Dr. Robert (Bob) Pieri is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at North Dakota State University (NDSU) in Fargo, ND. He has many conference publications on engineering education and design. His primary interest areas include: Engineering Education, CADD, Design, Fracture Mechanics, Materials Science and Alternative Energy Options. While at NDSU, Bob has held the positions of Chairman and Coordinator of Tribally Controlled Colleges (TCC)/NDSU Partnerships. For the academic year 2003- 2004, Bob was on sabbatical as a faculty at Turtle Mountain Community College in Belcourt, N.D. where he taught Math and Engineering classes. This is the basis for his current interest in Native Americans into Engineering and Bob’s leadership position in the North Dakota Pre-Engineering Education Collaborative, PEEC. Prior to joining NDSU in 1996, he worked for Allied-Signal Corporation and in the aircraft supply industry having positions of Senior Engineer and Senior Design Engineer.

Prior to his industrial experience Bob was assigned to the US Air Force Academy (USAFA) from 1980 until his retirement from the Air Force in 1995.  At USAFA he held positions of: Instructor, Course Director, Deputy for Curriculum and Tenured Professor. Prior to his time at USAFA, Bob was a Research & Development Engineer with the US Air Force, developing test equipment and processes to study problems of trace chemicals in the earth’s atmosphere.

One of his dissertations involves the environment and policy decisions that could affect it. Dr. Pieri has degrees from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Thayer School at Dartmouth College and Carnegie – Mellon University in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Bob is originally from the Southeastern Massachusetts.