by national website OnlineEngineeringPrograms.com.

Noting that engineering management professors are "ultimately responsible for bridging the gap between the realms of engineering and business," the website listed 20 professors nationwide in the field to address the critical need for effective education in engineering management.

Hester was selected for his research on system thinking, stakeholder analysis and related fields. As a member of the faculty of Old Dominion's Frank Batten College of Engineering and Technology, Hester has acted as principal investigator for nearly $2 million worth of grant-funded research.

"I'm greatly honored to receive this recognition," Hester said. "I am hopeful it will bring much-deserved attention to our engineering management program, my colleagues, and to ODU."

Old Dominion was one of the first universities in the country to offer a graduate degree in engineering management. According to "Built from the Ground Up," a history of the Batten College that was published in 2013, the new engineering discipline was brought to the University in the mid-1980s out of a recognized need for engineers to manage complex projects.

The program has evolved in the past 30 years, with a strong focus on innovation in teaching and program delivery. The program was one of the first to be offered online at the University, and in the 1990s, an asynchronous online degree was offered to officers of the U.S. Navy submarine fleet. More than 100 naval officers have received advanced degrees in engineering management from Old Dominion University.

OnlineEngineeringPrograms.com is operated by educational web publisher Sechel Ventures Partners LLC. The mission of Sechel is to provide rich and informative content that addresses specific educational questions in fields with good to excellent career outlooks, such as engineering.

The full OnlineEngineeringPrograms.com list of Professors to Know is available at the company Website.