ASEE Vice President of Member Affairs
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ASEE Vice President of Member Affairs
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We are living in extraordinary times as citizens of the United States and the world. Digital transformation is affecting everyone and everything we do; globalization is a disruptive force to our business, industry, and societal structures; and climate change is an existential threat to humanity. In the United States, racial inequities are finally being recognized by many, and we are beginning to seek solutions that will finally lead to a nation that practices the idea that all are created equal.
How many creative problem solvers who would have become excellent engineers have we driven from our programs or never given an opportunity over the years? How many inventors and entrepreneurs have we failed to inspire to join our ranks? How many out-of-the-box thinkers have we lost from engineering due to the rigidity of our curriculum? For at least 50 years, we have endeavored to diversify the engineering profession with marginal success. Deficit-based efforts have attempted to “fix” underrepresented groups so that they could fit into the culture of engineering, but the systemic challenges facing diverse, aspiring engineers runs much deeper.
In June 2020, the current president of ASEE, Sheryl Sorby, challenged members to review the current state of engineering and engineering technology education in preparing engineers. This timely call is to create a Task Force to take a fresh look at the preparation of engineers and ways to fundamentally improve the access, diversity, success, and preparation of undergraduate engineering students. Their efforts will build upon the foundational work of the 1955 Grinter Report, which still has a significant influence on today’s engineering curricula. The Task Force will meet in an effort to develop recommendations for systemic engineering curriculum changes. A report will be written and shared with ASEE members and others as a guide to create the Engineering Mindset of the Future.
The Steering Committee recognizes the challenges facing the preparation of engineers and the daunting task required to systemically change the way engineers are prepared and have a plan to move forward. That plan includes the definition of the scope and charge for the full Task Force to accelerate the work of the Task Force. The full Task Force will be meeting in a series of facilitated workshops early in 2022. The goal of this proposed workshop series is to develop a roadmap for creating an inclusive, flexible, humanized, and multipath engineering curriculum for all learners that prepares engineers with the growth mindset required for a successful and unseeable future as engineers. Two key questions will be central to this effort: (1) What needs to happen, system-wide, to attract and retain a more diverse population of engineering students, and (2) How can we overcome the challenge of faculty adoption? Addressing both of these questions is vital to shaping fundamental, long-term improvements to undergraduate engineering education.
The true loss of human talent from engineering may never be known, but one aspect is clear: the work of this Task Force is essential. Without it, we are causing a great injustice and, furthermore, hindering our ability to solve our most challenging problems facing humanity.
This presentation by members of the Steering Committee will provide details into the proposed efforts and will seek input from ASEE members in attendance.
Dr. Gary R. Bertoline is the Dean of the Polytechnic Institute and a Distinguished Professor of Computer Graphics Technology and Computer & Information Technology at Purdue University. He earned his Ph.D. at the Ohio State University and was on the faculty in the College of Engineering for 3 years before coming to Purdue University in 1990. Gary served as founding Department Head of Computer Graphics Technology then led the creation of the Rosen Center for Advanced Computing and the Envision Center for Data Perceptualization.
He co-founded the Indiana Next Generation Manufacturing Competitiveness Center (INMaC) as well as the Polytechnic Institute initiative at Purdue University. The Polytechnic initiative at Purdue is a major effort to transform the learning experience of students to better prepare graduates for life and work in the digital age. Gary also is the visionary leader for the Purdue Polytechnic High Schools located in Indianapolis and South Bend, IN, which are charter schools with more planned. The high schools will help close the educational gap for many underserved students in the State of Indiana.
He has authored numerous papers in journals and trade publications on engineering and computer graphics, computer-aided design, and visualization research. He has authored and co-authored seven text books in the areas of computer-aided design and engineering design graphics with one, Fundamentals 3D Solid Modeling and Graphics Communications, currently in its 7th edition. Gary’s research interests are in scientific visualization, interactive immersive environments, intelligent manufacturing, distributed and grid computing, workforce education and STEM education. Before entering higher education, Gary was a middle and high school technology teacher for seven years in Ohio.
Dr. Kelly J. Cross, an assistant professor of chemical engineering at the University of Nevada Reno, is a culturally responsive practitioner, researcher, and educational leader. She earned her bachelor's of science in chemical engineering from Purdue University in 2007 and master's of science in materials science and engineering from the University of Cincinnati in 2011.
After completing the doctoral program in the Engineering Education Department at Virginia Tech in 2015, Cross worked as a postdoctoral researcher with the Illinois Foundry for Innovation in Engineering Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she worked to redesign the curriculum through the NSF Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) program in the Department of Bioengineering.
