Tomasz Arciszewski, Ph.D.

Professor, Structural and Inventive Engineering

Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering Department
Volgenau School of Engineering
George Mason University
Fairfax, Virginia
Phone Number: 703.993.1513; Email: tarcisze@gmu.edu


Dr. Tomasz Arciszewski (a.k.a. Tom) is a global interdisciplinary scholar who has been at the forefront of inventive engineering and education for the last 44 years. His career has taken him around the world and the results of his research have been presented in close to 180 publications, including journal and technical articles, books, and conference proceedings. He has gained his hands-on design experience in projects in Poland and Switzerland and, over the last several years, has become involved with several institutions in Poland. He has served as an advisor to the President of the Polish Chamber of Commerce and has worked with Kielce, Krakow and Wroclaw technical universities. Tom’s research has been supported by grants from the NSF, NASA and DTRA as well as by the industry. His most recent project (2012-2013) with Dr. Robert Youmans (GMU Department of Psychology) was on the “Transdisciplinary Theory of Inventive Designing” and was jointly funded by the NSF EAGER Program and the GMU Center for Consciousness and Transformation, where Tom has been actively involved for several years.
     Tom is a true Renaissance Man. He is an inventor with Canadian, Polish and American patents in the areas of tall buildings and space structures. His latest invention, a temporary crash barrier, has a U.S. patent pending. In the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Tom took a true leadership role as well. He was the founding Chair of the Global Center for Excellence in Computing, now operating in 24 countries. For several years, Tom also served as the Technical Editor of the Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering. He served on a number of other committees as well during his long career, including the International Activities Committee and the Body of Knowledge II Academic Fulfillment Committee. He was also a member of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations’ Committee on Capacity Building.  Last fall Tom also initiated a project with friends from Harvard and Princeton on “Creating Holistic Leaders,” which has already led to workshops at GMU and Harvard and to the development of a white paper. In 2004, he received the ASCE Computing Award and in 2006, he received the Intelligent Computing in Engineering Award from the European Group of the same name.
     Tom is also an independent author. In 2009, he published his revolutionary book, Successful Education: How to Educate Creative Engineers.  In addition to the original English publication, the book is now available in Mandarin and Polish, with Arabic and Farsi editions pending.  As a result of the growing global interest in the book, Tom has given nearly 60 seminars and lectures on Successful Education and Inventive Engineering on four continents and in nine countries, including seven seminars/lectures  in 2013 so far.
     Tom earned his degrees (M.Sc. Summa Cum Laude) in Structural Engineering and Mechanics in 1970, and his Ph.D. in 1975, all from the Warsaw University of Technology.  Before joining George Mason University in 1994, he worked at Wayne State University for 10 years.  Prior to 1984, he held teaching positions at the University of Nigeria and at the Warsaw University of Technology. Just before leaving Nigeria, his grateful Igbo students bestowed on him the highest traditional honor in that country: the title of a chief. Tom values this title very much.
      Tom is a man on a global mission to promote Successful Education and Inventive Engineering through his writings, seminars for instructors and academic administrators, and through regular lectures on Inventive Engineering, which he already taught on four continents.