College of Engineering welcomes new Engineering Leadership Development director
3/26/2020
By Samantha Chavanic
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Paul Mittan will join the Penn State College of Engineering’s School of Engineering Design, Technology, and Professional Programs (SEDTAPP) as the new director of the Engineering Leadership Development (ELD) program.
Mittan will begin his role on April 1. Meg Handley, associate director of engineering leadership outreach and assistant teaching professor, has served as acting director of ELD since the retirement of Andrew “Mike” Erdman on Dec. 31, 2019. Upon Mittan’s arrival, Handley will resume her role as the program’s outreach liaison and continue to teach ELD course offerings.
As director, Mittan will lead the ELD program and its offerings, which include the undergraduate minor in engineering leadership development and the engineering leadership and innovation management graduate program, which consists of a master of engineering degree, a graduate minor and a graduate certificate.
“I’m excited to have Paul join SEDTAPP as director of the ELD program,” said Sven Bilén, head of SEDTAPP and professor of engineering design, electrical engineering and aerospace engineering. “We look forward to him imparting to students his leadership experiences in a large engineering company, building on the significant growth the program has seen over the past decade and positioning it for even more impact in the future.”
For more than 15 years, Mittan served in design innovation and multidisciplinary technical leadership roles at Lockheed Martin Corporation. His experience encompasses hardware and software development, systems integration and technical leadership.
Most recently, Mittan held the title of project manager for advanced integrated products and digital workforce at Lockheed Martin, making him responsible for workforce development and strategic outreach. Additionally, he served as the rotary and mission systems innovation garage and engineering and technology additive manufacturing lead. In that role, he was responsible for managing employee innovation spaces across seven facilities and facilitating collaborations with additive manufacturing experts. Previous positions Mittan held with the company include engineering project manager and functional manager for specialty avionics hardware engineering. While participating in Lockheed Martin’s Engineering Leadership Development Program, he served as a software engineer, systems engineer and deputy program manager for United States Navy development programs.
“Penn State’s Engineering Leadership Development program has a rich history of developing technical leaders, and I’m extremely excited for the opportunity to be a part of it,” Mittan said. “With the growing need for engineers to take on leadership responsibilities earlier in their careers, I believe our program is well-positioned to prepare our graduates for tackling these challenges and positively impacting their organization. Throughout my career at Lockheed Martin, I’ve had the privilege of serving high performing teams and learning from industry’s finest technical leaders. I look forward to sharing my experiences and collaborating with our partners to elevate Penn State’s Engineering Leadership Development program to the next level.”
Mittan received his master of engineering in systems engineering in 2008 from Cornell University and his bachelor of science in electrical engineering in 2004 from Penn State.
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Paul Mittan will join SEDTAPP as the new director of the Engineering Leadership Development program on April 1. IMAGE: PROVIDED.