A member of the ASEE Leadership Virtual Community of Practice (LVCP) that organizes and facilitates Safe Zone Training workshops, Cross has conducted workshops on managing personal bias in STEM and promoting inclusion in higher education, online and in-person. Her research interests include diversity and inclusion in STEM, identity construction, intersectionality, teamwork and communication skills, and educational assessment. Her teaching philosophy focuses on student-centered approaches such as problem-based learning and culturally relevant pedagogy. Her complementary professional activities promote inclusive excellence through collaboration.
Dr. Joel Alejandro (Alex) Mejia is an assistant professor of integrated engineering at the University of San Diego. His current research investigates the funds of knowledge of Latinx adolescents and how they use these funds of knowledge to solve engineering problems in their communities. Mejia is particularly interested in how Latinx adolescents bring forth unique ways of knowing, doing, and being that provide them with particular ways of framing, approaching, and solving engineering problems.
He is also interested in engineering and literacy education for equity, engineering literacies in K-16 settings, equity-oriented instructional strategies that support engineering activity, the use and application of critical theories in engineering education, and the development of critical consciousness in engineering through social justice.
In spring 2019, Mejia was awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER grant to promote Latinx success in the field of engineering. This is the NSF's most prestigious award in support of faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and was the first ever NSF CAREER grant awarded at USD's Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering.
A former Gates Millennium Scholar and CADRE Fellow, Mejia received his Ph.D. in engineering education from Utah State University, M.S. from the University of Utah, and B.S. from the University of Texas at El Paso.
Karan L. Watson has served as provost and executive vice president since July 28, 2009 (interim for 18 months). She previously served as vice provost at Texas A&M University from December 2008 to July 2009 and as dean of faculties and associate provost from February 2002 to December 2008. She joined the faculty of Texas A&M University in 1983 and is currently a Regents Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. Before assuming the position of dean of faculties and associate provost, she served as the associate dean for graduate studies in the College of Engineering. She also served the Look College as associate dean for academic affairs and as a member of the Faculty Senate. She was interim vice president and associate provost for diversity from November 2005 to September 2006, a role that she again held from December 2008 until July 2009. She is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the American Society for Engineering Education, and of ABET. Her awards and recognitions include the U.S. President's Award for Mentoring Minorities and Women in Science and Technology, the American Association for the Advancement of Science mentoring award, the IEEE International Undergraduate Teaching Award, the College of Engineering Crawford Teaching Award, and two University-level Distinguished Achievement Awards from the Texas A&M University Association of Former Students—one in Student Relations in 1992 and one in Administration in 2010. She has chaired the graduate committees of 34 doctoral students and more than 60 master's degree students. In 2003–2004, she served as a Senior Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering Center for the Advancement of Scholarship in Engineering Education. Since 1991 she has served ABET as an accreditation evaluator, as an engineering accreditation commissioner, on the Board of Directors, and as ABET president for 2012-2013. She has a B.S, M.S., and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Texas Tech University.
The world needs engineers and, in many ways, this is our moment. Climate change. Social injustice and inequality. Improving the nation’s infrastructure. Preparing for the next pandemic. Engineers should lead the way in addressing these global challenges, setting the national priorities for research and transforming engineering education. At the 2021 ASEE Annual Conference, University of Maryland President Darryll J. Pines will share a vision for the role of engineering in driving positive change in our society.
Dr. Pines stepped into the President’s Office at the height of two pandemics - COVID-19 and long-standing racial injustice - having served 11 years as Dean of the A. James Clark School of Engineering. Recognizing the urgent need for social transformation and a leading part of higher education in this process, in spring 2021 Dr. Pines announced an action plan to ensure excellence in research and create a more inclusive, multicultural community at the University of Maryland.
In 2019, Dr. Pines was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and in 2021 he joined the Advisory Board of the NSF Engineering Research Visioning Alliance. He is one of the national leaders in fostering inclusion in engineering at K-12 level and principal investigator of the NSF-funded Engineering for US All (e4usa) program aimed at expanding access to engineering for high school students and teachers nationwide. Please join President Pines’ keynote lecture on Tuesday, July 27, 2021 at 8:55 A.M. PDT.
Darryll J. Pines serves as president of the University of Maryland as well as the Glenn L. Martin Professor of Aerospace Engineering.
