Andrew Bartolini and Joseph Lyon, leaders of the University of Notre Dame’s First-Year Engineering Program, will serve in two officer roles of the First-Year Programs Division (FPD) of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE).
Bartolini, the director of the First-Year Engineering Program, will serve as the Division Chair of the First-Year Programs Division in the 2026-27 academic year. Lyon, the coordinator of the First-Year Engineering Program, was elected to a four-year term as an executive director of the division while continuing in the second year of his term as awards chair.
As the First-Year Engineering Program celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, these appointments reflect Notre Dame’s continued national engagement with the community of first-year engineering educators. That engagement was highlighted 20 years ago, when Notre Dame hosted first-year engineering leaders for a three-day conference on campus, titled “A Dialogue on Engineering Education: the Role of the First Year.” That conference was the early beginning of the eventual annual First-Year Engineering Experience conference, which is facilitated by the First-Year Programs Division of ASEE. The First-Year Programs Division of ASEE provides a national forum for the exchange of ideas among those involved in the early years of a student’s education in engineering and promotes scholarly work focused on first-year students.
Bartolini assumes the FPD Division Chair role after a year serving as the FPD Program Chair for the 2026 ASEE Annual Conference. Bartolini led the division’s efforts by managing the submission, review, and logistical organization of 122 papers by over 370 authors, reviewed by 280 members; 18 technical sessions; two panels; and two workshops.
Lyon, who joined the faculty in 2024 after earning a Ph.D. in engineering education from Purdue, was elected to a four-year term as an executive director within the division. Lyon will continue to oversee the division’s recognition efforts, including best paper and presentation awards and ASEE Fellow nominations, in his role as awards chair. Lyon represents the third Notre Dame faculty member to hold the position of executive director over the last 11 years, joined by Bartolini and Kerry Meyers, associate dean for student development and director of Women in Engineering.
“Joe and I are both proud of the opportunity to represent Notre Dame in national conversations about the critical role of first-year engineering education through our service in these national roles,” said Bartolini, who earned his bachelor’s and doctorate in civil engineering from Notre Dame. “These opportunities allow us to engage with colleagues across the country, while sharing what we have accomplished here at Notre Dame and also learning new approaches that we can provide to our students.”
—Notre Dame College of Engineering