Board 34: Equity Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and Entrepreneurial Mindset Learning (EML) in Core Engineering Classes: A Case Study in Statics

Ghina Absi; Emily Williams Van Schaack

Download Paper | Permalink

Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Civil Engineering Division (CIVIL) Poster Session
Tagged Division: Civil Engineering Division (CIVIL)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/46921

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

Ghina Absi Vanderbilt University

visit author page

Ghina Absi is an Assistant Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department at Vanderbilt University. She teaches classes at the freshmen, sophomore and junior classes in Civil Engineering (Intro to Engineering, Statics, Mechanics of Materials) . She earned her BE and ME from the Saint Joseph University (ESIB) in Beirut, Lebanon, and worked for 5 years as a steel structures design engineer at a multinational firm (Dar Al-Handasah Shair and Co) based in Beirut. Absi then joined Vanderbilt University to pursue her PhD in Civil Engineering at Vanderbilt University (graduated 2019), focusing her research on risk and reliability of hypersonic structures. Absi is a licensed professional engineer in the state of TN.

Absi is passionate about education and promoting diversity in engineering. She serves as the advisor for the ASCE student chapter, the EDI liaison for the civil engineering department, and the KEEN (Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network) leader for the engineering school. A 2023 KEEN Engineering Unleashed fellow, Absi incorporates EDI as well as entrepreneurial mindset learning fostering curiosity, connections and creating value in design into her core classes with project-based learning techniques. She continually spearheads K-12 initiatives, especially for girls and underserved youth, to get them excited about engineering.

Outside work, Absi loves spending time with family. She enjoys traveling, hiking, biking, and the outdoors. Absi is trilingual in Arabic, English and French.

visit author page

author page

Emily Williams Van Schaack Vanderbilt University

Download Paper | Permalink

Abstract

A hands-on application project perfect for a statics course, with EDI (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion or DEI) and EML (Entrepreneurial Mindset Learning) focus.

In four-year college engineering programs, the middle two years are known to be largely lecture based with little innovative and entrepreneurial teaching applications. In this paper, we highlight a 7-week long hands-on, lab-based project in Statics, a core engineering class usually taken in the sophomore year of engineering tracks. This effort includes a real-life application design and manufacturing of a steel bridge prototype with a focus on equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in Civil Engineering. Students research the effects of civil infrastructure on communities and develop applicable solutions to these problems.

One of the largest infrastructure investments is arguably the Federal-Aid Highway act signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on June 29, 1956. The bill authorized the use of $25 billion handled in a Highway Trust Fund, in which federal money as well as state money was used to build the Interstate Highway System. Although designed to enhance national security and support the developing economy, the highways built disproportionately cut through thriving under-represented minoritized (URM) neighborhoods and decimated their communities. Currently, there is a push to re-tie these neighborhoods by building caps over the interstates to develop new community spaces.

Inspired by innovative efforts to remedy the effects of the Highway Act, the statics project teaches students to design and build a prototype of a steel bridge capping interstate 40 along Jefferson Street in Nashville TN. It utilizes statics concepts in structural analysis for truss design and moment of inertia calculations, and more advanced concepts from mechanics of materials in yielding and buckling. Students learn how to weld and assemble steel structures and test them in the lab. They compare the test results to their calculations. They involve the community in their design requesting feedback using written communication. They also reflect on the lessons learned, and how this can help them become better engineers in the future.

This project utilizes the Kern Family Foundation definition of entrepreneurial mindset learning by building on the 3Cs: Curiosity, Connections and Creating Value. It opens the door for students to research the effect of civil engineering infrastructure on communities and challenges them to be mindful about their future structural designs’ impacts. Students are taught to fix problems created by previous generations of engineers in an innovative fashion as they connect with the community they serve. This adds value to their design by learning what the community truly appreciates and needs.

We will be showing performance and qualitative data from cohorts of students who have taken traditional statics prior to this effort, cohorts who have done this project in statics, and a special undergraduate cohort that assisted the students in the lab (were involved in the hands-on portion) but did not do the full project (no EDI application). Future work based on this effort will create a balsa version of this bridge to ensure an equitable application without an economical burden.

Citation
Format

Absi, G., & Van Schaack, E. W. (2024, June), Board 34: Equity Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and Entrepreneurial Mindset Learning (EML) in Core Engineering Classes: A Case Study in Statics Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://strategy.asee.org/46921

TY - CPAPER
AB - A hands-on application project perfect for a statics course, with EDI (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion or DEI) and EML (Entrepreneurial Mindset Learning) focus.

In four-year college engineering programs, the middle two years are known to be largely lecture based with little innovative and entrepreneurial teaching applications. In this paper, we highlight a 7-week long hands-on, lab-based project in Statics, a core engineering class usually taken in the sophomore year of engineering tracks. This effort includes a real-life application design and manufacturing of a steel bridge prototype with a focus on equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in Civil Engineering. Students research the effects of civil infrastructure on communities and develop applicable solutions to these problems.

One of the largest infrastructure investments is arguably the Federal-Aid Highway act signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on June 29, 1956. The bill authorized the use of $25 billion handled in a Highway Trust Fund, in which federal money as well as state money was used to build the Interstate Highway System. Although designed to enhance national security and support the developing economy, the highways built disproportionately cut through thriving under-represented minoritized (URM) neighborhoods and decimated their communities. Currently, there is a push to re-tie these neighborhoods by building caps over the interstates to develop new community spaces.

Inspired by innovative efforts to remedy the effects of the Highway Act, the statics project teaches students to design and build a prototype of a steel bridge capping interstate 40 along Jefferson Street in Nashville TN. It utilizes statics concepts in structural analysis for truss design and moment of inertia calculations, and more advanced concepts from mechanics of materials in yielding and buckling. Students learn how to weld and assemble steel structures and test them in the lab. They compare the test results to their calculations. They involve the community in their design requesting feedback using written communication. They also reflect on the lessons learned, and how this can help them become better engineers in the future.

This project utilizes the Kern Family Foundation definition of entrepreneurial mindset learning by building on the 3Cs: Curiosity, Connections and Creating Value. It opens the door for students to research the effect of civil engineering infrastructure on communities and challenges them to be mindful about their future structural designs’ impacts. Students are taught to fix problems created by previous generations of engineers in an innovative fashion as they connect with the community they serve. This adds value to their design by learning what the community truly appreciates and needs.

We will be showing performance and qualitative data from cohorts of students who have taken traditional statics prior to this effort, cohorts who have done this project in statics, and a special undergraduate cohort that assisted the students in the lab (were involved in the hands-on portion) but did not do the full project (no EDI application). Future work based on this effort will create a balsa version of this bridge to ensure an equitable application without an economical burden.
AU - Ghina Absi
AU - Emily Williams Van Schaack
CY - Portland, Oregon
DA - 2024/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Board 34: Equity Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and Entrepreneurial Mindset Learning (EML) in Core Engineering Classes: A Case Study in Statics
UR - https://strategy.asee.org/46921
ER -