Faculty

Meliha Bulu-Taciroglu is a specialist in finance and economics education and has been teaching for the Technology Management Technical Breadth Program at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering since 2011. She recently developed a course for the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA called Entrepreneurship and Finance for Environmental Scientists. Dr. Bulu-Taciroglu also continuously collaborates with active entrepreneurs, corporations and non-profit organizations. She holds a B.S. from the Middle East Technical University in economics, an M.A. from Boston College in economics and an M.S. in Mathematics and Ph.D. (ABD) in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Bruce Huang is a data science and digital technology course instructor at UCLA Extension. He helped develop and implement the data science certificate program and regularly teaches other courses in the area of digital technology for many audiences, including adult learners, undergraduates and international students.

In addition to his work with UCLA Extension, Huang is a professor of engineering entrepreneurship at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, where he also teaches courses in computer science.

Huang is a serial entrepreneur in technology and education — he founded his first entrepreneurial enterprise at the age of 14. He is an alumnus of University of Texas and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and he continues to serve on the Education Council at MIT. His overall work encompasses his passion for higher education and its intersection with entrepreneurship.

Kenneth Kung joined UCLA in 2013. He teaches systems engineering courses in the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering.

Before joining UCLA, Kung was a senior principal engineering fellow for Raytheon Technologies. He has over 30 years of system and software engineering experience. Kung has worked on a variety of command-and-control systems, including air traffic management systems, secure communication protocols, satellite navigation system, computer-based patient record system, shipboard communication network, multilevel secure system, information assurance and architecting of these systems. At Raytheon, he coordinated the information assurance activities and launched the information security technology interest group.

As the information assurance technology domain covers people, technology and process across multiple disciplines in hardware, software, systems, training, accreditation and risk management, it is a natural transition for Kung to apply this knowledge to the architecture realm. He led the systems engineering technology strategy and research directions for Raytheon. He applied various architecture frameworks in developing architecture products and led large complex systems development. He is a certified master IT architect from the Open Group.

Kung enjoys teaching and mentoring. He has taught college courses since 1974. He has worked with many innovative engineers and students. Unexpected solutions often came from the collision of minds.

Kung received his B.S. and M.S. degrees as well as his Ph.D. from UCLA Samueli.

Leslie Lackman is responsible for seeking industrial partnerships for joint research activities with the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. Prior to joining UCLA, he had a long leadership career in the aerospace and defense industry and is recognized as one the pioneering leaders in the application of composite materials to airframes.

As a UCLA faculty member, he has developed proposed graduate courses focused on technology management in conjunction with the Anderson School of Management.
Lackman retired from the Boeing Company in 1999 as vice president and site manager of Seal Beach–Palmdale–Anaheim Military Aircraft. He also directed the integration of Rockwell’s Tulsa facility into the Boeing Commercial Aircraft Group and the integration of the Aerostructures Group in Melbourne, Australia, into the Boeing Aircraft and Missile Group.

Lackman served as the key executive for Boeing’s integration of the Rockwell aerospace businesses of over 4,000 employees. Under Lackman’s leadership, the establishment of the Palmdale X-assembly facility and the initiation of the assembly of two Boeing JSFs were achieved at Palmdale.

Other leadership roles include as vice president and general manager of Rockwell’s North American Aircraft Division (NAAD) and as vice president of Advanced Programs and leader for the Research and Engineering workforce for NAAD.

As vice president and general manager of NAAD he was responsible for the division’s three business areas: strategic systems, aerostructures and advanced programs. The division had a diverse base of products and technologies, including the B‑1B; X-31; primary and secondary structure for the Boeing 737, 747, 757 and 777; TierII+ composite wing; Airbus A-330/340 structures; NASP; Airborne Laser airframe integration; as well as major research projects.

From 1980 until his promotion to vice president, Lackman was an active part of the B-1B production team, including as chief engineer and director of structures.

He received B.S. and M.S. degrees in civil engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Southern California.

He is a founding member of the American Academy of Mechanics and a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Doug Lichtman focuses his teaching and research on topics relating to law and technology. His areas of specialty include patent and copyright law, telecommunications regulation and information strategy and economics.

Lichtman joined the faculty at UCLA School of Law in 2007 after a tenured teaching career at the University of Chicago. His work has been featured in numerous journals including the Journal of Law & Economics, the Journal of Legal Studies, the Yale Law Journal and the Harvard Business Review. He co-authored Telecommunications Law and Policy, a textbook that investigates the federal regulatory regime applicable to broadcast television, cable television, radio, telephone and the internet. He also regularly writes in the popular press, with recent pieces appearing in the Los Angeles Times and the policy magazine Regulation.

Robert (Bob) M. McCann has been creating, directing and teaching leadership and management communication courses across virtually all of UCLA Anderson’s M.B.A. degree programs since coming to UCLA in 2010. He also teaches courses that include Entrepreneurship; Global Leadership; Persuasion & Leadership; Leading & Doing Business in Thailand; and Doing Business in Southeast Asia, all taught within Anderson’s E.M.B.A., F.E.M.B.A. and full-time M.B.A. programs.

McCann holds his primary faculty appointment at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, and a secondary appointment at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering.

Concurrently, he is deeply engaged in many of UCLA Anderson’s executive education programs and annually teaches undergraduate classes in communication, global leadership and entrepreneurship at the University of Hong Kong. He is also the faculty director and/or learning director for multiple programs at UCLA Anderson Executive Education, including Anderson’s PGPX and PGP Pro programs in India and the U.S., the Executive Program in Advanced Leadership and Management and the Geffen School of Medicine Executive Leadership Program.

As the head of an active consulting business, McCann specializes in the training of executives and professionals in persuasion, leadership, workplace diversity and all aspects of the strategic use of communication in business settings. Some of the companies for which he has provided service include Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Fox Entertainment Group, Marriott International, Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems, MTR (Hong Kong), CUHK (Hong Kong), the UCLA Hospital System, College Board, Pfizer, Novartis, Nestlé and Schering-Plough.

The research McCann conducts is relevant to pressing societal issues and has strong practical implications. Some of his recent work on the communicative dimensions of age biases was recently utilized in a U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief on age discrimination. He has also served as principal investigator on UCLA’s multiyear Center for International Business and Education Research (CIBER) grant.

At present McCann holds the chair of the UCLA Thailand Executive Committee and serves on the faculty advisory committee of UCLA’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies. He is the former associate dean for global initiatives at UCLA Anderson. McCann has received several teaching awards and dean’s commendations around the globe, including the prestigious “Golden Apple” Teaching Award.

Farhad Rostamian is an experienced product executive successful in scaling technology products from early stages to global leadership positions. He has extensive product development, management and marketing experience in semiconductors, sensors, electronic systems, embedded software, cameras, medical devices and digital products/services. His substantial background in international business encompasses more than 20 global brands in 30 countries across three continents.

Rostamian has taught courses at the UCLA Anderson School of Management since 2014. He previously taught at Pepperdine University Business School. He develops courses by utilizing his industry knowledge to bring academic rigor, real-world applications and relevant examples to the classroom.