Dr. Mary Besterfield-Sacre is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor in Industrial Engineering. She serves as the founding Director for the Engineering Education Research Center (EERC). Dr. Sacre has over 30 years of experience in industry and academia with a research focus on Engineering Education, and she has had numerous grants and publications in the area including on how different international experiences impact engineering students' global competency. She even developed one of the first engineering international technical elective courses for the Swanson School. Dr. Sacre has traveled to China, Australia, England, Scotland, Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Netherlands, Italy, Austria, and Brazil. She lived in Taiwan as a college student and backpacked through Europe.