Patricia A. S. Ralston, PhD, is a Professor in the Engineering Fundamentals Department and directs J.B. Speed School’s Center for Teaching and Learning Engineering at the University of Louisville. Her teaching focus is undergraduate engineering mathematics is involved in collaborative educational research on persistence and retention of engineering students.  She leads a research group whose goal is to foster active interdisciplinary research which investigates learning and motivation to promote retention and student success in engineering. Her fields of technical expertise include process modeling, simulation, and control.