Nels Madsen, professor of mechanical engineering, has returned to his roots after more than 10 years serving as associate dean for program assessment and special projects.

Madsen was instrumental in leading the college’s national accreditation and compliance efforts. During his service, the College of Engineering achieved full accreditation status and has remained nationally recognized as a premier engineering program.

“I am grateful to Nels and his unwavering dedication to the College of Engineering,” said Christopher B. Roberts, dean of engineering. “Nels went above and beyond to ensure our college was always in compliance and followed national accreditation guidelines and I always knew we were in good hands. I am excited for Nels to return to his passion of teaching mechanical engineering and interacting with our students.”

Madsen teaches motion capture and engineering education, an area in which his expertise earned him an Academy Award for Technical Achievement for helping bring to life the world of Gandalf and Frodo in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and digitizing Tom Hanks’ character in “The Polar Express.” He helped create the state-of-the-art motion capture technology, Motion Reality Inc., that made the characters seem to pop off the big screen.

“My time as associate dean was fulfilling and it was wonderful to help our academic programs focus on improvement,” Madsen said.“ I am energized to return to teaching because there is nothing like seeing the light come on for students when they see how the many distinct elements of their education come together in solving a real-world problem.”