Dr. Scott Danielson is involved in BUILD-IT project activities related to including implementing quality systems, project-based curriculum spine and the maker innovation network. He served as the project director from 2014 to 2016 of the USAID-funded Vocational University Leadership Innovation Institute (VULII), a Vietnamese engineering education and academic leadership development program. In this role, he and the VULII team have led or coordinated numerous workshops in Vietnam to help eight institutions and their leaders improve engineering education programs. Related activities have included helping engineering programs prepare for international accreditation/recognition and professional development activities for rectors and senior leadership. He has also worked in the HEEAP project, especially with the vocational faculty cohorts at ASU.
He is a faculty member in the engineering programs within the Polytechnic School of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University (ASU). Before returning to the faculty, Dr. Danielson was an Associate Dean for almost four years in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and the College of Technology and Innovation. Before assuming the Associate Dean’s role, he had been a department chair at ASU for over 13 years.
Within ABET, he has been an ABET program evaluator since 2003 for both the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and ASME and served on the Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission (ETAC) of ABET for five years. He is currently on the ETAC Executive Committee, becoming the Vice-Chair for Operations in July 2016.
He has been active in the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) in the Mechanics Division and the Engineering Technology Division, currently the Chair of the Engineering Technology Division. He is active in the American Society for Mechanical Engineers (ASME); serving as a member of the Vision 2030 Task Force, serving on the Committee on Engineering Technology Accreditation in a variety of roles, serving on the Board of Directors of the ASME Center for Education for several years, and as a member of the Mechanical Engineering Technology Department Head Committee. He has been awarded the ASME Ben C. Sparks Medal in 2009 and 2013 for excellence in mechanical engineering education. He serves on the Society of Manufacturing Engineers’ (SME) Manufacturing Education and Research Community steering committee.
His research interests include engineering education, machining, and effective teaching, especially of engineering mechanics. Before joining ASU, he was at North Dakota State University, where he was a faculty member in the Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering department after leading the development of a new academic program that merged with the Industrial Engineering Department. Before coming to academia, he was a design engineer, maintenance supervisor, and plant engineer. He is a registered professional engineer.