Engineering a Career in Fullerton and the World
by Dave Reid

From Dateline February 27, 2003

Jesa Kreiner, chair of the Division of Engineering and professor of mechanical engineering, first came to campus in 1969 because he had long dreamed of California and wanted to help create a successful engineering program. One of his special interests is designing devices and machines to assist people with physical handicaps. He is standing in front of one of the wind tunnels housed in a College of Engineering and Computer Science lab.

Jesa Kreiner, chair of the Division of Engineering and professor of mechanical engineering, has been a leader in engineering education for many years. On Feb. 22, Kreiner, who came to the United States from his native Yugoslavia in 1962, received the Orange County Engineering Council's Engineering Educator Award during the council's National Engineering Week Awards Banquet in Huntington Beach.

As a boy growing up during World War II, Kreiner and his family fled Belgrade for Italy when the Germans occupied the country. He returned to his homeland and earned a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Belgrade in 1961.

Arriving in the U.S. with limited knowledge of English, Kreiner learned of an organization that assisted immigrants with academic credentials through an article in The New York Times. The organization helped him with English, and circulated his resume, which led to job offers in New Hampshire and Nebraska, as well as Louisiana, where he taught for six years at Centenary College.

Realizing his career would be “uneventful” if he did not have an advanced degree, Kreiner made the decision to attend Oklahoma State, where he earned a doctorate in mechanical engineering.

Kreiner, who came to Cal State Fullerton in 1969, enjoys working with students, creating devices to assist people with physical handicaps and collecting early 1900s apple-coring machines - “a marvelous piece of engineering.”