Leigh McCue is a Professor and Chair of George Mason University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering having joined Mason in 2019 as an Associate Professor, becoming interim department chair in 2020, department chair in 2022, and receiving promotion to Professor in 2023.  From June 2015-December 2018 she was the executive director of the American Society of Naval Engineers. Prior to that she was an Assistant, then Associate Professor in Virginia Tech’s Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering. Her research interests are in maritime robotics, nonlinear and chaotic vessel dynamics, and computational fluid dynamics, coupled with an emphasis on nurturing the future STEM workforce. Her work has been supported by ONR, NSF, NASA, the USCG, CSC, QinetiQ, and the Northeast Center for Occupational Safety and Health (NEC). Additionally, Dr. McCue has participated in the ASEE-ONR Summer Faculty Research Program to work in collaboration with researchers at the Carderock Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center and was on sabbatical for the 2011-2012 academic year with the Combatant Craft Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock. Dr. McCue received her BSE degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University. She earned her graduate degrees from the University of Michigan in Aerospace Engineering (MSE) and Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering (MSE & PhD).