In 2016, the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department at Midsized Northeastern University was awarded The National Science Foundation’s Revolutionizing Engineering and computer science Departments (RED) grant. The motivation for the RED grant was to allow institutions to improve the inclusion of minorities over the course of five years. The CEE Department used this opportunity to create a research group called Revolutionizing Engineering Diversity (RevED) in order to focus on helping underrepresented and underserved populations of students. The researchers sought out inclusive practices that cover visible and non-visible differences within students. The research group’s focus on diversity and inclusion also serves as a means to improve the recruitment and retention of students along with their development as engineering professionals. Currently, RevED is in the fourth year of the grant. While the CEE Department has looked to improve itself by looking critically at recruitment, faculty developed inclusive pedagogy, and student perception of campus climate, there is more effort in getting these initiatives to spread within the greater institution and even out to other institutions who are interested in improving their own inclusivity. The CEE Department has undergone evaluation of what impacts can be felt by students and student interviews have occurred that allow the researchers to gain first hand student insight for what the climate of diversity is like for them. As in previous years, this poster intends to show a variety of the developments made by the RevED research group and the CEE Department. The poster will feature information on the changing student demographics, student perception of the climate of diversity, the impact evaluations of the CEE Department’s efforts and an overview of larger institution wide efforts being made to positively impact the entire engineering college and university. As the RevED team enters its final years, the poster will also discuss plans on engaging the broader engineering academic community in order to establish best practices for implementing diversity and inclusion initiatives in other programs.
Tiago Forin is a PhD candidate in Engineering Education and researcher at Purdue University affiliated with XRoads Research Group, the Global Engineering Program and the Office of Institutional Research, Assessment, and Effectiveness. He received a Bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Florida State University and a Master's degree in environmental engineering from Purdue University.
Dr. Stephanie Farrell is Interim Dean of the College of Engineering and Professor and Founding Chair of Experiential Engineering Education at Rowan University (USA). Dr. Farrell has contributed to engineering education through her work in inductive pedagogy, spatial skills, and inclusion and diversity. She has been honored by the American Society of Engineering Education with several teaching awards such as the 2004 National Outstanding Teaching Medal and the 2005 Quinn Award for experiential learning, and she was 2014-15 Fulbright Scholar in Engineering Education at Dublin Institute of Technology (Ireland).
Kauser Jahan, is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rowan University. She received her B.S.C.E. from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, an MSCE from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Her passion as an educator and mentor has been recognized by many professional organizations over the years. She is the recipient of the Gloucester County Women of Achievement Award, Lindback Foundation Teaching Award, the NJ ASCE Educator of the Year award, the Gary J. Hunter Excellence in Mentoring Award, the ASEE Environmental Engineering Division Meritorious Service Award, the ASEE Women in Engineering Division Sharon A. Keillor Award and the WEPAN Women in Engineering Initiative Award. She has been instrumental in establishing the Attracting Women into Engineering, the Engineers on Wheels and Engineering Clinics for Teachers programs at Rowan University. She has served as the Institutional Representative and Advisory Board Chair for the Women's Professional Network at Rowan University for six years and currently is an advisory board member of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Council on Education (ACE) Office of Women in Higher Education (OWHE). She received a Fulbright award in 2015.
Stephanie is a Ph.D. candidate studying postsecondary and higher education. Using organizational theories, she examines systems and structures that contribute to the oppression and symbolic violence of minoritized and underrepresented students. Her dissertation focuses on institutional messages about diversity and inclusion in engineering.
Beena Sukumaran has been on the faculty at Rowan University since 1998 and is currently Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. She is currently serving as Vice President for Research. Her area of expertise is in micro-geomechanics and has published over 100 peer reviewed conference and journal papers including several papers on engineering education and the unique undergraduate curriculum at Rowan University, especially the Engineering Clinics. She has been involved in various outreach activities to recruit more women and minorities into engineering and has served as Division Chair of the Women in Engineering Division. She is the recipient of the 2011 New Jersey Section of ASCE Educator of the Year award as well as the 2013 Distinguished Engineering Award from the New Jersey Alliance for Action.
Professor of Sociology, Chair of Sociology and Anthropology Department, Rowan University. Co-p.i. of RED NSF RevED project at Rowan University. ֵEditor-in-chief, Contemporary Jewry.
Dr. Ralph Dusseau is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey. Dr. Dusseau is also serving as the Associate Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and is Coordinator of the Engineering Management Programs at Rowan University. Dr. Dusseau was an Assistant and Associate Professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan from 1985 to 1995. Dr. Dusseau was the Founding Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rowan University from 1995 to 2008.
Theresa Bruckerhoff is the Principal Research Associate and Operations Manager at CRE., with nearly twenty-five years of evaluation experience, ten years as the principal evaluator. She studies and evaluates training, professional development and other education change programs funded by state, federal and private sources and is a member of the American Evaluation Association, ASEE, and other content and education focused professional organizations.
Dr. Sarah Bauer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rowan University. Dr. Bauer holds a doctoral degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. Dr. Bauer is the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships as a young professional. Her primary research interests are: water and wastewater treatment, renewable energy technologies, and pollution prevention. She has worked on a variety of educational projects to enhance environmental engineering education while at Rowan University. Dr. Bauer is an active member of ASEE and the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and currently serves as the Faculty Advisor for Rowan’s Student Chapter of SWE.
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