Mechanical Engineering Graduates Placed in Academia

The Department of Mechanical Engineering is pleased to announce the placement of Pedro Quintero (Ph.D. '08) and William McGill (Ph.D. '08) into academia. Both are currently Assistant Professors.

Dr. Pedro Quintero joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez in fall 2008 as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering. His research interests include transient liquid phase sintering, electronic packaging for high temperature environments, solder attach interconnections, shape controlled synthesis, metallic nanostructures, Pb-free solder assessment for microelectronics, tin whiskers mitigation by Combinatorial Material Science Techniques, material characterization, and failure analysis and reliability.

Quintero earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and was advised by Professor Patrick McCluskey. His dissertation was titled, "Development of a Shifting Melting Point Ag-In Paste Via Transient Liquid Phase Sintering for High Temperature Environments." Quintero is currently teaching INME3810, Dise?o Creativo II, for the spring 2009 semester.

Dr. William McGill joined the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State as an Assistant Professor of Information Sciences and Technology. His research includes risk analysis, uncertainty modeling, and decision analysis applied to homeland security, defense, and intelligence problems. McGill is a member of the Security Analysis and Risk Management Association (SARMA), the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA), and the International Association for Intelligence Education (IAFIE). In 2006, McGill won the Society of Risk Analysis Student Merit Award from the Economics and Benefits Specialty Group of the Society for Risk Analysis, for his paper entitled "Quantitative Methods for Terrorism Warnings Analysis.? Prior to becoming a faculty member at Penn State, McGill served as an intelligence officer with the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, D.C. from 2007 to 2008.

McGill received his Ph.D. in Reliability Engineering under the advisement of Professor Bilal M. Ayyub in fall 2008. His dissertation was titled, "Critical Asset and Portfolio Risk Analysis for Homeland Security."

Published April 20, 2009