Dugan, Vitral, and Momenipour Honored with National KEEN Recognition
Thursday, October 02, 2025
Assistant Professors of Mechanical Engineering Kelley Dugan, PhD, and Eduardo Vitral, PhD, were selected as KEEN Engineering Unleashed Fellows, while Associate Professor of Engineering Management Amir Momenipour, PhD, was selected as Rose-Hulman’s KEEN Campus Rising Star.
Several Rose-Hulman faculty members have been honored by the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) for their leadership in undergraduate engineering education. Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Kelley Dugan, PhD, and Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Eduardo Vitral, PhD, have both been recognized as Engineering Unleashed Fellows, and Associate Professor of Engineering Management Amir Momenipour, PhD, has been selected as Rose-Hulman's Campus Rising Star.
"Entrepreneurial thinking and skills are coveted by students and employers, and Drs. Dugan, Vitral, and Momenipour work tirelessly and admirably to build students' entrepreneurial mindset within and beyond the classroom," said Rose-Hulman Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Ellen Goldey, PhD. "We are exceptionally proud of these faculty members, their dedication to their own continued growth, and the global recognition they bring to entrepreneurism at Rose-Hulman."
This year, 29 individuals from 23 higher education institutions across the country have been named 2025 Engineering Unleashed Fellows. Dugan and Vitral both participated in an Engineering Unleashed Faculty Development workshop focused on the development and application of an entrepreneurial mindset in teaching and learning, research, industry, and leadership. Working with a peer coach, Dugan and Vitral each completed a project and contributed to the Engineering Unleashed Community through an online publication before their applications were reviewed by an independent committee of past Fellows.
Each Engineering Unleashed Fellow will be awarded a $10,000 grant from the Kern Family Foundation to advance their project and will have the opportunity to participate in conferences and promote their work.
Dugan's project addresses the connections challenge of integrating sustainable design considerations into project-based learning, with a focus on design for manufacturing (DfM) courses, as well as an evidence-based practice study during the next academic year to document the project’s impact in the classroom.
A key aspect of Dugan’s project will be the design of a paper pulp molding machine, led by a mechanical engineering student capstone team. The machine will be used for DfM projects that focus on creating value through the production of physical products, the environmental impact of those products, and how to design for a more sustainable manufacturing method.
"Students truly benefit from being able to practice solving contextualized problems," Dugan said. "By integrating a more sustainable manufacturing method into ME 317: Design for Manufacturing and ENGD 260: Product Design Studio, I am excited to facilitate student experiences with a concrete alternative manufacturing method for certain types of products."
Dugan's research interests are at the intersection of engineering education and design, including sustainable design, systems thinking, community-engaged learning, and open-ended modeling problems. Dugan earned a doctorate degree focused on design, and during graduate school, they worked at the Center for Socially Engaged Design (now the Center for Socially Engaged Engineering and Design) at the University of Michigan.
Vitral's project focuses on redesigning an introductory materials science class, ME 328: Materials Engineering. Last year, he introduced a project about materials selection in deep-sea mining that tasked students with investigating different alloys, dealing with technical and economic constraints, and thinking about shareholders and sustainability.
"The goal is to weave the 3 Cs of entrepreneurial mindset (curiosity, connections, and creating value) into the course design, enabling a smoother integration of lectures with active and project-based learning activities," said Vitral. "One of the challenges in such materials courses is the number of new concepts that are introduced in a single quarter, so students often feel there is a lot to memorize. With the KEEN Fellowship, I hope to create engaging lectures that are more student-driven, where students readily connect these new concepts to applications in mechanical engineering and other STEM fields."
Vitral enjoys teaching mechanics and materials science courses and is interested in giving engineering students more opportunities to explore some of his favorite topics such as metallurgy and numerical methods. He specializes in mechanics of materials, developing theoretical and numerical work to investigate systems at different scales.
This marks the fifth consecutive year that at least one Rose-Hulman professor has been recognized as an Engineering Unleashed Fellow, including Momenipour in 2024. He developed a roadmap to help other engineering educators integrate Extended Reality (XR) in their teaching and learning processes. Momenipour also explored potential applications of XR for teaching engineering management at Rose-Hulman.
Momenipour is one of 25 KEEN Campus Rising Stars from institutions across the country and will receive a commemorative trophy and certificate. KEEN Campus Rising Stars are faculty with less than ten years of experience who are selected by their institution's KEEN leaders as someone who has gone above and beyond to instill an entrepreneurial mindset in engineering students.
Since joining Rose-Hulman in 2019, Momenipour has developed and taught eight new engineering management courses, including facilities management, work analysis and design, user experience research, human factors engineering, and manufacturing planning and control. He has also mentored graduate and undergraduate students on research and design projects and worked with engineering design students in practicum courses.
Momenipour has served as an Engineering Unleashed Ambassador for the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) and Human Factors and Ergonomic Society (HFES) and was the recipient of the 2023 Work Systems Teaching Award from IISE.
"I am motivated to contribute to more impactful engineering education initiatives and to collaborate with entrepreneurially-minded faculty, students, and professionals," Momenipour said. "Rose-Hulman has some of the most talented faculty and students nationwide who are shaping the future of STEM and engineering education, and I look forward to continuing to collaborate with colleagues and students who bring curiosity, connections, and impact to engineering and innovation.”
