Workshop: Wired for Connection, Not Perfection: Embracing Imperfection in the Engineering Space
- Conference
- Location
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University of Maryland - College Park, Maryland
- Publication Date
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July 27, 2025
- Start Date
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July 27, 2025
- End Date
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July 29, 2025
- Conference Session
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WORKSHOP II: Wired for Connection, Not Perfection: Embracing Imperfection in the Engineering Space
- Tagged Topic
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FYEE 2025
- Page Count
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4
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--55290
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/55290
- Download Count
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13
Paper Authors
Audrey Gilfillan Applied Wellness Initiatives
Audrey earned her master’s in educational psychology from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Audrey has experience in a broad range of professional disciplines including psychotherapy, career counseling, academic coaching, consulting, training, and supervision. In this work, she has developed a specialty in supporting engineers and their mental health while they continue to pursue their professional goals. Building on her therapeutic skills for engineers, Audrey co-authored Decompile Your Mind: An Engineer’s Guide to Thoughts and Emotions. Moreover, she co-founded Applied Wellness Initiatives to help educators and managers confidently support the mental health and performance of their students and employees within occupational settings. Her special interests include emotional regulation, supporting leaders as they support the mental health of their teams, neurodiversity, values-based decision making, executive functioning skills, and effective communication. In her free time, Audrey enjoys hiking, reading, and spending time with friends and family (and pets!).
Alison West Applied Wellness Initiatives
Alison earned her master’s in counseling and human services at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS). Alison’s clinical training and background reach far and wide; from working with individuals in crisis, to providing ongoing therapeutic care, to helping vulnerable populations navigate convoluted systems, Alison has seen up close the variability of needs within the mental health continuum. One of Alison’s greatest passions is providing mental health support for engineering students, who in her opinion, are some of the most driven, resilient, and delightful people she has ever met. In addition to providing individual therapy, Alison works closely with faculty, staff, and student leaders to respond to the unique challenges of engineers–developing personalized programming and resources. Most recently, Alison has focused her efforts on supporting the mental wellness of first-year engineering students by pioneering a peer-led wellness group. Her passion for tailored approaches to mental wellness is what led Alison to co-author Decompile Your Mind: An Engineer’s Guide to Thoughts and Emotions, and co-found Applied Wellness Initiatives. Her special interests include mindfulness, boundaries, emotion regulation, and collective efforts to support and destigmatize mental health. Alison spends most of her spare time chasing around her two rambunctious sons, pretending to be a dinosaur; she also enjoys drawing, listening to podcasts, and playing her drum set.
Abstract
The engineering discipline attracts some of the world’s most creative, bright, and logical thinkers. Engineering students often approach their first year of college having developed their identity around being the “smart, talented one” in high school, and have learned to fit in through fulfilling their role as the “high-achiever”. Once college starts, it is common for this sense of identity to become shaky as classes become more difficult and they are surrounded by fellow high-achievers. This can be a destabilizing period which brings uncertainty about how they can relate to others and fit in with their peers. It can also be an opportunity to challenge long-held beliefs about what it means to connect with others.
Presenters will help attendees consider ways to support students navigating this transition period. They will highlight how one’s rigid beliefs about what it means to be a “good student” can create barriers to connection. This workshop includes interactive exercises, exploration of alternative approaches to connection, and fruitful discussions centered on the application of these skills and concepts to participants' work.
Gilfillan, A., & West, A. (2025, July), Workshop: Wired for Connection, Not Perfection: Embracing Imperfection in the Engineering Space Paper presented at FYEE 2025 Conference, University of Maryland - College Park, Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--55290
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