Surveying engineering faculty member hired at Penn State Wilkes-Barre

LEHMAN, Pa. — Sagar Deshpande will join the Penn State Wilkes-Barre surveying engineering team as an associate professor and program coordinator beginning in the fall semester, Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer Dr. Dale Jones announced.

Deshpande has more than 17 years of experience in research, teaching and working in the geospatial and civil engineering industries. He holds certifications as a professional engineer, professional surveyor, certified photogrammetrist, certified GIS professional and certified SUAS pilot (Part 107) and has contributed to numerous journal and conference publications.

“We welcome Dr. Deshpande to Penn State Wilkes-Barre and are confident students will benefit from his background and knowledge in the field of surveying engineering,” Jones said. “The wealth of his experience will complement our robust curriculum in the surveying engineering program as we prepare our graduates for the next phase of their education or career.”

Deshpande said, “I'm excited to be part of the Penn State team and join the Wilkes-Barre campus community. My courses will feature the latest technology in surveying engineering, which I look forward to sharing with students as I try to make learning a fun experience."

Most recently, Deshpande worked as an associate professor at Ferris State University, where he also assisted with the accreditation process with the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). He served as a faculty adviser and an adviser for senior capstone projects.

Deshpande holds doctoral and master of science degrees in geodetic science, both from the Ohio State University. He also earned a master of technology in civil engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and a bachelor of engineering in civil engineering from the University of Mumbai.

Over the course of his career, he has taught a range of surveying engineering courses, both in-person and online, including fundamentals of surveying, remote sensing, photogrammetry and advanced photogrammetry, soil mechanics, fundamentals of GIS, introduction to computer mapping, engineering statics, geographic information systems, capstone courses and advanced surveying.

Deshpande is the founder and owner of S&E Engineers, an engineering consulting company, and worked as a water resource engineering and mapping analyst, serving as project lead on large floodplain mapping projects in a geographic information system (GIS) environment.

He conducted research as a research associate at Ohio State, working on projects funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NOAA’s Sea Grant program, and as a research fellow at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, working on global positioning system (GPA) data acquisition, processing and analysis.

Deshpande has submitted a patent proposal for a four-dimensional cane rail measurement and has attended and presented at several industry conferences. In 2019, he conducted a one-day unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) workshop at Ferris State University for industry professionals.

Penn State Wilkes-Barre offers the only four-year accredited surveying engineering program in Pennsylvania, one of fewer than 30 such programs in the United States. The program is one of nine bachelor’s and four associate degree programs offered at the Wilkes-Barre campus.