Distinguished alum’s career path follows vision to improve human potential

Theoretical and applied mechanics alum Kendra Sharp (PhD TAM 2001) was named one of this year’s recipients of MechSE’s Distinguished Alumni Award. Sharp is currently the Dean of the School of Engineering at Santa Clara University.

“I really appreciate the mission of Santa Clara,” she said. “And I was really excited to develop stronger connections and partnerships between industry and academia. Santa Clara is in such a great location to do that.”

As Dean, Sharp has focused on building SCU’s graduate programs, research activity, and industry partnerships. She worked closely with SCU’s leadership to conceptualize the new Cunningham Shoquist Center for Applied AI and Human Potential.

“[The new center] is focused on using AI responsibly to augment creativity, enhance our ability to solve problems, and develop human potential,” she said. “It’s very well aligned with the University’s mission, and emphasis on educating the whole person.”

Sharp began her journey at the University of Illinois as an undergraduate in the Department of Aerospace Engineering (BSAE 1993), which also presented her with their own Distinguished Alumni Award this year. As an undergraduate, she found a research opportunity with Professor Emeritus Craig Dutton.

“We worked with the wind tunnels in [the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory],” she recalled, noting that the experience sparked her interest in the field of experimental fluid mechanics. She later found that mechanical engineering allowed her to pursue the same expertise while providing field flexibility.

Freshly graduated, she was selected to attend one year of paid graduate study at Cambridge University as a Churchill scholar.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me,” she said of the experience. She then earned her master of engineering in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley before returning to Illinois.

“I had an opportunity to come back for my PhD and work with [Professor Emeritus] Ronald Adrian, which was a true privilege that I couldn’t pass up,” she said, noting that she was able to connect with Adrian because he had also been a Churchill scholar.

“The PhD in TAM is incredibly rigorous,” she said. “My time as a PhD student was the only time in my life when I was able to really focus on just one thing. A highlight of my PhD program at Illinois was the opportunity to become an expert on my topic while working alongside exceptional PhD students and with Professor Adrian.”

Toward the end of her doctoral studies, Sharp applied for and won a fluid dynamics fellowship through the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Sponsored by the American Institute of Physics, she worked for a year as part of the late Joseph Lieberman’s Senate staff on Capitol Hill.

“The [experience I gained] from the precision and level of rigor in both the coursework and research at Illinois has supported me throughout my career,” Sharp said. “I learned how to approach solving difficult problems and be analytical in my decision-making, and these skills served me well on the Hill and beyond.”

Following her doctoral degree, Sharp and husband David Hill were both searching for faculty positions and found dual opportunities at Penn State University. They later relocated to Oregon State University, with Sharp in mechanical engineering and Hill in civil engineering.

While on the faculty at Oregon State, Sharp served a four-year appointment as the Head of the Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE) at the National Science Foundation. During her time as Head, Sharp oversaw NSF’s international strategy and helped OISE to double its bilaterial joint funding opportunities with foreign governments. She also developed the new multilateral Global Centers funding program, which reached a combined $82M in funding from six country partners in 2024. Following the end of her term, she moved to her current role as Santa Clara’s Dean.

Reflecting back on her Illinois journey, Sharp cherishes the opportunity to dive so deeply into one topic of expertise and build life-long skills. “I hope that doctoral students enjoy and relish the fact that they get to become experts in their topics,” she said. “And that they take advantage of the people around them [in MechSE], where the level of caliber is easily one of the best in the country.”