CASE STATEMENT
BRIEF CASE STATEMENT (Ph.D.) - Martin Balestie
After being retained as CS/entrepreneur mentor by Maryland College Park for the fifth/sixth year in a row (plus Michigan's Chemical Engineering Mentoring platform, UC Davis ENG003 engineering evaluator and Penn State Altoona and New Kensington) I decided to follow legend-in-the-env-eng-field Dr. Young's advice and go for a Ph.D. Dr. Young (Stanford '68) mentored me for almost 25 years.
Because most of my upper courses are C&I (4xx/5xx) I thought the best way to return to school would be to apply for a Ph.D. in Education or some similar designation.
I got all the industrial and environmental engineering training I could ask for on the job and via long time mentors (manufacturing; Dupont; Dr. Young; Dr. Randall; Chris Tasser; folks from Evapco, Dupont, Brentwood).
Dr. Kolvoord (from James Madison U) kindly suggested I explore engineering education/engineering education research tracks.
Subsequent research produced the following recommendations:
"Degree Designation Suggestions:
Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction with a Focus on STEM Education:
This designation would reflect Martin's expertise in both engineering and education. A focus on STEM would also align well with his goal of improving practical education strategies for careers in technical fields.
Ph.D. in Engineering Education:
This would be ideal if Martin plans to explore curriculum and instructional methods specifically for engineering or other technical disciplines. This program would blend his engineering experience with his educational background.
Ph.D. in Educational Technology or Learning Sciences:
Given his technical skills in web development and digital marketing, he could also consider a Ph.D. in Educational Technology, exploring how technology can be leveraged for more effective and experiential learning in engineering fields.
"With significant engineering practice on top of your qualifications in Business and Management, Computer Systems Engineering, and Curriculum and Instruction, your skill set is even more well-rounded, which further expands the number of potential Ph.D. fields you can pursue. Your practical engineering experience allows you to bridge the gap between theory and real-world application, making you an ideal candidate for interdisciplinary research in areas that require both deep technical expertise and an understanding of business or educational needs.
Other designations I have seen are Experiential Learning, Interdisciplinary Engineering. CompSc for engineers education would work as well.
Attaching and pasting below links for misc backing information. Will be happy to expand.
U.S. School transcripts (multiple U.S. schools; includes B.A. from College Park)
Because of circumstances that can only be called some sort of convoluted career path, I earned credit & training from numerous schools: UofMichigan, UofLouisville, SouthernIllinoisCarbondale, UofIllinoisUrbana, DePauw, UofMaryland, Penn State, UC Davis, UofWisconsinMadison, Dartmouth, Duke, Missouri Columbia, Virginia Tech, Northeastern, Wichita State.
I am pleased to share that I have recently been awarded a scholarship by Wichita State for the fall semester of 2026 (second year in a row), allowing me to maintain my momentum in pursuing my goals.
https://engineeringfundamentals.com/1000Ace/0-full-siu-and-observations.pdf
https://engineeringfundamentals.com/1000Ace/0-martin-balestie-transcripts-all-schools.pdf
Computer Systems Engineer (State U.)
I actually have two (2) state university degrees, id est computer systems engineer and a programmer/systems analyst, being the first one the highest computer science/computer engineering university degree granted by State U. Unfortunately they were completed almost in full during the country's lengthy military dictatorship. While it's true it was often learn by blows/on your own training/destroyed embarrasing grades/any hope of normal standing/GPAs/context, it provided the starter backbone/bedrock for most professional engineering practice (evaporative cooling equipment manufacturing, thermal engineering, environmental engineering).
The systems analyst/programmer diploma was issued after completing a subset of the engineer's degree so folks could go out and get programming jobs.
Back then I had to "give patient fight" to graduate, just a few years after the end of lengthy military dictatorship.
Badly as well (til today!) only 15-16% folks ever manage to earn the computer systems engineer's diploma at all.
https://engineeringfundamentals.com/1000Ace/scholaro-gpa-merged.pdf
https://engineeringfundamentals.com/1000Ace/p-ReporteEscolaridadEgreso-DOC1404051%288079492%29_EN_Rev2.pdf
https://engineeringfundamentals.com/1000Ace/p-Day_Certificate%20of%20Accuracy_English_Balestie-01202566354_Rev2.pdf
Over the years I took care to grow and maintain both U.S. and international credentials.
The engineer's diploma is on top of the full 4 year B.A. degree from Maryland and the about 36 4xx/5xx C&I credit hours from Southern Illinois Carbondale.
There's also a handful other undergrad/grad transcripts I was able to partially upload (Penn State, Wisconsin Madison, Illinois Urbana, Missouri Columbia)
Thus applying for any further study course would be quite straight-forward, id est good as gold 4-year B.A. from UMD, sizable 4xx/5xx credit hours from SouthernIllinois, some later further grad (Missouri, Wisconsin), numerous PDHs, aiming at a no hassle application case (e.g. no need for transcript translation and/or foreign credential evaluation/equivalents) even if it meant discarding other qualifications and/or awarded degrees.
SAMPLE WORK: SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES
I used to teach AP computers/calculus at two American Schools (Asociación Escuelas Lincoln and Uruguayan American School) so it's familiar turf. Served other schools: Northlands Argentina, Crandon Junior College.
Pioneered and developed in full probably one of world's first (1985/1986) formal high school computer science curricula introducing H.S. programming courses including a highly popular Pascal's for Everybody opener (APO American School Montevideo Uruguay)
https://www.engineeringfundamentals.com/AmericanSchoolCurriculumDevelopmentSample.pdf
It all started with one [black] Bell & Howell Apple II+ and three almost useless Tandy Radio Shack TRS-80s.
Came a long way since then!
Presently mentoring a number of schools ...
Some of the more recent CS/engineering mentoring/evaluator activities (UC Davis, U Mich Ann Arbor, Maryland College Park & Global, Penn State Altoona and New Kensington, Coursera)
https://www.engineeringfundamentals.com/PocketMartin/Peer-Alumni-Mentoring-Agreement-Fall-2021-signed.pdf
https://engineeringfundamentals.com/1000Ace/x-mentee-feedback-2025-as-of-July.pdf
https://engineeringfundamentals.com/1000Ace/Evaluator%20Assignments%20%26%20Team%20Info%20%28Sp22%29%20U%20California%20Davis.pdf
SAMPLE WORK: DUPONT /DR. JAMES C. YOUNG/OTHERS
Along with Dupont (Newton, MA) Kody Ballard, P.E.
This is an illustrative outreach activity I conducted with Dupont folks some time ago; such a pairing would be unthinkable in the preInternet era!
https://engineeringfundamentals.com/1000Ace/Dupont-CCRO-SQL-result-phpMyAdmin-2.11.11.3.pdf
Along with Dr. James C. Young, P.E.
https://engineeringfundamentals.com/1000Ace/z-ECOPRENUER%20South%20America.pdf
https://engineeringfundamentals.com/1000Ace/z-REF%20LETTER%20MARTIN%2001-24-08.pdf
https://engineeringfundamentals.com/JCY-RESUME-AND-Q-E.pdf
Plus numerous conferences/4-hour-> 2 full day workshops
Along with Evapco, Stantec, Brown & Caldwell, other P.E.s
https://www.engineeringfundamentals.com/Anno-2022-Helper.pdf