Formerly the Nariman Farvardin Professor of Engineering and dean of UMD’s A. James Clark School of Engineering, where he has been on the faculty since 1995, Pines amassed a record of academic leadership and research accomplishments that have dramatically elevated the school’s rankings and stature nationally and internationally. In 2019, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for his “inspirational leadership and contributions to engineering education.”
As dean for 11 years, Pines instituted sweeping changes to improve the student experience, including revamping teaching in fundamental undergraduate courses; encouraging participation in national and international student competitions; emphasizing sustainability engineering and service learning; and expanding innovation and entrepreneurship activities.
Students have consistently taken top honors in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon, placed fifth in Elon Musk’s global Hyperloop pod design competition and hold the world record for human-powered flight duration. Among other out-of-the-classroom opportunities, the Clark School’s Engineers Without Borders chapter is considered one of the nation’s best. The school also launched Startup Shell, the first student-run business incubator on a university campus in the United States, and its students helped create two major hackathons, Bitcamp and Technica, the first all-female and non-binary hackathon on a university campus.
As a result of investments in targeted recruitment, advising, STEM outreach and its signature Keystone Engineering Education Program, the Clark School’s one-year undergraduate retention rate stands at 91% and its five-year graduation rate at 75%, which rank in the top 10 among public flagship universities in the United States.
Pines also made diversity a hallmark of his tenure as dean. As a co-principal investigator, the university became a National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE grant recipient to further develop a culture of inclusive excellence, focused on improving work environments, retention and advancement of tenured and tenure-track women faculty in ways that improve the culture for all faculty. At the engineering faculty level, the number of tenured/tenure-track women faculty more than doubled from 18 to 37, and the number of under-represented minority faculty increased from 11 to 19. At the undergraduate student level, the number of enrolled women undergraduates rose from 18% to 26.5%, and the number of enrolled underrepresented minority undergraduate students grew from 9.5% to 16%. According to Diverse Issues in Higher Education, the Clark School ranks among the top 10 in conferring the most B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees to African-American students.
Free ticketed event
In 2004, the National Academy of Engineering published “The Engineer of 2020: Visions of Engineering in the New Century,” which urged the engineering profession to recognize what engineers can build for the future through not just technical jobs but also a wide range of leadership roles in industry, government, and academia.
It’s now 2021. Where do we go from here?
Join us as we explore positioning engineering education in preparing the next generation of engineers – the “Engineers of the 2030s.” The Town Hall Planning Committee has been engaged in a visioning process for systematically developing the “Engineers of the 2030s” framework, and has come up with the following eight discussion topics:
• Being stewards of the profession
• Engineering a more just world
• Engineering as meaningful and purposeful
• Engineers as ethical authorities in a technological society
• Engineers as mentors/instructors/coaches
• Rethinking sustainability
• The engineers of the 2030s versus the engineers of 2020
• The ever-evolving and multifaceted engineer
Additional details regarding these topics can be found in our abstract: https://tinyurl.com/2021ASEETownHall.
This session will open with brief statements pertaining to the chosen topics and proceed directly to a set of hands-on, parallel breakout sessions for sharing suggestions and generating ideas designed to focus the discussions toward generating proposed lists of actionable items. Individuals identified during the Town Hall will be asked to apply their skills, knowledge, and expertise to these action items in crafting deliverables for guiding future efforts in support of the Engineers of the 2030s initiative. These deliverables will be shared with the ASEE membership and also provided to the National Academy of Engineering.
The Interdivisional Town Hall has been an exciting way for us to un-silo our communities and work together across the entire ASEE membership in advancing engineering education. Please join us this year to share your thoughts and ideas!
Interdivisional Town Hall Meeting Planning Committee:
• Mahesh Aggarwal
• Atsushi Akera
• Lynn Albers
• Sharana Basaweshwara Asundi
• Maureen Barcic
• Jenna P. Carpenter
• Alan Cheville
• Jennifer Cole
• Phil Cornwell
• John K. Estell
• Eliza Gallagher
• Jamie R. Gurganus
• Timothy Hinds
• Susannah Howe
• Amardeep Kaur
• Alison Kerr
• Rebecca Komarek
• Micah Lande
• Bala Maheswaran
• Mehrube Mehrubeoglu
• Beshoy Morkos
• Shannon L. Isovitsch Parks
• Sarah Ilkhanipour Rooney
• Blake Stringer
• Joe Tranquillo
• Denise A. Wetzel
Free ticketed event
Corporate Member Council (CMC) and College-Industry Partnerships Division (CIPD) members and those interested in becoming members are invited to attend the CMC and CIPD Joint Breakfast. Reserve your ticket SOON for an accurate headcount. Sit back and relax while we kick off Industry Day and talk about what is planned for the day.
