Professor Patricia Muñoz-Escalona

Professor Patricia Muñoz-Escalona holds a PhD in Manufacturing processes from the University of Bath (UK). She also has BEng (Hons) in Materials Engineering and MSc in Mechanical Engineering from Simón Bolívar University in Caracas-Venezuela.

Her passion for teaching and learning took her to pursue a MSc in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education from the University of Strathclyde. She held academic positions at Simón Bolívar University (Venezuela), Georgia Institute of Technology (USA), University of Strathclyde, University of the West of Scotland and Open University. She is now a Professor at Glasgow Caledonian University teaching undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the area of Materials and Manufacturing where she also is the programme leader for mechanical systems engineering degree. She is a Chartered Engineer, a Member of Institute of Mechanical Engineering, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, she is the Academic STEAM Lead for the School of Computing, Engineering and Built Environment in GCU and a Council member for the Scottish Association for Metals.

She is an active researcher in the area of surface engineering and she combines this with her enthusiasm and engagement in many STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) activities/events as part of her commitment to create awareness and importance of engineering for our economy and society and to attract more girls and none-traditional students into the field. Based on her commitment to public engagement and outreach in STEAM she has been recognised for her Outstanding Contribution in STEM in Scotland by STEM SSERC. She is also highly involved with Primary Engineer Leaders Award where the project she co-supervised (Hydro-Paddle) was Awarded the MacRobert Gold Medal. She has built different STEM partnerships through the Royal Society providing positive role models and real life engineering experience to ~1000 pupils in the last 5 years. She is also the academic lead for the Formula Student Team.