Under ideal circumstances, engineering cultures in academia and industry bring out the best in people; e.g., faculty, students, and administrators in academia, and employees, clients, and public stakeholders in industry. Bringing out our best performances increases career satisfaction and productivity. Yet we also recognize that the engineering education and industry cultures we inhabit often fall (far) short of that ideal.
Many of us in engineering education are working towards the transformation and healing of the engineering profession and engineering education cultures – while individually striving to be more authentically ourselves. We recognize that our inner work is directly linked to our outer community. This panel represents the collective thinking of a group of engineering educators in different paths and stages in our careers. We come together to discuss how we--with your help--might move engineering education and the engineering profession in a more humanitarian, soul-fulfilling direction. We recognize the task in front of us is massive. Think of it as moving a pile of watermelons a few kilometers. The movement towards transformation requires all of us to stand up and take a share. However, we must also recognize our personal limitations – we cannot hold too many watermelons and expect to move forward. We need to come together and balance the load.
This panel session will begin with panelists briefly describing how in their own journey they encountered barriers and/or opportunities to bringing their whole self to engineering education. The panel will then move into what we hope is a lively discussion among participants around the following queries:
-What are the barriers to bringing your whole self to your work?
-What opportunities can help you bring your whole self to your work?
-If you are able to bring your whole self to your work, what does that look like for you?
-What principles of inclusion and healing might facilitate a cultural transformation in engineering education and the engineering profession?
-What could be possible?
Angela Bielefeldt is a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering (CEAE) and Director for the Engineering Plus program. She has served as the Associate Chair for Undergraduate
http://orcid.org/https://0000-0001-7434-3354
Colorado School of Mines
[biography]
Jon A. Leydens is Professor of Engineering Education Research in the Division of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at the Colorado School of Mines, USA. Dr. Leydens' research and teaching interests are in engineering education, communication, and social justice.
Ann D. Christy, PE, is a professor of Food, Agricultural, and Biological Engineering and a professor of Engineering Education at the Ohio State University (OSU). She earned both her B.S. in agricultural engineering and M.S. in biomedical engineering at O
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4550-4996
Louisiana State University and A&M College
[biography]
Marybeth is Cliff & Nancy Spanier Alumni Professor and Chair of the Department of Biological & Agricultural Engineering. She co-authored the textbook Service-Learning: Engineering in Your Community (Oxford University Press) with Bill Oakes and is the author of Building Playgrounds Engaging Communities: Creating Safe and Happy Places for Children (LSU Press).
Dr. Malini Natarajarathinam joined the faculty of Industrial Distribution Program at Texas A&M University in 2007. Natarajarathinam received her Ph.D. in Supply Chain Management from The University of Alabama. She received her Bachelor of Engineering (Major: Industrial and Systems Engineering) from Anna University [Tamilnadu, India], her MS in Industrial Engineering from Auburn University, her MA in Management Science and MS in Applied Statistics from The University of Alabama. She has experience working with many industries such as automotive, chemical distribution etc. on transportation and operations management projects. She works extensively with food banks and food pantries on supply chain management and logistics focused initiatives. Her graduate and undergraduate students are integral part of her service-learning based logistics classes.
She teaches courses in strategic relationships among industrial distributors and distribution logistics. Her recent research focuses on engineering education and learning sciences with a focus on how to engage students better to prepare their minds for the future. Her other research interests include empirical studies to assess impact of good supply chain practices such as coordinated decision making in stochastic supply chains, handling supply chains during times of crisis and optimizing global supply chains on the financial health of a company. She has published her research in Journal of Business Logistics, International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management and peer-reviewed proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education.
r. Julia Thompson is an Assistant Professor at University of San Francisco. She has a passion for integrating the soul’s work into the engineering design process and technology. She is driven to help students, and people in general, look at technology as a pathway toward healing of earth and unjust social structure. Julia did her undergrad in chemical engineering at UC Berkeley and her PhD in engineering education at Purdue. Her research interests focus on how engineering design practices impact the relationships that engineering programs create with the community.
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