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New director will enhance interdisciplinary engineering learning opportunities
July 2, 2025 - Carly Bowling
Stephen Secules will join The University of New Mexico School of Engineering this fall as the inaugural faculty Director of Integrative and First-Year Engineering, where he will help design a new interdisciplinary engineering major and expand on work to create a common first-year engineering experience.
Secules comes to UNM from Florida International University, where he has worked as an assistant professor of engineering and computing education since 2019. With several years of industry experience working as an acoustical consultant in London and Silicon Valley, he brings valuable technical engineering expertise along with academic expertise in engineering education.
"I am delighted to welcome Dr. Secules to UNM. He brings experience with both First-Year Engineering and Integrative Engineering program development, a record of excellence in research, teaching, and university leadership, and experience in industry as an acoustical engineer. I can't wait to see his ideas come to life in new programs and improved student learning outcomes here at UNM,” Donna Riley, Jim and Ellen King Dean of Engineering and Computing, said.
His research centers on using critical qualitative methods to look at everyday educational settings in engineering and shift them towards equity and inclusion. Secules earned his Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Maryland in 2017.
At UNM, he will help bring key strategic initiatives to fruition in the School of Engineering. He will develop a program that meets needs in New Mexico for cross-trained engineers with excellent technical and professional skills, who can for example, wear multiple hats in small businesses, can contribute to the vibrant experimental arts and technology scene, or can navigate the technology policy and project management demands of careers at the national laboratories. Working closely with School leadership, the advisement team and the Engineering Student Success Center, Secules will also help expand the first-year engineering experience, currently in its pilot stage. He will also hold the title of associate professor with tenure in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
“As incoming Director of Integrative and First-Year Engineering, I’m excited to envision the integration of liberal arts and engineering at The University of New Mexico. My own professional work and academic background have felt like such an integration, from working on interdisciplinary design teams for the acoustics of concert halls and voice evacuation systems, to collaborating with engineering faculty to help create more equitable engineering education,” Secules said.
Interdisciplinary experiences are commonplace in the engineering workforce and have become an increasingly important part of engineering education. From an understanding of multiple subjects to simply being able to collaborate with engineers from other disciplines, interdisciplinary learning opportunities are key to preparing future engineers, computer scientists, and construction managers.
“The engineering profession has changed dramatically in the past 50 years, and the world that today’s engineering students enter will be more interconnected and interdisciplinary than ever. I look forward to working with and learning from the faculty, staff, and students of UNM to help make this vision a reality,” Secules said.
Pending state approval, the integrative engineering program will enable students to explore specific career and research interests while completing core engineering and math requirements. The new academic program would join a cadre of recent programs at the leading edge of engineering education innovation and a number of longstanding, ABET-accredited integrative engineering degrees offered at universities around the country.
The first-year engineering experience, entering its second pilot year this fall, will have a strong interdisciplinary emphasis. The course will engage students in real-world design experiences and explore all degree options and career destinations in the School of Engineering. It will also provide students with a uniform engineering foundation to help them better succeed in their subsequent coursework. By providing place-based learning opportunities and an introduction to engineering design, the class will help students define their future in the engineering or computer science field. The course is expected to be available to all incoming students beginning in Fall 2026.
Secules received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2023 to study equity in classroom participation and has been recognized for excellence in teaching by the FIU Faculty Senate. He was also the recipient of the William Elgin Wickenden Award for Best Paper in the Journal of Engineering Education in 2019 and 2022.
He is set to begin Aug. 11.