Peace Engineering: Investigating Multidisciplinary and Interdisciplinary Effects in a Team-Based Course About Drones
- 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 Division
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Multidisciplinary Engineering
- Tagged Topic
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Diversity
- Page Count
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19
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--30862
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/30862
- Download Count
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1424
Paper Authors
Elizabeth A. Reddy University of San Diego
Elizabeth Reddy is a post-doctoral research associate at the University of San Diego’s Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering. She is a social scientist, holding a PhD in cultural anthropology from the University of California at Irvine and an MA in Social Science from the University of Chicago. She is Co-Chair of the Committee for the Anthropology of Science, Technology and Computing in the American Anthropological Association. She studies experts and their work in relation to environments, technologies, and human lives. Her current research projects deal with earthquake risk management technology in Mexico and the United States, environmental data justice in the US/Mexican borderlands, and the development and practice of engineering expertise.
Gordon D Hoople
University of San Diego
orcid.org/0000-0002-2663-4664
Dr. Gordon D. Hoople is an assistant professor of general engineering at the University of San Diego. His research interests lie in microfluidics, rapid prototyping, genomics, engineering ethics, and engineering education. He earned his MS and PhD in mechanical engineering from University of California, Berkeley and a BS in engineering from Harvey Mudd College.
Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick
University of San Diego
orcid.org/0000-0002-9044-5921
Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick is a writer and professor at the Kroc School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego. His work focuses on politics, culture, technology, and social change. He is the author of What Slaveholders Think (2017, Columbia) and co-editor of From Human Trafficking to Human Rights (2012, Pennsylvania). His newest book, Protest Tech, explores the ways tools and technologies are used to bring social change.
Michelle M. Camacho University of San Diego
Michelle Madsen Camacho is Professor in the Department of Sociology & Faculty Administrator at the University of San Diego and 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.
Abstract
The practice of engineering often involves problem solving in multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary teams. Undergraduate engineering students often are trained in disciplinary concepts and techniques of their specializations, but rarely given opportunities to reflect upon how they work with collaborators. Here, we discuss a course that brings students from engineering and non-engineering fields together to grapple with a technical and conceptual challenge: designing and building drones for humanitarian purposes. This paper describes an “Engineering Peace” course and discusses preliminary findings from surveys, focus groups, and observations regarding the course’s effects on students’ multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary skills. This material allows us to analyze the emergence of professional formation as engineers and non-engineers work together. While we understand this study to be limited in scope, the feedback provides preliminary evidence for collaborative research across disciplines and how professional skills are fostered in the classroom.
Reddy, E. A., & Hoople, G. D., & Choi-Fitzpatrick, A., & Camacho, M. M. (2018, June), Peace Engineering: Investigating Multidisciplinary and Interdisciplinary Effects in a Team-Based Course About Drones Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--30862
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