Undergraduate Academic Affairs Staff

Michael Falk, PhD

Vice Dean for Undergraduate Education
mfalk@jhu.edu

Michael Falk serves as the Vice Dean for Undergraduate Education in the Whiting School of Engineering. In this role he is responsible for maintaining the excellence of our undergraduate educational programs, overseeing program accreditation, and attending to the academic advising needs of students. Prof. Falk earned a bachelors degree in physics and masters degree in computer science from Johns Hopkins University, and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is a professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Physics. Prof. Falk’s research applies computer simulation to materials at the atomic scale and investigates how engineering students learn computing. He works in close partnership with the Baltimore City Schools to increase engagement in STEM learning and serves as advocate for diversity, particularly LGBTQ inclusion. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and a recipient of the Materials Research Society Impact Award.

Janet Weise, MEd

Associate Dean for Undergraduate Academic Affairs
jweise@jhu.edu

Janet Weise joined JHU and the Whiting School of Engineering in 1999 as a senior academic advisor. She subsequently was the inaugural holder of several positions in the Whiting School: Director of Academic Advising, Assistant Dean for Academic Advising, and Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Academic Affairs. In her role as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Academic Affairs, Janet supports the implementation of the recommendations of the Second Commission on Undergraduate Education (CUE2) in collaboration with Vice Dean Michael Falk. She also provides administrative oversight to the WSE Curriculum Committee and serves on many ad hoc and standing committees, including the WSE/KSAS Joint Administrative Committee on Academic Policies and Procedures, the KSAS/WSE HelioCampus Implementation team, the WSE Education Partnership Evaluation Committee, WSE International/Corporate Affairs team, and many others. Janet received her B.S. in Biology from The College of William and Mary in Virginia and her M. Ed. from the University of Maryland College Park.

Kimberley Bassett Zing, PhD

Associate Dean for Undergraduate Advising
kbassett@jhu.edu

Kimberley Bassett Zing joined the Whiting School of Engineering as assistant dean for undergraduate academic advising in the fall of 2021. She leads the Whiting School’s undergraduate academic advising team and coordinates advising practices with WSE’s academic departments. She joined Johns Hopkins as the advising offices of the Whiting School of Engineering and the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences—in collaboration with NACADA and the Gardner Institute—were entering the second phase of the multi-year Excellence in Academic Advising (EAA) initiative. Her skills and visionary leadership experience contribute to Whiting’s broader institutional mission and goals for undergraduate student development. Prior to joining Hopkins, Dr. Zing was associate dean in the University of Virginia’s Office of African-American Affairs. She joined the office in 2007, after earning her PhD in chemistry. Her work there employed relationship building, peer-to-peer mentorship, and mental health support to promote a thriving, creative learning environment. She also directed the OAAA Peer Advisor Program, which provided personalized support and counseling for first-year and entering transfer students.

Constanza Miranda, PhD

Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Mentoring
constanzamiranda@jhu.edu 

Constanza is a multidisciplinary academic interested in the intersection between the creativity of design, the ethics of cultural anthropology and the tech aspects of engineering. She is the Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Mentoring for the School of Engineering, and design faculty in BME. One of her tasks is to create and deploy the new undergraduate mentoring program for WSE. Before JHU, she was an assistant professor at PUC Chile's Engineering School where she founded and directed (with a fantastic team!) the engineering design initiative (DILAB). Constanza holds a Ph.D. in Design with a focus in anthropology from NC State University. While a Fulbright grantee, she worked as a visiting researcher at Stanford's CDR (Mech. Engineering). As an entrepreneur, a team player, and researcher, her focus is on biomedical devices, engineering design education & pre-engineering education. Today, she constantly interacts with industry linking students to the conversations of the current practice.

Kwame Kutten, PhD

Director of Gateway Computing
kkutten1@jhu.edu

Kwame Kutten is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. He received his bachelor's degree in Biomedical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. After completing a postbac at NIH in Bethesda, Maryland, he earned a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins.

Dr. Kutten currently teaches several quantitative and machine learning classes including Gateway Computing: Python and Biomedical Data Science Laboratory. Additionally, he directs the Whiting School of Engineering’s Gateway Computing program. These classes introduce introductory computer science to nearly 700 undergraduates annually using active learning pedagogy. Outside the classroom his research combines biomedical imaging and computational methods to study how brain structure and connections change in disorder and disease.

Elizabeth Logsdon, PhD

Director of the Engineering Design Center
elogsdo1@jhu.edu

Elizabeth Logsdon is the Director of the Sardella Engineering Design Center (SEDC)–a school wide center that supports all engineering departments and educational centers in design, project-based learning and instructional labs. This SEDC also hosts the JHU Design Day event that celebrates the design work of our students each year. The mission of the center includes both elevating current project-based and engineering design curricula in each WSE department, and inspiring new models for multidisciplinary learning and engagement.

Elizabeth is an associate teaching professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, the BME Director of Undergraduate Studies and the Director of the BME Design Studio, a facility that supports all design courses in the undergraduate and graduate programs. Logsdon's teaching focuses on the engineering design process in the cornerstone undergraduate BME Design Team Program, a suite of eight courses that train student leaders and teams in user-centered design from identifying needs to validating solutions. She connects design resources, curriculum and initiatives across the BME undergraduate program.

Andy Ross

Director of First-Year Seminars
aross55@jhu.edu

Andy Ross is a senior lecturer in the Center for Leadership Education and Director of First-Year Seminars in the Whiting School of Engineering. In this role, he coordinates seminar offerings, supports faculty as they design and teach courses, directs outreach to incoming students, and celebrates the important intellectual communities formed by first-year students and Hopkins faculty. In addition to his administrative duties, Andy teaches courses in science writing, professional communication, environmental literacy and ethics, and technology management. His scholarship has been published in Oxford Bibliographies Online, Science Communication, and Open Words: Access and English Studies.

Liana C. Mentor, PhD

Senior Director, Success Coaching & Advising/Success Coaching Program in Academic Advising (SCAA)
lmentor1@jhu.edu

Liana Mentor is the Senior Director of the Success Coaching program within Academic Advising (SCAA), which supports FLI students with holistic, intensive advising throughout their time as undergraduates. Liana has over 20+ years of experience in higher education administration with a focus on best practices for student success models and outcomes for students who have been historically underrepresented. She is a passionate leader and advocate for the academic and social well-being of diverse student populations.

Liana completed her PhD in Community Well-Being in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Miami in 2019. There, she worked in academic affairs, student services, undergraduate admissions, and scholarship and pipeline programs. Within the Office of Academic Enhancement, she provided leadership for the Gates Millennium Scholars and directed the Hammond Scholars Program, which included co-writing and managing a large grant that funds undergraduate research, study abroad, and operational educational resources for scholarship recipients.

Samantha Wilson

Senior Administrative Coordinator
swils132@jhu.edu