Assoc. Prof. Samara Firebaugh

Electrical and Computer Engineering Department

Prof. Firebaugh received the B.S.E. degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University in 1995, and the M.S. and Ph. D. degrees in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1997 and 2001, respectively. She has conducted research in several areas of Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) including microscale chemical reactor systems, microwave switches, variable thermal radiators and microscale robotics.   She also conducts pedagogical research related to undergraduate microsystems education.

Assoc. Prof. Jenelle Piepmeier

Weapons and Systems Engineering Department

Prof. Piepmeier received the B.S.E. degree in engineering from LeTourneau University in 1993, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1995 and 1999, respectively.  She joined the faculty of the United States Naval Academy in 1999.  Her research interests include visual servoing of robots at any scale and stereo imaging of water surfaces.

Assoc. Prof. Andrew Smith

Mechanical Engineering Department

Prof. Smith received the B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Villanova University in 1992.    He was commissioned as a Civil Engineer Corps officer and served at the U.S. Naval Academy and Naval Support Facility Antigua, W.I.  He returned to graduate school and received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Virginia in 2001 where he studied the non-equilibrium heating of metals using an ultrashort pulsed laser.  He joined the faculty at the Academy in 2001.  He is interested in the thermal management of high power electronics and electromagnetic railguns.  He has also conducted research on thermal boundary resistance and non-contact thermal sensors.   He is an active member of the heat transfer education community.