“Improving engineering education, and the image of engineering as a profession, are issues that all of us are working on. Engineering educators are developing innovative teaching programs and concepts, but, too often, their successes aren’t known beyond their classrooms. The Leonhard Center offers a focus for those efforts--a true center where progressive concepts are developed, tried, evaluated, and disseminated.”

Carl H. Wolgemuth

Professor Emeritus and Associate Dean EmeritusPenn State College of Engineering

In 1994, Carl Wolgemuth retired from Penn State after spending thirty-one years on the faculty. He had served as acting dean of the College of Engineering in the 1991-92 academic year. Prior to that, he was associate dean for undergraduate studies where he had day-to-day contact with past, present, and future engineering students, as well as the professors who teach them. Through these contacts, he developed a unique insight into the successes and deficiencies of engineering education today.

An award-winning teacher, advisor, and administrator, Dr. Wolgemuth provides national leadership on issues of engineering education. He was a member of the national Engineering Education Board of the Society of Automotive Engineers and a member of their K-12 Committee. From 1993 to 1998 he was a member of the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET. Within the College of Engineering, he chaired the Engineering Cooperative Education Advisory and Teaching Effectiveness Committees.

He was a developer and co-principle investigator for the seven-university, $15 million Engineering Coalition of Schools for Excellence in Education and Leadership (ECSEL) funded by the National Science Foundation. He spearheaded a drive to bring engineering faculty members into elementary classrooms to aid teachers in developing hands-on design activities for children.

A recognized expert in thermodynamics, Wolgemuth is the author of numerous scientific papers and has co-authored a textbook.

Dr. Wolgemuth received his master’s and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering from Ohio State University and his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Penn State. He is a fellow of the American Society of Automotive Engineers. He and his wife have endowed the Carl H. and Lois M. Wolgemuth Scholarship in Engineering.