Speaker Profile: Nestor DeOcampo, Ph.D.

Nestor DeOcampo, Ph.D.
Director of Facilities and Planning, College of Engineering

Dr. DeOcampo received his Ph.D. in Genetics from Michigan State University, and went on to work as an NIH Research Fellow at Mayo Clinic, in Rochester Minnesota studying advanced prostate cancer. He returned to Michigan State University as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Zoology (now Integrative Biology), where he continued his research and taught courses ranging from 20-person seminar style to supersized 300+ person courses. He transitioned to an administrative role when he began working for the Office of Planning and Budgets division of Facilities Planning and Space Management. He has been responsible for the budget development, and planning of over $300M in facilities; his most recent major project being the recently opened STEM Teaching and Learning Facility. The ~$110M, ~190,000 sqft project consisted of flexible undergraduate teaching labs to address emerging pedagogies, active learning classrooms and student gathering spaces. The construction utilized different construction methods from mass timber to steel, and consisted of both new construction and renovation of a 1946 coal fired steam power plant. Nestor is currently serving as the Director of Facilities and Planning for the College of Engineering at Michigan State University where is just opened (on Oct 6) a 10,000 square foot shop space dedicated to Engineering Student Teams who have regional and national competitions, for instance Baha, Solar-powered vehicles and rocketry.