Intersection of Design and Society: Student and Faculty Reflection on an Interdisciplinary Course

James K. Nelson; Celeste Arden Riley; Jeffrey John Hatala; Andrew Crawford; London Knight; Victoria June Vinzant

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Conference: 2025 ASEE -GSW Annual Conference
Location: Arlington, TX, Texas
Publication Date: March 9, 2025
Start Date: March 9, 2025
End Date: March 11, 2025
Page Count: 14
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--55064
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/55064
Download Count: 15

Paper Authors

biography

James K. Nelson Jr. P.E. Texas A&M University System RELLIS Campus

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Dr. James K. Nelson received a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree from the University of Dayton in 1974. He received the Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in civil engineering from the University of Houston. During his graduate study, Dr. Nelson specialized in structural engineering. He is a registered professional engineer in three states, a Chartered Engineer in the United Kingdom, and a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Prior to receiving his Ph.D. in 1983, Dr. Nelson worked as a design engineer in industry and taught as a lecturer at the University of Houston and Texas A&M University at Galveston. In industry he was primarily involved in design of floating and fixed structures for the offshore petroleum industry. After receiving his Ph.D., Dr. Nelson joined the civil engineering faculty at Texas A&M University. He joined the civil engineering faculty at Clemson University in 1989 as Program Director and founder of the Clemson University Graduate Engineering Programs at The Citadel and became Chair of Civil Engineering in 1998. While at Clemson he received the Award for Faculty Excellence.
In July 2002, Dr. Nelson joined the faculty at Western Michigan University as Chair of Civil and Construction Engineering. At Western Michigan he started the civil engineering undergraduate and graduate degree programs and also chaired the Departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Industrial Design. In May 2005 he joined the faculty at The University of Texas at Tyler. At UT Tyler he was the founding chair of the Department of Civil Engineering and instituted the bachelor’s and master’s degree programs. In 2006 he became the Dean of Engineering. While serving as Dean, enrollments in the college grew over 250 percent. He returned to Texas A&M in January 2016 and currently serves as Associate Vice Chancellor and Director of the RELLIS Academic Alliance for the Texas A&M University System. His current responsibilities focus on development of the RELLIS Academic Alliance on the A&M System RELLIS Campus, which is a collaborative initiative among all A&M System institutions for offering degree and workforce programs in the Brazos Valley in collaboration with Blinn College District.
Dr. Nelson's primary technical research interest is the behavior of structural systems. For over 35 years he has been actively involved in evaluating the behavior of free-fall lifeboats and the development of analytical tools to predict that behavior. His research has formed the basis for many of the regulations of the International Maritime Organization for free-fall lifeboat performance. Since 1988, Dr. Nelson has served as a technical advisor to the United States Delegation to the International Maritime Organization, which is a United Nations Treaty Organization. In that capacity, he is a primary author of the international recommendation for testing free-fall lifeboats and many of the international regulations regarding the launch of free-fall lifeboats. In 1996 Dr. Nelson received the United States Marine Safety Award for accomplishments furthering the cause of safety in the marine industry.
He has authored many technical papers that have been presented in national and international forums and co-authored three textbooks. Dr. Nelson chaired a national committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers for curriculum redesign supporting the civil engineering body of knowledge. He is actively engaged in developing strategies for enhancing the STEM education pipeline in Texas and nationally, and has testified before the Texas Senate and House Higher Education Committees in that regard. He chaired the councils for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board developing statewide articulation compacts for several engineering and science programs. He chaired the Engineering Field of Study Committee for the Coordinating Board. Dr. Nelson was the primary architect of the UT Tyler Houston Engineering Center through which UT Tyler’s engineering programs are available to students in Houston. He also served on the Texas State Board of Education committee preparing the standards for career and technical education. In addition, Dr. Nelson served as the chair of the academic advisory committee for the Texas Board of Registration for Professional Engineers, and chaired the task committee to enhance faculty licensure.

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Celeste Arden Riley Texas A&M University - Kingsville

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Dr. Celeste Riley is an Assistant Professor of Practice in the Department of Psychology and Sociology at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, RELLIS Campus. She earned her bachelor's degree in Psychology and Biology from Southwestern University and her doctorate in Clinical Health Psychology/Behavioral Medicine from the University of North Texas. Her research explores interdisciplinary curriculum development in collaboration with STEM fields such as computer science, health science, and engineering.

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Jeffrey John Hatala West Texas A&M University

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Dr. Hatala has most recently worked with faculty at different universities and in different disciplines (psychology and engineering) to develop and team-teach a interdisciplinary project-based team-based course for teaching the balance between design and societal impact on physical and emotional health on the local and regional levels.

