Marc Zupan an associate professor in the department of mechanical engineering has been named a Fulbright Scholar, 2012-2013, to teach and conduct research at the Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto (FEUP), Portugal.
According to the program’s web site, “The Fulbright program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the US government.” The goal of the Fulbright program is, “to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.” The majority of the funding comes from an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
During his fellowship Zupan will be developing novel course and student assessment tools as well as expanding his already established research collaborations with FEUP faculty.
“The fellowship,” says Zupan, “will allow me to jointly design and implement a trans-national course focused on the novel concepts of Global Engineering.” This course will be integrated into the UMBC undergraduate engineering curriculum with students from UMBC and FEUP interacting and working with each other through-out the course.
Zupan’s research is focused on emerging hybrid materials that are important for structures in the next generation marine, air, and land-based vehicles — materials that are minimum volume, light, durable, and multifunctional.
“This expanded global enterprise in both research and teaching,” says Zupan, “between UMBC and FEUP will help both universities enhance the competitiveness of our graduates and allow us to develop new technologies.”
