Dr. Olga Pierrakos

Assistant Professor, School of Engineering
Office: HHS Building - Room 3227
Phone:  (540) 568-8917
Email:  pierraox@jmu.edu

Dr. Olga Pierrakos is involved with cardiovascular fluid mechanics research, engineering education research, as well as curriculum and course development for the School of Engineering at JMU.  
 
Education

  • B.S. in Engineering Science and Mechanics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 2000 (Minor in Mathematics)
  • M.S. in Engineering Mechanics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 2002
  • Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 2006

Experience

Prior to coming to JMU, Dr. Pierrakos was a National Academy of Engineering CASEE* Postdoctoral Fellow at Virginia Tech doing engineering education research on assessing engineering students’ learning outcomes as a result of participating in a variety of learning experiences (including design, industry internships, and undergraduate research).  Dr. Pierrakos’s Ph.D. work pertained to vortex dynamics and turbulence characteristics in left ventricular flows and past prosthetic heart valves. At Virginia Tech, Dr. Pierrakos served as faculty advisor to over thirty mechanical engineering seniors involved in mechanical and biomedical engineering design projects and taught several mechanical engineering fluid mechanics, design, and technical communication courses. Dr. Pierrakos has worked with the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity at Virginia Tech and local area high schools to educate and promote the engineering profession using research examples and building on the connections of various engineering disciplines to illustrate the multidisciplinary nature of engineering.

Research Interests

  • Engineering education research: outcomes-based assessment, curricula assessment, epistemologies of engineering learning and interdisciplinary education, design education methodologies, K-12 engineering education.
  • Cardiovascular fluid mechanics:  left-ventricular flows, heart failure, vascular implants, computational modeling of cardiovascular flows.

*Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education

CV (pdf)