Engineering Education Research Briefs

Dr. Sarah Rodriguez shares with us her autobiographical influenced research inquiry that explores being rural, Latina, and pursuing engineering education. We are so thankful to have had Dr. Rodriguez with us to discuss her upcoming book, endorsement of Chicana Feminist scholars during these difficult times, and place-based approaches. She shares with us her journey as a rural Latina engineering education scholar and prolific author in engineering education. Dr. Rodriguez low key drops some tips on how to build unexpected connections that lead to opportunities.

Name Drop

Authored books:

Latin* Students in Engineering: An Intentional Focus on a Growing Population

Supporting Latina Students in Engineering and Computing: A Chicana Feminist Approach

Chicana Feminists - 

• Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza (Anzaldúa)
• This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color (Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa)
• Light in the Dark/Luz en lo Oscuro Rewriting Identity, Spirituality, Reality (Anzaldúa)

Dolores Delgado Bernal

Ruth López, Associate Professor, University of Arizona, College of Education

Joel Alex Mejia, University of Cincinnati

Blog - My Life as a Rural Latina Professor: A Journey in Finding Purpose and Place

Join us in our conversation with the revolutionary Dr. Alan Cheville of Bucknell University exploring his journey to and through engineering education from Physics to Photonics to revolutionary departmental efforts to transform engineering education. He shares with us his philosophy related to dealing with change in these uncertain times, but most notably he encourages us to hold onto hope and to each other. He’s a scholar after our own hearts with pithy quotes and words of wisdom. 

Name Drop

Jennifer Turns

Ron Ulseth

Becky Bates

Dr. London and Dr. Ross reflect on the season including our favorites and insights followed by some words of encouragement for our fellow scholars impacted by the change in priorities of the nation and subsequent grant terminations. We acknowledge the work of scholars who may feel devalued in this changing times, we call for the generational fight for academic freedom, and announce a change in the season to come.

As scholars who have received terminations in recent weeks, we offer below some resources. 

National Science Foundation PAPPG Informal resolution of award adminstration disputes

Code of Federal Regulations Termination and standard closeout costs

Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom Action Report #6

Action Plan & Appeal for Illegal NSF Grant terminations

Updates on NSF priorities

Bridge funding opportunities: Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program 

We'd also like to acknowledge the tireless, thankless, and often cruel work that our colleagues at federal agencies are enduring. We see you too.

Join us in listening to the ways in which Reverend Dr. Tamecia Jones honors her many talents, callings, and selves as she designs research and navigates the academy. She will share the ways in which her background, experiences, and core values shape her work. She will hip us to epistemic frames and the ways we can reimagine assessment of knowledge acquisition that is not punitive and painful.

Name drop:

Cindy Atman, University of Washington

Learning Sciences, Stanford

K-12, Tufts University - Trevion Henderson, Greses Pérez

Join us as we discuss Black feminist theory and intersectionality with Dr. Yolanda Rankin. She led us through the historical foundation and her hopes for the future of intersectionality, feminist scholarship, computing, and computing education. She discusses the messiness of the theory and challenges us to continue to muddle through that messiness so that we might do better as a discipline. The chat was both insightful and hopeful. Enjoy!

Name Drop

Dr. Jakita Owens, Auburn University

Dr. Shawna Erete, University of Maryland

bell hooks

Angela Y. Davis

Brittany Cooper

Patricia Hill Collins

Nicki Washington

Article mention

Ross, M. S. (2023). Let’s have that conversation: How limited epistemological beliefs exacerbates inequities and will continue to be a barrier to broadening participation. ACM Transactions on Computing Education, 23(2), 1-4.

Listen to Dr. Smith’s predictions of the future of Engineering Education by first exploring the seven shifts in engineering education over the last 20 years. You are in for treat as he unpacks the themes that have emerged upon reflection on where we’ve been and how it shapes where we are headed. 

