June 8, 2023

Dorota Shortell is the CEO of Simplexity Product Development, an engineering design firm specializing in the design of hardware such as wearables, medical devices, connected consumer products, diagnostic instruments, and commercial equipment.  Simplexity has been chosen by some of the world’s most advanced technology companies as their engineering development partner.  Clients have won awards such as the CES Innovation Award and Time Magazine’s Best Inventions for designs where Simplexity was a major contributor. Simplexity has offices in San Diego, Seattle, and the Portland area and has won multiple Best Places to Work awards.   

Dorota holds a BSME from Loyola Marymount University, earned her MSME at Stanford University under an NSF Fellowship, and has completed the Executive Leadership Program at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.  She is a US patent holder and has over 20 years of new product development experience.  Her career has progressed from engineer to CEO, and she is an advocate for encouraging underrepresented groups to pursue careers in engineering and technology.  She has been recognized by the Portland Business Journal as a Forty under 40 Award winner and an Executive to Watch.  

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dorotashortell/

June 9, 2023

Prof. William Oakes, P.E
150th Anniversary Professor
Director, EPICS Program
Professor of Engineering Education

William (Bill) Oakes is a 150th Anniversary Professor, Director of the EPICS Program, Professor of Engineering Education at Purdue University, and a registered professional engineer.  He began his career as a design engineer for GE Aviation working on corporate-university partnerships from the side of industry.  After joining Purdue University, he was one of the founding faculty in the School of Engineering Education and has had courtesy appointments in Mechanical, Environmental and Ecological Engineering and Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education.  He has worked in community-engaged learning for 25 years and was the first engineer to receive the U.S. Campus Compact Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service-Learning.  He was a co-recipient of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering’s Bernard Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education and is a fellow of the ASEE and NSPE.