Master of Science in Engineering Management - Faculty

Bill Bellows, Ph.D.

• MSE 617: Engineering Quality Management & Analytics

Bellows brings years of in-depth experience with quality management and engineering to the MSE 617 course. Concepts learned in class apply to fundamental thinking for managers and leaders in any organization. Bellows has a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and more than 30 of years of quality management leadership in the aerospace industry. He has applied quality management techniques to the design and production of jet engines, rocket engines and space power equipment. He shares time-tested ideas he has presented around the world. His experience Includes one-on-one mentoring by engineer Genichi Taguchi, who developed the Taguchi Methods. His research targets quality management principles, including Investment Systems Thinking, Taguchi Methods, Process Improvement, Variation Management, Beyond Lean, Quality Management, Learning Organizations, Change Management, Deming, Beyond Six Sigma Quality, Culture Change, Innovation, and Category and Continuum Thinking. Bellows co-founded the In2:InThinking Network, a nonprofit dedicated to applying principles of modern quality management. He has presented hundreds of public lectures on quality management. With a deep understanding of all facets of quality management, he gives students in-depth insights into the application of quality management to engineering management.

Dale S Deardorff, Ph.D., M.S., M.A.

• MSE 402: Engineering Project Management
• MSE 608B: Leadership of Engineering Professionals and High-Tech Firms

Deardorff brings more than three decades of experience in management and leadership to his seminars. His background includes project and program management at Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company, where he worked with high-tech teams on power, propulsion, defense and communication systems. He served as a manufacturing designer for eight years at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, the world-renowned innovation center for aircraft and engineering. Deardorff has both an academic and practical, practitioner perspective, leading others to discovery. He holds a doctorate in organizational leadership and master's degrees in automation engineering and two-dimensional design. His academic and work background give him an understanding of both theory and practical applications of leadership and project management. His years of experience, blended with more than 15 years of facilitation and teaching activities, give students a platform for discussion, learning and finding solutions to workplace challenges.

Gus H. Elias, M.S.

Lecturer, Department of Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Management

• MSE 602: Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Engineering Professionals

Elias gives students an entrepreneurial perspective to engineering, enabling them to turn the concepts, theories and principles into practice-ready applications. He understands the management of technology and innovation and brings that knowledge to his students, who reap great benefits from understanding important concepts in managing technology and innovation. Students will get prepared to take their knowledge to the next step of creating comprehensive business plans for promoting their own innovations. With an M.S. in manufacturing systems engineering, Elias thoroughly understands the technical end of innovation. He has shared his extensive knowledge, serving as a consultant on risk analysis, forecasting and decision making, facility planning, six sigma and lean manufacturing, quality assurance and control, innovation and projects management, industrial safety, procurement and logistics, standards and specifications and much more. His professional memberships include the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers, an organization providing leadership for the application, education, training, research and development of industrial and systems engineering. Students will get a clear picture of the “business side” of engineering developments.

Brian Galli, Ph.D.

Adjunct Faculty

• MSE606: Production and Operations Management for Engineers

Galli has a Ph.D. in engineering management and more than 12 years of professional experience applying industrial engineering and project management in various arenas, including healthcare, manufacturing, and service environments. Galli's work has been published in multiple publications and he serves as co-editor in chief for the International Journal of Sociotechnology & Knowledge Development and International Journal of Project Management & Productivity Assessment. He has previously served as faculty at other academic institutions, including Long Island University, New York Institute of Technology (NYIT), American Public University (APUS), SUNY Binghamton, and SUNY Stony Brook.

MSE 606 provides professionals with an in-depth understanding of the role of Production and Operations Management (POM) in manufacturing, service and retail industries, and the application of POM principles and tools in real-world situations. Students will have the opportunity to become proficient in preparing written communications and contributing meaningful discussion about engineering topics. The information and skills they gain from Galli's approach will improve their ability to add value in POM to any engineering organization.

Dennis M. Gawlik, M.S.

