CAPT Vince Wilczynski
Section Chief, Mechanical Engineering
Engineering Department
U.S. Coast Guard Academy

Captain Vince Wilczynski is the Chief of the Mechanical Engineering Section at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. His professional interests are in the areas of data acquisition and analysis, mechanical design and virtual teams for product development. He has incorporated homeland security projects into the Mechanical Engineering curriculum, with many cadet projects winning national engineering awards.  He serves as the Vice President of the Center for Public Awareness for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and on the Executive Advisory Board of the FIRST Robotics Foundation and previously served as a national officer of the American Society for Engineering Education, as an evaluator for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, and as a member of the State of Connecticut Department of Higher Education Board of Governor’s Advisory Committee on Accreditation.  CAPT Wilczynski has had fellowships at MIT’s Charles Stark Draper Laboratory and the Harvard School of Public Health, and served as the National Director of the FIRST Robotics Competition. Before beginning his teaching career, he served as a shipboard engineer, and as a Staff Engineer and Staff Naval Architect at the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Center. CAPT Wilczynski was named the 2001 Baccalaureate Colleges Professor the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the only national award which recognizes outstanding college teaching. He received the 2005 ASME Church Medal for outstanding contributions in mechanical engineering education. He is a Fellow with the American Council on Education and a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Education:
B.S. Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, U. S. Coast Guard Academy, 1983
M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1987
M.S. Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1987
Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, The Catholic University of America, 1992

Courses Taught:
Experimental Methods
Mechanical Engineering Design

Selected Publications and Presentations:
FIRST Robots: Behind the Design 2.0, with Sleczycki, S., Beverly, MA: Rockport Publishers, in press
FIRST Robots: Behind the Design, with Sleczycki, S., Beverly, MA: Rockport Publishers, 2007
“FIRST Robotics Competition: University Curriculum Applications of Mobile Robots,” with Flowers, W., 2006, International Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 792-803.
“Table Top Robotics for Engineering Design,” with Dixon, G.W. and Ford, E.J., Journal of STEM Education: Innovations and Research, Vol. 6, Issues 1 & 2, January-June 2005.
“Creating Virtual Teams for Engineering Design,” with Jennings, J.J., 2003, International Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 316-327.
“Air Engine as a Manufacturing Project in an Introductory Design Course,” with Dixon, G.W. and Ford, E.J., 2002, American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference Proceedings.
“Internet Based Design: e-Design and e-Decision Making,” 2001, American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference Proceedings.

Honors:
U.S. Professor of the Year, sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, 2001
Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2006
Fellow, American Council on Education, 2006
American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Edwin C. Church Medal (for national contributions in engineering outreach), 2005
ASME Distinguished Service Award (for effective leadership, prolonged and committed service, devotion, enthusiasm, and faithfulness in the Mechanical Engineering profession), 2003
U.S. Coast Guard Meritorious Service Medal (for leading institutional accreditation team), 2000
USCGA Distinguished Graduate Award (for achievements as an engineering educator), 1998
ASME Diversity Action Grant to promote interest in science and mathematics for elementary school students, ‘97-‘98
ASEE Outstanding New Faculty Award (for commendable service as an educator, administrator, and researcher), ‘97
ASME Curriculum Innovation Award (for implementing design education across the engineering curriculum), 1996
U.S. Coast Guard Commendation Medal (for being a principal in establishing the Mech Eng major at USCGA), 1995 
USCG Achievement Medal (for advances in the review/regulation of the commercial shipping industry), 1991
Sigma Xi (The Scientific Research Society), 1987

Professional Memberships:
American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Fellow