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Abstract

A new technical interdisciplinary course entitled “The Intersection of Society and Design” [1] was developed collaboratively and implemented by three departments at three separate universities on a single campus. It is a team-based, project-based course that is co-taught by a faculty member from engineering, from health science, and from psychology. This course is unique in its ability to challenge and broaden the students’ perspectives by integrating all three disciplines into one unified design framework. The overarching goal of the course was to explicitly address two increasingly important issues in undergraduate engineering education, namely: • Understanding the impact of engineering on society and enabling a balance between design requirements and societal wellness, and • Communicating effectively with constituents and stakeholders across diverse disciplines and backgrounds. As developed, this course explicitly addresses four societal impact outcomes in ABET Criterion 3: Student Outcomes 2, 3, 4, 5, which emphasize the public health and safety impacts of design, ethical decision-making, collaborative productivity as a team member, and effective communication with diverse audiences. [2] In addition, this course is supportive of the Engineering One Planet (EOP) program of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) [3]. During early class sessions, the course introduced students to the other disciplines and the Restorative Cities model established by Roe and McCay [4], and then equipped them with tools for team collaboration. The instructors then transitioned the students to team projects, which entailed designing a new rapid rail route connecting three urban areas, each with unique cultures, public health needs, and established infrastructure to consider. Development of the course presented interesting challenges and opportunities for the involved faculty who traditionally do not teach together and for the students who now must think about things outside of their field of study. All needed to learn to communicate discipline-specific topics to individuals outside of their discipline. This paper focuses on faculty reflections on the development and implementation of the course, and on student reflections as they engaged in an interdisciplinary group project emphasizing restorative design, group process, and the balance of community health and financial restrictions. Analysis integrating faculty and student perspectives will address course challenges, successes, unexpected outcomes, and needed change for future offerings. Unique aspects of interdisciplinary course design, curricular innovation, and balance of student learning outcomes across multiple disciplines will be given special attention. The authors are grateful for the grant from ASEE to help support development of this course, and the support provided by The Texas A&M University System to underwrite faculty salary for the first offering.

References [1] J. Hatala, C. Riley and J. K. Nelson, "Shared Responsibility for Positive Societal Impact: An Interdisciplinary Course," in Submitted for Consideration for the Proceedings of the 2025 ASEE Conference and Exposition, Montreal, 2025. [2] ABET, "Criteria for Accrediting Engineering Programs, 2024-2025," 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.abet.org/accreditation/accreditation-criteria/criteria-for-accrediting-engineering-programs-2024-2025/. [Accessed September 2024]. [3] ASEE, "Engineering One Planet," 2024. [Online]. Available: https://engineeringforoneplanet.org/. [Accessed September 2024]. [4] J. Roe and L. McCay, Restorative Cities: Urban Design for Mental Health and Wellbeing, London: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2021.

Citation
Format

Nelson, J. K., & Riley, C. A., & Hatala, J. J., & Crawford, A., & Knight, L., & Vinzant, V. J. (2025, March), Intersection of Design and Society: Student and Faculty Reflection on an Interdisciplinary Course Paper presented at 2025 ASEE -GSW Annual Conference, Arlington, TX, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--55064

TY - CPAPER
AB - A new technical interdisciplinary course entitled “The Intersection of Society and Design” [1] was developed collaboratively and implemented by three departments at three separate universities on a single campus. It is a team-based, project-based course that is co-taught by a faculty member from engineering, from health science, and from psychology. This course is unique in its ability to challenge and broaden the students’ perspectives by integrating all three disciplines into one unified design framework. The overarching goal of the course was to explicitly address two increasingly important issues in undergraduate engineering education, namely:
• Understanding the impact of engineering on society and enabling a balance between design requirements and societal wellness, and
• Communicating effectively with constituents and stakeholders across diverse disciplines and backgrounds.
As developed, this course explicitly addresses four societal impact outcomes in ABET Criterion 3: Student Outcomes 2, 3, 4, 5, which emphasize the public health and safety impacts of design, ethical decision-making, collaborative productivity as a team member, and effective communication with diverse audiences. [2] In addition, this course is supportive of the Engineering One Planet (EOP) program of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) [3].
During early class sessions, the course introduced students to the other disciplines and the Restorative Cities model established by Roe and McCay [4], and then equipped them with tools for team collaboration. The instructors then transitioned the students to team projects, which entailed designing a new rapid rail route connecting three urban areas, each with unique cultures, public health needs, and established infrastructure to consider.
Development of the course presented interesting challenges and opportunities for the involved faculty who traditionally do not teach together and for the students who now must think about things outside of their field of study. All needed to learn to communicate discipline-specific topics to individuals outside of their discipline.
This paper focuses on faculty reflections on the development and implementation of the course, and on student reflections as they engaged in an interdisciplinary group project emphasizing restorative design, group process, and the balance of community health and financial restrictions. Analysis integrating faculty and student perspectives will address course challenges, successes, unexpected outcomes, and needed change for future offerings. Unique aspects of interdisciplinary course design, curricular innovation, and balance of student learning outcomes across multiple disciplines will be given special attention.
The authors are grateful for the grant from ASEE to help support development of this course, and the support provided by The Texas A&amp;amp;M University System to underwrite faculty salary for the first offering.

References
[1] J. Hatala, C. Riley and J. K. Nelson, &quot;Shared Responsibility for Positive Societal Impact: An Interdisciplinary Course,&quot; in Submitted for Consideration for the Proceedings of the 2025 ASEE Conference and Exposition, Montreal, 2025.
[2] ABET, &quot;Criteria for Accrediting Engineering Programs, 2024-2025,&quot; 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.abet.org/accreditation/accreditation-criteria/criteria-for-accrediting-engineering-programs-2024-2025/. [Accessed September 2024].
[3] ASEE, &quot;Engineering One Planet,&quot; 2024. [Online]. Available: https://engineeringforoneplanet.org/. [Accessed September 2024].
[4] J. Roe and L. McCay, Restorative Cities: Urban Design for Mental Health and Wellbeing, London: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2021.

AU - James K. Nelson Jr. P.E.
AU - Celeste Arden Riley
AU - Jeffrey John Hatala
AU - Andrew Crawford
AU - London Knight
AU - Victoria June Vinzant
CY - Arlington, TX, Texas
DA - 2025/03/09
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Intersection of Design and Society: Student and Faculty Reflection on an Interdisciplinary Course
UR - https://peer.asee.org/55064
DO - 10.18260/1-2--55064
ER -