Dean - College of Engineering Search Committee

has been a faculty member in the Department of Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Sciences at Utah State University (USU) since 1991. Prior to this, Dr. White was a member of the faculty in the Department of Animal Science at Louisiana State University. He is currently Vice President for USU Extension, Dean of the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences, and Director of the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station at Utah State University. He received his bachelor’s of science in animal science from Brigham Young University in 1979, and his master’s degree in animal science and PhD in physiology from the University of California, Davis in 1982 and 1986, respectively. He has been actively involved in directing a competitive research program throughout his 32-year academic career, including a new current USDA/NIFA award in 2017. As an independent researcher, he has generated over 15.5 million dollars in extramural funding to support research in Animal Reproduction and Embryonic Development. In 2006 he was recognized as Researcher of the Year, in 2007 he was honored as Undergraduate Mentor of The Year, and in 2011 as Utah State University’s Outstanding Graduate Mentor. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles in journals such as Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Development, Biology of Reproduction, Reproduction, Molecular Reproduction and Development, and Cloning and Stem Cells. He led the nuclear transfer (cloning) team that produced the world’s first cloned equines, which resulted in the birth of three identical mule foals. He has also been invited to speak at symposia in various countries, including China, Thailand, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, and Ireland, in addition to many universities throughout the USA. As an administrator, he was one of the primary leaders responsible for establishing the USU School of Veterinary Medicine, the Utah Water Extension Initiative, and other significant new Extension and Experiment Station funding initiatives. Under his leadership, the USU College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences has experienced double-digit growth in students and is at an all-time high in total number of students and scholarships awarded. USU Extension has also experienced a record amount of extramural funding received and program expansion during his tenure as Vice President. The Utah Agricultural Experiment Station has experienced record levels of faculty research productivity, expansion of resources, and significant upgrades to infrastructure to meet future research needs during this same period and into the future.

Matt White joined Utah State University in 2018 as the Vice President of Advancement and President of the USU Foundation. He is the chief fundraiser for the university, providing leadership and strategic direction for the university’s philanthropic endeavors. He leads the USU Foundation and provides direction to the USU Alumni Board, ensuring gratifying engagement experiences for USU’s stakeholders. He has worked in the fundraising field for over 20 years serving in various leadership roles. Matt received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Evansville, his master’s and Ph.D. from Saint Louis University in Higher Education and Administration and Public Policy.  Matt is married to Christy White, who is a physical therapist specialized in pediatrics and aquatic therapy. They have three children, David, Audrey, and George.

Dr. Regan Zane is the Director of the Center for Advancing Sustainability through Powered Infrastructure for Roadway Electrification (ASPIRE), an NSF sponsored engineering research center involving 9 universities, more than 65 faculty, 160 students and a dozen full-time staff, 4 national lab partners, and more than 50 industry and innovation partners. He holds the David G. and Diann L. Sant Endowed Professor position at Utah State University in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, where he founded the USU Power Electronics Lab (UPEL), the Electric Vehicle and Roadway (EVR) research facility and test track, and the Battery Limits and Survivability Test (BLAST) lab. Dr. Zane has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, served as co-inventor on more than 30 issued patents, has received international and institutional recognition in research, teaching and innovation, and has raised more than $60 million in research funding to date. His research programs cover key aspects of electrified transportation charging systems and infrastructure, from battery, vehicle, and charging systems to grid integration, smart charge management, demand response and distributed energy resources. His programs maintain a strong emphasis on collaboration with academic, government and industry partners to develop and transition innovative technologies into the marketplace. Additional research topics include wireless power transfer, control of series/parallel input/output converters, high efficiency, high frequency, high power density, and high performance dc-dc, ac-dc, dc-ac power converters, ac and dc microgrids, battery management systems, drivers for LEDs and discharge lamps in energy efficient lighting systems, active stability control and adaptive tuning in multi-input, multi-output converter systems, active converter and system health monitoring, power integrated circuit design, and low-power energy harvesting.

Dr. Jacob Gunther is a Professor and Head of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Utah State University.  His research heritage is in signal processing and communication systems.  In recent years, his attention has turned to machine learning that offers high accuracy, low complexity, and explainability.  He has over 50 journal publications, 160 conference papers, and 12 US patents.  While on the faculty at USU, he has started two companies with his former graduate students.  Jacob loves teaching and has been recognized as Teacher of the Year in the College of Engineering.  Before entering academia, Jacob developed sonar systems at Lockheed Martin, Manassas, Virginia.  He received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from BYU in 1998.

Doug Hunsaker is an associate professor in the department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering working on improving aircraft design and optimization methods. His research areas focus on computational methods ranging from potential flow to full RANS CFD for both 2D and 3D modeling and optimization. These research efforts are currently directed towards supporting the improved aircraft efficiency interests of NASA and the Air Force Research Lab as well as the rapid design and optimization needs of the emerging drone industry. Prior to joining the faculty at Utah State University, Doug worked for four years in industry, which included work at Scaled Composites on the Stratolaunch and SpaceShipTwo programs, as well as consulting work for multiple drone companies. He has done aerodynamic, design, or consulting work for Facebook, Sandia National Labs, AeroVironment, Flying Sensors, the MAGICC Lab, Vayu, and other non-disclosable companies.

Elizabeth Vargis is an Associate Professor of Biological Engineering. She received a BS in Bioengineering from UC Berkeley and an MS and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University and completed a postdoctoral appointment at the Oak Ridge National Lab prior to joining Utah State in 2013. Dr. Vargis and her research group develop experimental models of the human body to understand what causes diseases like age-related macular degeneration and muscular atrophy. Dr. Vargis has published over 35 articles focusing on understanding disease and developing better methods for diagnosis and treatment. To support her research, Dr. Vargis has received funding from various sources including the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, the BrightFocus Foundation, and the Utah NASA Space Grant Consortium. She lives in Logan, UT with her partner, kids, and dogs.

