Linda is a recently retired professor of materials engineering at Franklin W. Olin College and professor emerita, California Polytechnic State University (San Luis Obispo, CA). They have served in various academic roles such as department chair (2001-2007) and co-founder of the Center for Sustainability in Engineering at Cal Poly (2005-2018). Their career work includes co-founding the Sino-US Strategic Alliance for Innovation (2008-2018), a collaboration with partners at Tongji University in Shanghai to design sustainable communities. 

Their focus at Olin College was cultivating embodied learning for transformational outcomes and transdisciplinarity. Their practice involves emancipatory critical action research, which emphasizes compassionate reflection to liberate one’s self from hidden beliefs.

Their degrees are in metallurgical engineering (Michigan Technological University, B.S. ’85) and materials science and engineering (Stanford University, M.S., 1987, Ph.D., 1991). 

Their most recent publication is “An Engineering Education of Holism: Einstein’s Imperative” (2021) in Insights Into Global Engineering Education After the Birth of Industry 5.0 (IntechOpen Book Series). Additional selected works: https://works.bepress.com/lvanasup/