Erick is an assistant professor in the Department of Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington who develops multi-systems optimization models to analyze how energy systems, water resources, supply chains, urban space, and transportation networks operate in concert to influence economic and environmental well-being.

He spent several years working in the design, manufacturing, oil and gas, and HVAC industries. During this time, he traveled around the world and witnessed how basic infrastructure like electricity, HVAC systems, clean water, internet, and banking where lacking and dramatically affected quality of life for the majority of the world’s population. These experiences motivated him to pursue research that can enhance quality of life by improving access to sustainable resources and economic opportunities, particularly where a lack of physical infrastructure or economic resources presents a major obstacle.

He has worked with the Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute, Los Alamos National Labs, Carbon Solutions, the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, and the Houston Health Department. Furthermore, he believes in diversity of thought, the power of support from policies and organizations, and the necessity of inclusion and awareness and has participated in various education and outreach activities like the All-Earth EcoBot Challenge, Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, and NSBE’s Walk for Education.

His teaching philosophy is based on an active learning approach and utilizes project-based collaborative learning techniques. This creates a more inclusive classroom where students can learn from each other’s strengths improving student outcomes especially underrepresented minorities and woman in engineering. He built this teaching philosophy with experiences as a TA, a Scientist in Residence, and grader for Engineer Your World.

His teaching experience, industry experience, and educational background qualify him to teach in areas related to the theory and applications of optimization and simulation modeling, the theory and application of economic and statistical modeling, and foundational engineering science and applications.