After serving in the U.S. military as an Army aviator and practicing as a professional mechanical engineer in industry over a combined 20-year period,  Dr. Angela Minichiello earned her Ph.D. in engineering education, with a focus on distance-delivered education transfer pathways for adult and working students in engineering, at Utah State University. As an Associate Professor, Angela’s research examines issues of access, equity, and identity in the professional formation of engineers and the development of a diverse and transdisciplinary engineering workforce. Since 2016, she has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications and shared more than 45 presentations. Angela is a 2021 National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Awardee for her work with military student veterans and service members in engineering, and currently serves as Co-Director of Engineering Workforce Development for the NSF-sponsored ASPIRE Engineering Research Center, headquartered at Utah State University.

Dr. Burdette Barker spent several years in the irrigation engineering consulting industry in the western U.S. before joining Utah State University. He is presently an Assistant Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering and is the statewide Irrigation Specialist with USU Extension. Burdette teaches agricultural irrigation system design courses. His research and extension programs focus on irrigation water use and irrigation system performance. These efforts include an integrated program of quantifying irrigation water use and efficiencies through measurement and modeling. His research addresses direct agricultural irrigation needs in Utah and the surrounding region. He greatly enjoys the opportunity to work with and learn from water users and to communicate research-based information through his Extension outreach. Burdette is a licensed Agricultural and Biological Engineer in Nebraska.

Jackson Graham earned his BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florida. He is currently a Professional Practice Associate Professor in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at Utah State University, where he runs the Capstone Design program and teaches the Engineering Graphics courses. He also works to develop new laboratory experiments for the undergraduate mechanical engineering lab courses, to reinforce fundamental mechanical engineering concepts and enhance user interactivity.

Dr. Rose Hu is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and Associate Dean for Research of College of Engineering at Utah State University. Besides more than 15 years’ academia research experience,  she has more than a decade R&D experience with Nortel, Blackberry and Intel as technical manager, senior research scientist, and senior wireless system architect, working on industrial 3G and 4G technology development and 3GPP/IEEE standardization. Dr. Rose Hu's current research interests encompass cutting-edge areas in the field of wireless communications, including next-generation wireless technologies, wireless network design and optimization, the Internet of Things, Cyber-Physical Systems, and the application of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in wireless networks. She has made significant contributions to her field, with a portfolio that includes the publication of over 6 books, 4 book chapters, 310 papers in leading IEEE journals and conferences, and 29 patents in her areas of research.  She is a Fellow of IEEE, NIST Communication Technology Laboratory Innovator 2020, IEEE Communications Society Distinguished Lecturer 2014-2018, IEEE Vehicular Technology Society Distinguished Lecturer 2020-2022. She currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Communications Magazine, member of Board of Governors of IEEE Communications Society, and a Board of Director member of the American Society of Engineering Education Engineering Research Council.

Robert Burt is currently the Director of Engineering and Operations at Utah State University Space Dynamics Laboratory. In this role, Mr. Burt oversees SDL internal operations including manufacturing shops, labs, information technology, quality assurance, and education outreach.  He is also responsible for all engineering processes, training, and procedures used at SDL.  Mr. Burt graduated from Utah State University in 1989 in Electrical Engineering and later received a Masters degree at the same institution with an emphasis on spacecraft electrical power systems. Prior to employment at SDL, Mr. Burt worked for Orbital Sciences, now Northrup Grumman, where he participated on multiple launch campaigns for the Department of Defense Targets program designing the flight termination systems and serving as the electrical systems lead.  After joining SDL in 2000, Mr. Burt began working on space weather instruments. In April of 2012, he served as the lead electrical systems engineer for the OSIRIS-REx visible camera suite called “OCAMS.” OSIRIS-REx launched in 2016, collected a sample of the asteroid Bennu in October 2020, and returned to Earth in 2023. More recently, Mr. Burt was the civil space division branch head over small satellite technologies and has been the engineering functional POC for the new Manufacturing building and the new Baker Integration & Test building

Amy Jo is the Ground IBCM Sustainment Chief Engineer and Support and Training Deputy Chief Engineer for Sentinel at Northrop Grumman in Roy, UT. In this role, she is responsible for the technical baseline for these Strategic Deterrent Programs.  Amy Jo earned her bachelor’s in Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering from Utah State University and her Masters of Engineering Management from Ohio University.  Amy Jo represents Northrop Grumman on the College of Engineering Industry Advisory Board.  She is an active member of her local community, holding volunteer leadership positions in the Society of Women Engineers and the Douglas Space and Science Foundation.  When not working, Amy Jo enjoys spending time with her 2 young kids and husband, supporting USU events and speaking to engineering classes, being outdoors, and traveling.

Paul J. Barr is a Professor and Vice Provost at Utah State University. His tenure is in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering where he has been a faculty member since 2003. He has served as department head from 2014-19. He is currently serving as the Director of the Utah Transportation Center. Paul has published over one hundred peer-reviewed articles and has supervised over 30 graduate students. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Utah where, in 2017, he was awarded the Engineering Educator of the Year by the Utah Engineers Council. His teaching and research interests have focused on the reinforced concrete design, finite-element analysis and behavior of bridges. He has been involved in bridge testing and long-term instrumentation of bridges throughout the United States. Recent projects have included; Long-Term Bridge Performance Program, Forensic Testing of Forty-Year Old Prestressed Concrete Bridge Girders and the Long-Term Structural Health Monitoring of Integral Abutment Bridges. Paul earned a B.S. degree from Utah State University in 1995 and completed an M.S. and PhD at the University of Washington in 1998 and 2000, respectively.