Dipo Onipede, Ph.D.

An obituary for Dr. Dipo Onipede is posted on GoErie.com. Kindly direct all correspondence for information, permissions, etc., to Glenn Light at [email protected]. Donations may be made in his honor to the Dr. Dipo Onipede Memorial Campaign.

Dr. Oladipo Onipede was an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Penn State Behrend. He received the B.S. in Civil Engineering in 1983 from Columbia University, the M.S. in Civil Engineering from Tufts University in 1990, and the Ph.D. in Civil Engineering in 1995 from UCLA, Los Angeles.

Dr. Onipede was a member of the Institute of Sound and Vibration (ISV), the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Tau Beta Pi, and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Dr. Onipede was the recipient of the Chancellor’s Fellowship at UCLA from 1990 to 1994 and the recipient of the General Electric Graduate Fellowship in 1994. He was selected to participate in the four-day Minority Faculty Development Workshop in Arlington, Virginia, sponsored by the National Science Foundation for tenure track engineering faculty from July 30 to August 2, 2002.

Dr. Onipede began his career in industry in 1983 and then went back to graduate school in 1989 to finish his civil engineering education, working as a research assistant, graduate student assistant, graduate student fellow, and an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Onipede started at Penn State Behrend in 2003. Among his many roles, he had served as associate director of academics for the School of Engineering, co-director of the MMM program, chair of the Industrial Engineering program, and academic adviser for the Functional Data Analytics program.

Teaching 

Courses Taught

• Advanced Strength of Materials
• Instrumentation, Measurement and Statistics Laboratory
• Introduction to Engineering Design
• Machine Design
• Machine Dynamics
• Materials Lab
• Mechanical Design Projects
• Numerical Methods
• Statics
• Strength of Materials
• Vibrations

Dr. Onipede is also the coordinator for the Senior Design projects in the Spring semester.

Teaching Narrative

University teaching is going through a transition period, especially at the undergraduate level in engineering. One of the motivating forces driving this change is a desire to improve engineering education by making it more applied, relevant, broader, and overall more interesting to students. The overall goal is not just to prepare students for an engineering career, but to prepare them to be part of a changing work environment that is technically and culturally diverse. There is also a major interest in increasing student retention and in attracting more women and minorities into engineering programs. These objectives can only be achieved if the engineering education environment evolves to embrace these objectives. I try to keep these issues at the core of my teaching objectives and philosophy. My primary objective as a teacher is to ensure that students learn both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the subject. This includes both a conceptual understanding of the material and an ability to solve relevant problems. As a secondary goal, I try to give the students an appreciation of the topic, by relating it to particular areas of engineering, science, technology and society in general. To achieve my objectives, the two most important goals for me are what topics and skills do I want the students to learn, and how can I get them to learn these topics and skills. The “what” part of my goals involves close scrutiny of the subject being taught and evaluation of the importance and relevance of each topic and skill to the overall objectives of the course, as well as to the stated Mechanical Engineering program objectives. This may involve putting more emphasis on basic, critical and important topics and deemphasizing or eliminating other topics that are not as crucial. I am a strong believer in objectively assessing and evaluating course outcomes and topics to get a clear measure of what the students learned. The “how” part of my goals is the more challenging aspect because this very much depends on the style of the instructor, the type of course and the particular student body. This involves lecture style, class structure, types and numbers of exams or quizzes, and the general interaction between teacher and students. Sometimes the teacher has to act like a coach and other times the teacher has to be a tutor to individual students. I believe it is important as a teacher to inspire and encourage students, but I also believe that the most effective way to motivate students is through a success based approach. When students feel they are learning and demonstrate what they have leaned (through exams, quizzes, projects, etc.), this motivates them to learn more and value what they have learned. I do not always fully achieve my teaching goals in all my classes but I do strive to become a more effective and successful teacher. I try to keep an open mind towards various teaching approaches and I have explored several methodologies to shape my teaching style. I have embraced concepts such as active learning, technology usage and mastery learning and I continue to explore new methods and approaches to become a more effective teacher. Some of these ideas I developed after discussions with other faculty, reading articles on teaching and education, and participating in teaching workshops and conferences.