Free ticketed event
Featuring:
-The 2020 overall best Zone and PIC papers and the Outstanding Teaching Award winner
-Corporate Member Council speaker
Director, Manufacturing Systems Research Lab, Chief Scientist for Global Manufacturing, Global Research and Development
Dr. Jeffrey Abell is Chief Scientist for Global Manufacturing and Director of Manufacturing Systems Research at General Motors. He is responsible for global manufacturing research focused on vehicle electrification, lightweight systems manufacturing, automation, and smart manufacturing. He led a research team that played a key role in bringing the Chevy Volt advanced battery to production and has held other leadership positions in product development and manufacturing at GM, Delphi, and DaimlerChrysler, including two international assignments. He has written numerous technical publications, been granted several patents, and has a strong track record of successful manufacturing technology implementation. He was twice presented with the Boss Kettering award, GM's highest recognition for technical innovation.
Since 1998, Dr. Abell has served in various capacities with SME such as member of International Awards committee and Chair of Education and Accreditation Committee. He has been elected to the NAMRI board and is an SME Fellow. He is Vice-Chair of the Industrial Advisory Council and member of the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET. He has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from General Motors Institute (now Kettering University), and graduate degrees in Systems Engineering from Oakland University, and is a licensed Professional Engineer.
Best PIC and Zone paper winners from 2020
Please note: The OVERALL best PIC and Zone papers will be presented at the Wednesday Plenary.
STEM education in today’s schools comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. In many schools around the country, STEM has become just another buzzword to cover up a “business as usual” educational approach and has drifted from its original intent to transform learning for all students. No longer does STEM education require creative integration, innovation, or the authentic, real-world student experiences that once defined its importance and urgency.
Engineering touches every aspect of human life, from providing access to clean drinking water to 5G telecommunications and drug/vaccine development. This presents a need to provide learning opportunities that support the next generation in becoming engineering-literate global citizens. And, now more than ever, we need to prepare and inspire our students to grow into the informed designers and innovative creators necessary to solve the toughest challenges facing the world, both today and tomorrow. Accordingly, engineering learning is essential for every child; in every school; from every town, city, and municipality in the United States of America.
Engineering education is well positioned to deliver on many of the forgotten promises of STEM education. Many of us within the P-12 education community recognize that there is something special about engineering learning. When given the opportunity to engineer, students of a variety of ages and backgrounds are motivated to learn and eager to engage in solving difficult problems. They work together. They communicate. They are critical and creative and resourceful. We’ve seen it with our own eyes; experienced it as teachers and professional development coordinators; and advocated for it at parent/teacher nights, school board meetings, and legislative briefings. We KNOW that engineering should be taught in parallel with science and math education to ensure an equitable, authentic, relevant, and exciting STEM education experience. Yet, there have been minimal efforts from the education community toward adopting engineering as a distinct component of every child’s schooling. The Framework for P-12 Engineering Learning (AE3 and ASEE, 2020) is a step towards changing this reality and democratizing engineering learning across grades P-12.
In this talk, I will make the argument that the Framework for P-12 Engineering Learning sets the stage for an educational revolution. This revolution will see engineering as a more integral part of a child’s learning through more authentic and comprehensive educational standards. I will highlight the leverage points and work to be done that is necessary to antedate this revolution.
Dr. Huffman was the editor and a primary author on the Framework for P-12 Engineering Learning (AE3 & ASEE, 2020). Dr. Huffman is the Executive Director of the Advancing Excellence in P-12 Engineering Education (AE3) research collaborative, assistant professor in the Department of Integrative STEM Education, and Director of the Center for Excellence in STEM Education, each housed in the School of Engineering at The College of New Jersey. Dr. Huffman’s research focuses on P-12 engineering learning and preservice STEM teacher education. His projects include investigating the culturally responsive and relevant teaching of engineering and age-appropriate P-12 learning sequence for engineering. As a middle and high school teacher, Dr. Huffman served as a board member of the American Society of Engineering Education’s Precollege Engineering Education Division. He is also an advisor for Carnegie Mellon University’s CREATE Lab Satellite Network, NSF funded INCLUDES project STEM PUSH Network. Dr. Huffman is the national event coordinator for the Test for Engineering Aptitude, Math, and Science (TEAMS) student competition. From 2017-2019, he served as a committee member on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine project, Educator Capacity Building in PreK-12 Engineering Education.
