Gerald L. Engel was born in Cleveland Ohio on July 5, 1942. He received the B.S. degree from Hampden-Sydney College in 1964, the M.A. degree from Louisiana State University in 1965, and the D.Ed. Degree (Computer Science) from Pennsylvania State University in 1974.
He has held teaching and research positions at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Old Dominion University, and Christopher Newport University. In 1984 Engel came to the University of Connecticut at Stamford, and became the first holder of the Leonhardt Chair of Computer Science and Engineering. He has been with the University of Connecticut since then, also holding the position of interim Director of the Waterbury Campus of the University. Form 1991 – 1995, he was on loan from the University to the Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate (CISE) of the National Science Foundation, where he served as a program director (1991-1993) and acting deputy director for Computer and Computation Research (1994-1995).
Engel has been an active participant in work in computer science and engineering education. He has been a participant in all of the curriculum development efforts of the Computer Society, and also in the 1978 Curriculum Recommendations of the ACM. He served on the Committee that developed the Computing Sciences Accreditation Board (CSAB), and as the first chair of the Computing Sciences Accreditation Commission. He was also instrumental in the development of the integration of CSAB and the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).
He has served as a team chair for CSAC and as a program evaluator for both ABET and CSAC. He currently is Vice President of CSAB and a member of the Board of Directors of ABET. He has served in a variety of roles both within the Computer Society and the IEEE. He has served as a Vice President for Conferences and Tutorials, a Vice President for Education, and Vice President for areas. In IEEE, Dr. Engel has served as Division V Director, chair of the Ethics Committee, and as a member of the Facilities Committee.
In addition, he has recently completed a two year term as President of the Society on Social Implications of Technology. In addition to being a senior member of the IEEE, and a fellow of the ACM, Dr. Engel is also a member of the ASEE. Additionally he is a member of the ASEE, the MAA, the AAUP, and most importantly, the Western Connecticut Soccer Officials Association. His work in education has brought numerous awards from the Computer Society, the IEEE Education Society, the ACM, NASA, and the Association for Computing at Minority Institutions.
