
Makes even hard topics easy to grasp.
Dorina Cornea-Hasegan serves as a faculty member in Engineering at Portland Community College, with a focus on Microelectronics Technology at the Rock Creek Campus. Bringing nearly 40 years of experience in engineering and education, she began her professional career as a design engineer in Romania before immigrating to the United States. Cornea-Hasegan earned her Master of Science in Industrial Technology from Purdue University, where she taught engineering classes. She subsequently taught at the Oregon Institute of Technology prior to joining Portland Community College in 1995. Throughout her tenure at PCC, she has held key leadership positions, including Microelectronics Department Chair and STEAM Lab Coordinator. As Principal Investigator for the Mentoring in Microelectronics Technology (MeMT) S-STEM NSF grant awarded in 2017, she has expanded educational opportunities for low-income women and minority students in the Microelectronics Technology Program, aiming to increase female enrollment to over 25 percent and underrepresented groups to 35 percent. She teaches core courses in Analog and Digital Electronics and has contributed to program innovations, such as the implementation of specializations in Automation and Solar Manufacturing Technology.
Cornea-Hasegan's strong partnerships with Oregon's semiconductor industry, including close collaboration with Intel, have resulted in a nearly 100 percent job placement rate for Microelectronics Technology students and graduates. Her commitment to equity in STEM is evident through initiatives like the STEAM-ing Friday series, which raises awareness of inequities and supports recruitment of underrepresented groups. Her excellence in education has been honored with Intel's Educator of the Year award in 2008, recognizing her outstanding contributions to semiconductor manufacturing technology education at the community college level and her impact locally and nationally. In 2020, she received the Excellence in Teaching Galbraith Award from PCC's Rock Creek Campus for her advocacy of the college within the community. Through leading student tours of industry facilities, coordinating online STEM tutoring during the pandemic, and fostering industry-sponsored outreach events, Cornea-Hasegan continues to bridge academia and the workforce in microelectronics.