The George Floyd murder in May 2020 heralded a battle cry heard around the world. Academia saw the emergence of grassroots Black in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) organizations whose members convened and communicated their expertise via social media. In June, this grassroots effort was catalyzed by the “BlackInTheIvory” hashtag trending on Twitter, where historically marginalized and minoritized populations in academia shared their experiences with implicit bias, marginalization, pioneerism, the double bind, hypervisibility, and invisibility.
Black engineering faculty responded to the “Black in X” movement by creating an arm of the 400-member Academic and Research Learning (ARL) Network called Black in Engineering (BIE), which focuses explicitly on racial equity and social justice in the STEM academy. By integrating media, policy, and activism, BIE offers a common gathering place for Black engineering faculty across disciplines to communicate and highlight their work, share experiences, and present anti-racism suggestions for engineering leadership, professional societies, and organizations. By amplifying these unique voices, BIE also meets a goal of diversifying the STEM academy by normalizing engineers’ experiences and work. Finally, it provides an avenue to connect with allies, sponsors, and financial support for the movement.
The combination of engineering, computing, and social justice provides an interdisciplinary perspective that is a unique and relevant skill for the engineer of the 21st century. Now is the time when the academy, as well as the world, is seeking comprehensive and transformational change with engineers leading that challenge. Movements like Black Lives Matter have highlighted that structural as well as technical bias are at the heart of many racial justice issues (i.e., policing based upon biased data, infrastructure barriers to resources, water quality in historically minoritized communities, etc.). The future of modern engineering education is directly tied to how well the academy is able to adapt to meet the needs of an increasingly more diverse society.
This lecture will engage presenters in a candid discussion about practical strategies needed to transform engineering for Black faculty and students. Informed by BIE’s Call to Action, which provides anti-racism recommendations system-wide and for graduate students, undergraduate students, faculty, and staff, the panel will present practical, timely strategies to implement and sustain change for diversity, equity, and inclusion in engineering.
Carlotta A. Berry, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. She is one of a team of faculty in ECE, ME and CSSE at Rose-Hulman to create and direct the first multidisciplinary minor in robotics. She is the Co-Director of the NSF S-STEM Rose Building Undergraduate Diversity (ROSEBUD) Program and advisor for the National Society of Black Engineers. Dr. Berry has been selected as one of 30 Women in Robotics You Need to Know About 2020 by robohub.org, Reinvented Magazine Interview of the Year Award on Purpose and Passion, Women and Hi Tech Leading Light Award You Inspire Me and Insight Into Diversity Inspiring Women in STEM. She has a special passion for diversifying the engineering profession by encouraging more women and underrepresented minorities to pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees. She feels that the profession should reflect the world that we live in in order to solve the unique problems that we face.
Monica F. Cox, Ph.D., is Professor of Engineering Education at The Ohio State University and is a 2020 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Fellow. She holds degrees in Mathematics (B.S., Spelman College), Industrial Engineering (M.S., University of Alabama), and Leadership and Policy Studies (Ph.D., Peabody College at Vanderbilt University, 2005). She began her academic career in the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University, where she earned a Presidential Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), becoming the first African American woman to earn tenure in Purdue’s College of Engineering. In 2016, she became Professor and Inaugural Chair in the Department of Engineering Education at The Ohio State University. She is the Founder and CEO of STEMinent LLC, which houses educational assessment, professional development, and media offerings. Her research focuses on the use of mixed methodologies to explore questions across the education continuum, particularly why engineering women faculty persist. Dr. Cox has led and collaborated on multidisciplinary projects totaling approximately $16 million and has authored over 130 publications.
Tahira Reid Smith, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University and is a NASA Visiting Scholar for Fall 2020. Her research involves the quantification and integration of human-centered considerations in engineering systems and/or the design process. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Procter & Gamble, Ford, General Motors and other sponsors. Her projects that involved the intersection of diversity and mechanical engineering have been featured in media sources including National Geographic, NBC's Today Show, Essence Magazine, Reuters, National Public Radio and many others. A highly sought out role model for the younger generation, Dr. Reid Smith's story is featured in two children's books and was on the 2017 New York State English and Language Arts Common Core Exam for over 100,000 fourth graders. She is passionate about re-branding Mechanical Engineering to be more inviting to young women, especially those of African descent. Dr. Reid Smith obtained BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Ph.D. in Design Science, where Mechanical Engineering and Psychology were her focus areas, from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor.
