Fellow Grade

William Goodin, Ph.D.

University of California, Los Angeles


For leveraging deep experience and connections in the interest of women engineering students; and for demonstrating personal generosity and mentoring support that ensures their visibility and success.

William Goodin, Ph.D., has more than 35 years of professional experience in alumni and corporate networking and partnerships, mentorship, leadership, marketing, and customer service. He currently helps alumni and corporate partners stay connected and involved with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and helps engineering students connect with alumni and corporate partners. Throughout his career, Dr. Goodin has sought to increase the representation of women on advisory boards and committees, as speakers on career panels, and as officers in engineering student groups.

As advisor and counselor to the Society of Women Engineers UCLA Collegiate Section for the past 25 years, Dr. Goodin has helped with officer transitions, elections, and section structure. He also assists its annual Evening with Industry banquet and career fair by increasing industry participation, securing financial support, and identifying keynote speaker candidates. Recently he provided similar help to SWE’s QWER Hacks hackathon, which brings together LGBTQIA+ individuals and allies to uplift marginalized communities while celebrating authenticity, promoting inclusivity, and enabling shared prosperity. In addition to helping with industry support, Dr. Goodin provided personal financial donations and served as a judge.

He is an active member of the SWE Los Angeles Section, attending numerous events throughout the year. He helps market the annual professional development conference to his network of industry contacts and supports scholarships for deserving student members in the Los Angeles region.

Previously, Dr. Goodin served for 28 years as the director of the short course and technical management programs at UCLA Extension. He was responsible for the development, marketing, and quality assurance of the weeklong technical management program and more than 150 state-of-the-art technical and technical management short courses per year. More recently, he served as the director of alumni relations at the UCLA School of Engineering, where he built relationships with alumni to increase their participation.

Dr. Goodin also serves on the governing board of the UCLA engineering alumni association (past president) and on the electrical and computer engineering department alumni advisory board; and he serves as chair of the mechanical and aerospace engineering and computer science departments’ alumni advisory boards. He is also chief advisor to the UCLA chapter of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society.

Dr. Goodin has received SWE’s Rodney D. Chipp Memorial Award; the McDonald Mentoring Award from Tau Beta Pi; and the Engineering Alumni Association Service Award from the UCLA School of Engineering. He has also received the Outstanding Branch Counselor Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and has twice been honored with both the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Region 9 Practitioner Advisor of the Year award and the SWE Sonora Region’s Outstanding Collegiate Section Mentor award.

Dr. Goodin holds a B.A. in mathematics from San José State University, as well as an M.S. in computer science, a Ph.D. in environmental engineering, and an M.Eng. in engineering management, all from UCLA. He is an avid runner and enjoys traveling with his wife of 43 years, Caroline.

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