I have a keen interest in developing and improving engineering education and I feel Behrend is an ideal place to pursue this interest. Education research is a growing and developing research field in Engineering. It is becoming more important and gaining stature within the Engineering community. No longer will Engineering teachers be able to just teach what and how they want, we will be expected to show that our methods work. We will need to clearly show that our students are learning the topics and achieving course/program outcomes that we state. We will also need to look for ways to continue to refine the topics and outcomes and improve on achieving them. Some of this is already in place, but I believe that eventually our teaching objectives, styles and methods will be heavily influenced by education research outcomes.

Research 

Research projects completed

• Marangoni, R., Onipede, O., and Smolinski, P. [Co-Investigators], Springback in Sheet Steels/Cooling Patterns of Roll Coiled Steel Sheets, US Steel Research Center, $90,000, September 2001-August 2004.
• Thompson, J. A., Mueller, J., Onipede, O., and Naples, D. L. [Co-Principal Investigators], Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Physics-Focus on Minorities and Women, National Science Foundation, $199,032, May 2000-April 2003.

Research statement

My research focus has been in the area of computational structural mechanics, with a particular emphasis on structural vibrations, composite materials, smart materials, and coupled field problems. My interest in this area developed in graduate school where I found it fascinating how the structural and mechanical behavior of structural materials can be modeled using physics and mathematics and then solved numerically using a computer. The overall goal of my research is to obtain a better understanding and insight into the coupled structural behavior and characteristics of structural and mechanical systems. Working with large complex engineering models and theories has given me a better insight and appreciation of the simpler mathematical models and theories used in engineering classes. I also feel my research has helped me develop a better appreciation of future trends in engineering and science. Some of the current research topics I am involved in are:

A. Investigation into actively twisted beams using shape memory alloy (SMA) wires

The goal is to make an airfoil section (a wing) twist into a shape that will optimize the lift and/or drag characteristics. This is an applied research project with some unique innovations and several potential applications in Aerodynamic structures. I am collaborating with another Mechanical Engineering faculty member, and have worked with several undergraduate students on this topic. This research involves wind tunnel testing, aerodynamic analysis and finite element analysis. SMA are unique materials that can undergo a phase transformation (by heating) that can result in a significant “pull” force. The challenges still involved with this research are to develop twist patterns that significantly improve lift in an airfoil section while maintaining stability.

B. Coupled field finite element analysis techniques

This is an area of research that involves modeling and analyzing coupled electrostatic-structural systems. The coupling occurs in Microelectromechanical devices (MEMS) such as microbeams and combdrives. I am collaborating with another Mechanical Engineering faculty member, engineers at ANSYS Inc. and several Behrend undergraduate students. Traditionally these two fields have been studied independently by electrical and mechanical engineers respectively. We have investigated the structural stability and vibratory response of these systems and developed fully coupled models for use in finite element analysis.

Service 

Program

• Universal Course Abbreviation Committee (UCA), Member, 2005-2006
• Faculty Search Committee, Mechanical Engineering, Member, 2003
• ABET

School

• School of Engineering, Director Search Committee, Member, 9/2004-2/2005
• Recruiting and Retention Committee, Member, 2003-present
• Women in Engineering Day, Co-Chair, organization committee for “Women in Engineering Day” held in co-operation with Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy (City of Erie School District), 2006 and 2007.

College

• Center for Teaching and Educational Technologies Advisory Board, Member, 2006-present
• Undergraduate Studies Committee, Member, 2005-present
• Child Care Committee, Member, 2004-present
• NSF-STEM grant faculty mentor
• Member of Graduate Committee, Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 2000-2003.
• National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), Behrend student chapter, Faculty adviser, 2005 to present

Service to the Profession

• Reviewer for ASME (Journals and conferences), ASEE conference
• Member of ASEE – MIND (minorities in Engineering Division) and Mechanics Division
• Fellow and an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh.