2016

Dr. Mike Toole

Professor at Bucknell University

Professor Mike Toole is serving as our newest PACE Faculty Fellow and has recently begun collaborating with faculty and students through his time visiting Penn State. Professor Toole received his B.S. from Bucknell and his Masters and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) and over the years he has held a wide range of industry positions, including serving as an officer in the Navy, working for Brown & Root Services Corporation, Tonyan Composites Corporation, Ryland Homes, HomeCad, Inc., and Packer Engineering, Inc. While pursuing his graduate work at MIT, Professor Toole also served as a course instructor as well as helping to co-founded three companies. His research interests include process and organization innovation and sustainability.

Currently, Dr. Toole serves a professor at Bucknell University, where he teaches a range of classes, from construction to engineering classes. More recently, he started a “Grand Scholar’s Program” chapter at Bucknell. This program, initiated by the National Academy of Engineers, has identified fourteen problems that engineering students are challenged to tackle in their careers, ranging from making solar energy economical to reverse engineering the brain.

As the PACE Fellow, Dr. Toole is interested in helping students with research. He provides guest lectures at Penn State in ongoing courses within the construction curriculum, and is working with students and collaborating with the faculty to pursue grant proposals and launch projects. “I hope that my partnership will continue on past my time as a PACE Fellow,” Dr. Toole said.

He has also been working with Penn State Office of the Physical Plant to talk about implementing “Prevention through Design,” which would encourage engineers and architects to think about the safety of construction workers while they are still in the early design staged of the project.

Outside of his work life, Dr. Toole enjoys spending time with his wife, Amy, and is two children. He likes to be outside, exercise, and spend time at his cabin at Penn’s Creek, where, he likes to fish and kayak.

For more information on this, or simply to welcome Dr. Toole to the department, please contact him at ttoole@bucknell.edu.

2015

Robert Amor 

Professor of Computer Science at Auckland University

 

2013

Steve Rowlinson

Professor in Hong Kong’s Department of Real Estate and Construction