Adjunct Faculty

• MSE 515: Engineering Supply-Chain Systems & Analytics

Supply chain management and operations are essential to preparing for work in the digital environment. Sustainability and corporate social responsibility are critical components of any company's strategy. MSE 515 and MSE 540 prepare students to address some of the biggest current business challenges. With years of training and experience in supply chain management and sustainability, Gawlik has an array of knowledge to share with students. Gawlik holds an M.S. in logistics and a graduate degree in business administration, giving him the academic background for the business side of engineering. His work experience includes 30 years in supply chain management, procurement, purchasing and operations. He also held leadership positions in sustainability. His work experience includes companies such as Amazon, T-Mobile, Alaska Airlines and Starbucks. Gawlik has more than 15 years of teaching experience in the areas of sustainability and supply chain management, and he has worked with students for more than 30 years. His integration of material from other engineering management courses creates a seamless experience for students completing their degree.

Rashmi Jain, Ph.D.

Adjunct Professor

• MSE 562: Introduction to Data Analytics for Engineering Managers

Jain possesses a varied and extensive background in the field of engineering management, in roles ranging from academia to government to industry.

She is a faculty member at Montclair State University, where she served as the founding chair of the Department of Information Management and Business Analytics. In 2018, Jain won the Outstanding Impact Award for leading a team to develop and successfully launch Montclair State University's Master's in Business Analytics program.

Appointed by the Governor of New Jersey, Jain is a member of the first board of the New Jersey Public Health Database. She is also an active member of numerous editorial boards, including the International Journal of Industrial Systems Engineering and, most recently, the MIS Quarterly Executive's Special Issue on Crisis-Driven Digital Transformation. Additionally, she serves on the steering committee of AACSB and is a member of the AI Roundtable of the New York Academy of Sciences.

Jain earned her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Technology Management from the Stevens Institute of Technology.

Maryam Tabibzadeh, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Management

• MSE 600: Decision Tools for Engineering Managers
• MSE 697MGT: Engineering Management Directed Comprehensive Studies

Tabibzadeh earned her Ph.D. in industrial and systems engineering from the University of Southern California. She also holds master's degrees in industrial engineering and operations research engineering, which apply to concepts covered in both MSE 600 and MSE 697MGT. She joined CSUN as a full-time professor in Fall 2015. MSE 600 requires students to make and analyze engineering management decisions, while recognizing behavioral and political contexts of decision making. Tabibzadeh's background gives her a high level of expertise in this area. Her research focuses on risk analysis in complex, safety-critical and technology-intensive industries. She has researched risk assessment of human and organizational factors, along with technical elements, in areas that include offshore drilling safety and enhancing patient safety and quality of care in healthcare. Her research interests include risk analysis/risk management/risk modeling, emergency response, safety management, decision analysis/decision making and human factors.

Tabibzadeh has served as a reviewer of scientific journals since 2014, including Risk Analysis and Safety Science. She has presented and published papers on risk assessment and safety management, and interoperability analysis at peer-reviewed conferences and in journals. Tabibzadeh has received numerous academic honors, including named as an Easton Foundation Fellow by the College of Engineering and Computer Science, receiving the Best Paper Award at the 2018 Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics Conference, and receiving the Outstanding Engineering Achievement Merit Award from The Engineers' Council in 2018. She brings her in-depth experience, knowledge and analytical skills to these courses, giving students a new and broader understanding of decision tools and engineering management.

Sina Talebian

Adjunct Faculty

• MSE 564: Knowledge Discovery from Databases and Data Visualization for Engineering Managers

Talebian possesses more than seven years of experience in industries ranging from manufacturing to tech. Currently, Talebian is a Senior Data Analyst at PlayStation, helping the product team optimize the user experience across games and platforms. Talebian's main focus is on the use of data and statistics to enhance business processes and reduce operational costs. In addition to broad expertise with Python and SQL, Talebian has used many different visualization platforms.

Talebian earned a Master of Science in Engineering Management from California State University, Northridge in 2015.

Shahriar Vazan

Part-time Faculty, Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Management

• MSE 604: Engineering Economy and Financial Analysis

For more than three decades, Vazan has worked with some of the nation's top companies on product development and operational excellence. This experience, along with his academic background, will inform key concepts in MSE 604, such as how to evaluate a project's economic feasibility. In addition to his MBA, Vazan earned both his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from UCLA. He is also a Master Black Belt in Design for Six Sigma and Lean 6 Sigma.