Gretchen L. Hein

Biography

Dr. Hein's teaching interests include thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer. Within her thermodynamics and heat transfer courses, students are introduced to the fundamentals of heat exchanger design during Duck Day. During this class session, she brings a duck from her farm to class and students model the heat transfer in the arteries and veins of a duck’s leg as a countercurrent heat exchanger. Her research interests include persistence in engineering for underrepresented groups, educational methods, and student learning. When she’s not at Michigan Tech, she enjoys hiking, biking, farming, and knitting.

She has served as the Academic Advisor for the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) at Michigan Tech since 1998. Based on her service to SWE, the university and community, she was awarded the SWE Advisor of the Year and inducted into the Michigan Tech Presidential Council of Alumnae.