Ezra's Bridge Leadership Team

Directors

Susan Daniel is director of the Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Molecular Engineering and the Fred H. Rhodes Professor. She is the former director of graduate studies for the Smith School, founder of its Diversity and Inclusion Program, and an HHMI Gilliam faculty mentor. Daniel also served three years on Cornell’s Diversity Programs in Engineering Advisory Board, and for 10 years advised CBE Women, a group that promotes professional development of female graduate students. She has won numerous awards for her commitment for diversity: Cornell’s Zellman Warhaft Commitment to Diversity Award; the Cornell Cook Award for activities that enhance women’s professional development at Cornell; and, Cornell’s Advanced Career Faculty Champion Award after nomination from her graduate students.

Lara Estroff is chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and a professor. She is the former director of graduate studies for the department and faculty mentor to LATTICE, a materials science graduate student group. Estroff has served as a member of the Faculty Advisory Committee for the Teaching Excellence Institute in the College of Engineering since its inception in 2008 and her successes in teaching have been recognized with teaching awards from the College of Engineering and the Marilyn Emmons Williams Award for mentoring undergraduate researchers from the Cornell Undergraduate Research Board. Estroff is dedicated to community engagement and has served as a co-PI on two Engaged Cornell Curriculum Grants to broaden the reach of materials science classroom learning into the community.

Professional Development Team

The Engineering Leadership Program, led by Erica Dawson, the Nancy and Bob Selander Professor of Practice, aims to grow powerful leaders who take on our world's biggest challenges with knowledge, skill, insight and courage. It achieves this through classes and seminars, supplemental instruction in design courses, the Engineering Leadership Certificate Program, and other means. Because the program believes great leadership development engages the heart and the mind, it emphasizes empirically derived knowledge combined with personal inquiry and growth.