Name Drop/Links:

The Future of the University – Part 1 – JEE Academic Bookshelf Revisited

https://karlsmithmn.org/reflections/the-future-of-the-university-part-1-jee-academic-bookshelf-revisited/

ASEE Reports

https://www.asee.org/publications/asee-publications/asee-reports

Financial Alignment with Inclusive Teaching Excellence (FAITE) 

 https://faiteworkshop2024.blogspot.com/

https://ascnhighered.org/ASCN/cost_benefit.html

https://cdn.serc.carleton.edu/files/ASCN/20240422_faite_ascn_workshop_brief.v4.pdf

Tom Fisher (former Dean, College of Design, UMN) - Fisher, T. (2022).Space, structures and design in a post-pandemic world. New York: Routledge.

Bryan Rosenberg (Former president of Macalester College) -  Rosenberg, B. (2023). Whatever it is, I’m against it: Resistance to Change in Higher Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. I’m working on my next JEE Academic Bookshelf reflection essay on the future of engineering education and am deeply immersed in the multitude of books on the future of higher education. Currently I have 19 books in my ereader library and another 12 in print on my bookshelf.

We do touch on the unrest in 2020 that gripped the nation catalyzed by the murder of George Floyd. As to honor the movement and those lost, please visit the Say their Names project. 

References Cited

Fisher, T. (2022).Space, structures and design in a post-pandemic world.New York: Routledge.

Fisher, T. (2024). The ‘Phygital’ Future: What Campuses Will Look Like. What higher ed will look like in 10 years: Fundamental change is coming quickly.  The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Froyd, J. E., Wankat, P. C., & Smith, K. A. (2012). Five major shifts in 100 years of engineering education. Proceedings of the IEEE, 100, 1344–1360.

Mann, C. R. (1918). A study of engineering education: prepared for the Joint committee on engineering education of the national engineering societies (No. 11). Merrymount Press.

Rosenberg, B. (2023). Whatever it is, I’m against it: Resistance to Change in Higher Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press

Smith (2010) Social nature of learning: From small groups to learning communities. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2010, 123, 11-22 [NDTL-123-2-Smith-Social_Basis_of_Learning-.pdf]

Smith, K. 2011.Cooperative Learning: Lessons and Insights from Thirty Years of Championing a Research-Based Innovative Practice [Smith-FIE-CL-1240-10-draft.pdf]

Smith, K.A. & Chavela Guerra, R. (2021). Learning in the time of coronavirus. ASEE Webinar, March 30, 2021. Link to recording. Link to slides.

Smith, K.A. & Felder, R.M. (2023). Cooperative Learning in Engineering Education: The Story of an Ongoing Uphill Climb. In Robyn Gillies, Barbara Millis, and Neil Davidson, eds. Contemporary Global Perspectives on Cooperative Learning Link to Draft

Streveler R., and Smith K. (2020), Course design in the time of coronavirus: Put on your designer’s CAP. Advances in Engineering Education. https://advances.asee.org/opinion-course-design-in-the-time-of-coronavirus-put-on-your-designers-cap/

Join us as we discuss engineering education in Australia, with a focus on the career path of Dr. Anne Gardner, an Associate Dean at the University of Technology Sydney. Dr. Gardner shares her journey into engineering education, her current research projects, leadership roles, and the focus areas of the engineering education community in Australia. We also discuss collaborations with scholars in Australia and the upcoming engineering education conference - Austaliasian Engineering Education (A2E2). 

Dr. Mark Guzdial of the University of Michigan and Dr. Adrienne Decker of the University at Buffalo share their definitions of computing education and computer science education and how these disciplines fit or in some cases do not yet fit in engineering education. Listen to this engaging discussion about the history of computing, a preview of the state of computing education, and some aspirations of the future of these disciplines in engineering education. 

Name Drop

Barbara Ericson

Katie Cunningham

Bahare Naimipour

Aman Yadav

Sean Mackay

Holliday Sims

Dr. Villanueva Alarcón shares with us how she arrived at hidden curriculum as a theoretical framework, how she’s adapted it for engineering education and the ways she continues to extend this very insightful framework that has roots in sociology, psychology, and disability studies. 

Name Drop

Drs. James Holly Jr, Monica Cox, Alex Mejia, Renata Revelo, Joyce Main

Drs. Karina Vielma, Jeremy Waisome, Sindia Rivera, Janice Mejia, Saira Anwar