Dr. Patricia Mead
Professor & Department Chair
Office: MCAR 527
Email: pmead@nsu.edu
Phone: 757-823-2697
Brief Biography
Patricia F. Mead joined the gradate faculty at Norfolk State University is April 2004. Dr. Mead completed the Bachelor of Science degrees in Physics and Electrical Engineering from Virginia Commonwealth University and Old Dominion University, respectively, in 1986. Dr. Mead then competed the Master of Electrophysics at Polytechnic University (Brooklyn, NY) in 1998, and she completed the Doctoral degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Maryland, College Park in 1994.
Dr. Mead has more than thirty years of professional experience distributed across the private, public policy, and academic sectors. This includes extensive industry experience with Eastman Kodak Company, Hewlett Packard Company, and General Motors; four years in public policy at the National Academy of Engineering (Washington, DC); and over twenty years in the academic sector at Norfolk State and the University of Maryland. During her tenure at the National Academy of Engineering, Dr. Mead was primary officer in publication of the critical education publication, The Engineer of 2020:Visions of Engineering Education in the New Century (2004), and she was instrumental in establishment of the NAE Center for the Advancement of Scholarship in Engineering Education (CASEE) Center (2005). Mead was also selected to several celebrated professional programs, including her selection as an NSF CAREER awardee in 1997, and her participation in the Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering (GEM) Fellowship in 1986. She is serving as the department of engineering chair since July, 2020.
In terms of professional service, Dr. Mead has served as a certified ABET Evaluator, supporting the SPIE Professional Society for Optical Engineering since 20013; and she is a passionate supporter of the FIRST Robotics program, serving multiple roles such as judge advisor, game announcer, referee, and event coordinator since 2002.
Currently, Dr. Mead is Education Director for NSF-funded Louis Stokes Research Center of Excellence - SCENE: Southeast Coalition for Engagement and Exchange in Nanotechnology Education with Tidewater Community College and Pennsylvania State University, and a supporting principle of the PEAQs: Partnership for Education and Advancement of Quantum and nano-Systems PREM Center with Fort Lewis College and University of Colorado.
Teaching Interests
- Lasers and Photonics
- Laser Micromachining
- Technology Ethics and Policy
- Technical Communications
Research Interests
- Laser Micromachining
- Engineering Education Reform
- The SCENE
- PEAQs