Board 123: Developing Changemaking Engineers – Year Three
- Conference
- Location
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Salt Lake City, Utah
- Publication Date
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June 23, 2018
- Start Date
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June 23, 2018
- End Date
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July 27, 2018
- Conference Session
- Tagged Topic
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NSF Grantees Poster Session
- Page Count
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8
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--29903
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/29903
- Download Count
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488
Paper Authors
Chell A. Roberts University of San Diego
Chell A. Roberts is the founding dean of the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering at the University of San Diego.
Before joining USD, Roberts served as the Executive Dean of the College of Technology and Innovation at Arizona State University. During his first few years as dean at USD, Dr. Roberts led a team to win a $2 Million NSF Grant to revolutionize engineering education. The award focuses on creating "Changemaking Engineers" and seeks to transform the engineering mindset to infuse sustainability, social justice, peace, and humanitarian practices in the context of and professional skills of engineering.
Susan M. Lord University of San Diego
Susan M. Lord received a B.S. from Cornell University and the M.S. and Ph.D. from Stanford University. She is currently Professor and Chair of Electrical Engineering at the University of San Diego. Her teaching and research interests include electronics, optoelectronics, materials science, first year engineering courses, feminist and liberative pedagogies, engineering student persistence, and student autonomy. Her research has been sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Dr. Lord is a fellow of the ASEE and IEEE and is active in the engineering education community including serving as General Co-Chair of the 2006 Frontiers in Education (FIE) Conference, on the FIE Steering Committee, and as President of the IEEE Education Society for 2009-2010. She is an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Education and the Journal of Engineering Education. She and her coauthors were awarded the 2011 Wickenden Award for the best paper in the Journal of Engineering Education and the 2011 and 2015 Best Paper Awards for the IEEE Transactions on Education. In Spring 2012, Dr. Lord spent a sabbatical at Southeast University in Nanjing, China.
Michelle M. Camacho University of San Diego
Michelle Madsen Camacho is Professor and co-PI on the NSF-sponsored grant, "REvolutionizing Engineering and Computer Science Departments" (RED) at the University of San Diego. She is a former Fellow of the American Council on Education. Her research focuses on inequities in STEM education using quantitative and qualitative research methodologies and theories from interdisciplinary sources including cultural studies, critical race, gender and feminist theories. Her book, the Borderlands of Education, is co-authored with Susan Lord, Professor of Electrical Engineering. Camacho is affiliated faculty with the Department of Ethnic Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, and the School of Peace and Justice. On the RED grant, her work focuses on the mechanisms that produce organizational transformation.
Rick Olson University of San Diego
Rick T. Olson is Associate Dean in the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering at the University of San Diego. His research interests lay in engineering student persistence, and applied operations research. He is active in outreach activities targeting underrepresented populations and has received NSF funding to support U.S. military veterans, community college transfer students, and innovative engineering education. He has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, and M.S. in Industrial Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering with emphasis in Operations Research from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Leonard A. Perry University of San Diego
Dr. Leonard Perry (ISE) has research interests in the area of system improvement via quality improvement methods especially in the area of applied statistics, statistical process control, and design of experiments. Dr. Perry consults, instructs, and collaborates on quality improvement projects with representatives from biotech, health care, defense, and traditional manufacturing institutions. He has been an instructor for the Six Sigma Black belt training at the Six Sigma Institute for three years. He is a UCSD Certified Six-Sigma Master Black-Belt and an ASQ Certified Quality Engineer.
Abstract
Developing Changemaking Engineers – Year Three
This paper describes progress to date resulting from a National Science Foundation (NSF) IUSE/PFE Revolutionizing engineering and computer science Departments (RED) grant. Traditionally, engineering students are trained technically, with less focus on critical examinations of assumptions within engineering practice, and less emphasis on the larger contexts in which engineering is embedded. With funding from this RED grant, our School of Engineering is working to produce and disseminate a model for redefining the “engineering canon” with the goal of developing “Changemaking Engineers”. This revised canon teaches technical skills within a contextual framework that includes humanitarian, sustainable, and social justice approaches. This requires an enhanced curriculum that also includes a focus on student teamwork, a greater consideration of social and economic factors, improved communication with diverse constituents, and reflection on an ethical understanding of decisions and solutions. This broader perspective of engineering practice will produce graduates who can address a wider range of societal problems bringing new perspectives to traditional areas.
In this paper, we will review our efforts towards achieving this vision, including: • Establishing a foundation for a revised engineering canon to include greater integration of professional practices and societal responsibilities that includes the development of new courses and modules. We will discuss the process of helping faculty develop new course materials through the offering of RED-related workshops and partnerships in module development. We will summarize the resulting course materials including a new interdisciplinary course focusing on drones and peace, the redesign on an engineering course focusing on user centered design, and short modules for courses throughout the school. • Developing professional skills including greater connections between technical knowledge and professional practice through an industry-developed “Industry Scholars Program” for both faculty and students. We will summarize the evaluation of the first offering of this program including student and industry surveys. • Creating a foundation for developing a faculty that embraces the redefined engineering canon and the professional spine that includes workshop and strategic planning sessions. We review our efforts of aligning with USD’s Strategic Plan: “Envisioning 2020” to generate greater faculty collaboration, as well as the benefits and pitfalls of drawing on a campus master plan in striving for faculty buy-in. • Developing a new “General Engineering” major staffed with cluster hires around the RED proposal themes. We discuss how new structural formations lead to innovative collaboration opportunities. • Establishing partnerships to develop a culture of change within the school, across campus, and outside of the university that include hosting a Social Justice, Engineering, and Peace (ESJP) conference and developing relationships with other scholars seeking to change engineering-learning in similar contexts.
Taken together, our faculty and course development activities provide an emerging model for change for similar institution types and a platform for change that moves from narrowly-constructed, techno-centric epistemological approaches to a holistic perspective that empowers graduates to impact society by innovating within the contexts of social justice, peace, humanitarian advancement, and sustainable practices.
Roberts, C. A., & Lord, S. M., & Camacho, M. M., & Olson, R., & Perry, L. A. (2018, June), Board 123: Developing Changemaking Engineers – Year Three Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--29903
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