The Kern Family Foundation invests in the rising generation of Americans, equipping them to become tomorrow's leaders and innovators. Established in 1999, the Foundation is based in Wisconsin and invests in fields that impact human flourishing, including medicine, educational leadership, and engineering education.
The Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) is a partnership of more than 70 universities and college undergraduate engineering programs around the United States. KEEN focuses on one mission: to graduate engineers with an entrepreneurial mindset so they can create personal, economic, and societal value through a lifetime of meaningful work.
"Entrepreneurial thinking and skills are coveted by students and employers, and Drs. Dugan, Vitral, and Momenipour work tirelessly and admirably to build students' entrepreneurial mindset within and beyond the classroom," said Rose-Hulman Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Ellen Goldey, PhD. "We are exceptionally proud of these faculty members, their dedication to their own continued growth, and the global recognition they bring to entrepreneurism at Rose-Hulman."
This year, 29 individuals from 23 higher education institutions across the country have been named 2025 Engineering Unleashed Fellows. Dugan and Vitral both participated in an Engineering Unleashed Faculty Development workshop focused on the development and application of an entrepreneurial mindset in teaching and learning, research, industry, and leadership. Working with a peer coach, Dugan and Vitral each completed a project and contributed to the Engineering Unleashed Community through an online publication before their applications were reviewed by an independent committee of past Fellows.
Each Engineering Unleashed Fellow will be awarded a $10,000 grant from the Kern Family Foundation to advance their project and will have the opportunity to participate in conferences and promote their work.
Dugan's project addresses the connections challenge of integrating sustainable design considerations into project-based learning, with a focus on design for manufacturing (DfM) courses, as well as an evidence-based practice study during the next academic year to document the project’s impact in the classroom.
A key aspect of Dugan’s project will be the design of a paper pulp molding machine, led by a mechanical engineering student capstone team. The machine will be used for DfM projects that focus on creating value through the production of physical products, the environmental impact of those products, and how to design for a more sustainable manufacturing method.
"Students truly benefit from being able to practice solving contextualized problems," Dugan said. "By integrating a more sustainable manufacturing method into ME 317: Design for Manufacturing and ENGD 260: Product Design Studio, I am excited to facilitate student experiences with a concrete alternative manufacturing method for certain types of products."
Dugan's research interests are at the intersection of engineering education and design, including sustainable design, systems thinking, community-engaged learning, and open-ended modeling problems. Dugan earned a doctorate degree focused on design, and during graduate school, they worked at the Center for Socially Engaged Design (now the Center for Socially Engaged Engineering and Design) at the University of Michigan.
Vitral's project focuses on redesigning an introductory materials science class, ME 328: Materials Engineering. Last year, he introduced a project about materials selection in deep-sea mining that tasked students with investigating different alloys, dealing with technical and economic constraints, and thinking about shareholders and sustainability.
"The goal is to weave the 3 Cs of entrepreneurial mindset (curiosity, connections, and creating value) into the course design, enabling a smoother integration of lectures with active and project-based learning activities," said Vitral. "One of the challenges in such materials courses is the number of new concepts that are introduced in a single quarter, so students often feel there is a lot to memorize. With the KEEN Fellowship, I hope to create engaging lectures that are more student-driven, where students readily connect these new concepts to applications in mechanical engineering and other STEM fields."
Vitral enjoys teaching mechanics and materials science courses and is interested in giving engineering students more opportunities to explore some of his favorite topics such as metallurgy and numerical methods. He specializes in mechanics of materials, developing theoretical and numerical work to investigate systems at different scales.
This marks the fifth consecutive year that at least one Rose-Hulman professor has been recognized as an Engineering Unleashed Fellow, including Momenipour in 2024. He developed a roadmap to help other engineering educators integrate Extended Reality (XR) in their teaching and learning processes. Momenipour also explored potential applications of XR for teaching engineering management at Rose-Hulman.
Momenipour is one of 25 KEEN Campus Rising Stars from institutions across the country and will receive a commemorative trophy and certificate. KEEN Campus Rising Stars are faculty with less than ten years of experience who are selected by their institution's KEEN leaders as someone who has gone above and beyond to instill an entrepreneurial mindset in engineering students.
Since joining Rose-Hulman in 2019, Momenipour has developed and taught eight new engineering management courses, including facilities management, work analysis and design, user experience research, human factors engineering, and manufacturing planning and control. He has also mentored graduate and undergraduate students on research and design projects and worked with engineering design students in practicum courses.
Momenipour has served as an Engineering Unleashed Ambassador for the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) and Human Factors and Ergonomic Society (HFES) and was the recipient of the 2023 Work Systems Teaching Award from IISE.
"I am motivated to contribute to more impactful engineering education initiatives and to collaborate with entrepreneurially-minded faculty, students, and professionals," Momenipour said. "Rose-Hulman has some of the most talented faculty and students nationwide who are shaping the future of STEM and engineering education, and I look forward to continuing to collaborate with colleagues and students who bring curiosity, connections, and impact to engineering and innovation.”
The Kern Family Foundation invests in the rising generation of Americans, equipping them to become tomorrow's leaders and innovators. Established in 1999, the Foundation is based in Wisconsin and invests in fields that impact human flourishing, including medicine, educational leadership, and engineering education.
The Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) is a partnership of more than 70 universities and college undergraduate engineering programs around the United States. KEEN focuses on one mission: to graduate engineers with an entrepreneurial mindset so they can create personal, economic, and societal value through a lifetime of meaningful work.