New faculty spotlight: Daniel Wisniewski

Eleven new faculty members start their careers in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the 2022-2023 academic year. One of these new faculty is Dan Wisniewski, who will be a Professor of Practice beginning autumn semester 2022.

Wisniewski is from Toledo, Ohio, and his interest began in mechanical engineering from his curiosity in how things worked. He would often take things apart and put them back together again just to see how it all fit together and why.

To pursue this, Wisniewski attended Ohio State for his bachelor’s and master’s degrees which he received in 2006 and 2008 respectively. Within his time at Ohio State, Wisniewski was an undergraduate teaching assistant as well as a graduate teaching assistant.

From there, Wisniewski worked in industry for 11 years at Priority Designs working on consumer goods, sporting equipment, lawn care equipment, medical devices, UI/UX development and marketing. In that time, Wisniewski was able to work with industry leaders like Nike, TaylorMade and Scotts.

Wisniewski is a business owner himself, operating D&W Elements. His company focuses on city-and-state-themed graphic designs that appear on shirts, posters, stickers, and a plethora of other promotional products.

Wisniewski has returned to Ohio State because he missed teaching students. From his experience in his teaching assistant days, Wisniewski had the itch to get back in the classroom and help the next generation of engineers.

His teaching goal is to give engineers a better understanding of manufacturing, visual communication of their ideas and entrepreneurial endeavors and how to bring their ideas to life.

“It means so much to be a part of my alma mater and teach the up-and-coming generation of engineers,” Wisniewski said. “I hope to have them be as excited about engineering as I was and still am, and to advance the field among all its possibilities.”