Christopher Carr, Ed.D., is a leadership and policy wonk in the areas of diversity, higher education, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). In his professional life, Christopher has convened numerous social justice leadership forums in STEM education – bringing together over 100 deans and diversity administrators to talk about marginalized students’ persistence, diverse faculty recruitment, and creating inclusive campus climates. He currently serves as the Chief Diversity Officer for the Volgenau School of Engineering at George Mason University. Previously, he worked with the National Society of Black Engineers, the American Society for Engineering Education, and the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program. As part of his community work, Christopher is the chair-elect for the Minorities in Engineering Division of ASEE. He has previously served as the MIND Program Chair and the Diversity Societies Representative for the Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Christopher has a bachelor’s degree from William Jewell College, a master of public policy degree from Pepperdine University, and a doctorate in education from Creighton University in 2021.
Over the past decade, there has been a dramatic rush toward active learning as the best method to teach students. Certainly, active learning provides great value for students. But is all active learning, all the time, really the best way to teach, especially at a university level? What do evolutionary psychology and research involving high-impact teaching interventions have to say about active learning? Is active learning perhaps related to the procedural learning pathways involved in habit—is that where part of its value comes from? What is happening in student brains that makes certain interventions particularly effective—or less effective?
As it turns out, there are practical improvements could you make right now in your teaching to improve student motivation, engagement, and learning, all growing from recent findings in neuroscience. We’ll be covering this, and much more, in this distinguished lecture based on Oakland University engineering educator Barbara Oakley's critically acclaimed new book, Uncommon Sense Teaching, (Penguin Random House, June 2021).
Barbara Oakley is a professor of industrial and systems engineering at Oakland University, best-selling author, and teacher of the popular Coursera course, “Learning How to Learn." She started studying engineering much later than many students, because her initial intention was to become a linguist. She enlisted in the U.S. Army right after high school and spent a year studying Russian at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. The Army eventually sent Oakley to the University of Washington, where she received her first degree–a B.A. in Slavic languages and literature. Eventually, she served four years in Germany as a signal officer and rose to become a captain. After her commitment ended, she decided to leave the Army and study engineering to better understand the communications equipment she had been working with.
Five years later, Oakley received a second degree: a B.S. in electrical engineering. In the meantime, she worked several fishing seasons as a Russian translator on Soviet trawlers up in the Bering Sea and wrote a book about that experience: Hair of the Dog: Tales from a Russian Trawler. As one of her captains used to enjoy reminding her: “You know too much, it’s time to kill you.” (It rhymes in Russian.)
Oakley also spent a season as the radio operator at the South Pole Station in Antarctica, where she met her husband of 37 years, Philip Oakley. (They were married as soon as they got "off the ice" in New Zealand and have two daughters as well as two adopted sons from Kosovo.) With the electrical engineering degree in hand, Oakley settled down and spent three years working as a instrumentation and controls engineer at a laser research and development firm near Seattle. The couple moved to the Detroit area in 1989, and Oakley worked for Ford briefly and then began doing consulting and attending Oakland University part time while her children were small. She received a M.S. degree in electrical and computer Engineering in 1995, and a Ph.D. in systems engineering in 1998, joining the faculty upon graduation.
Oakley’s work focuses on the complex relationship between neuroscience and social behavior. She has published in outlets as varied as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, which described her work as “revolutionary.” She is the recipient of numerous honors, including Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year (2018) and ASEE’s Chester F. Carlson Award for outstanding technical innovation in engineering education (2015) and ASEE's Theo C. Pilkington Award for outstanding educator in advancing the field of bioengineering.
Volume 109, Issue 4 of the Journal of Engineering Education highlights the work of engineering education scholars in guest editorials that address racism in engineering education history, curriculum, and research. Through the creation of that work, a recorded podcast conversation was conducted between these scholars: Dr. Kelly Cross, Dr. James Holly, Dr. Leroy Long, and Dr. Ebony McGee. In this Distinguished Lecture, that conversation will continue and engage the broad audience of ASEE Annual Conference attendees.
Dr. Kelly J. Cross, Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at University of Nevada Reno, is a culturally responsive practitioner, researcher, and educational leader. She earned her Bachelors of Science in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University in 2007 and Masters of Science in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Cincinnati in 2011. Dr. Cross completed the doctoral program in the Engineering Education department at Virginia Tech in 2015 and worked as a post-doctoral researcher with the Illinois Foundry for Innovation in Engineering Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Dr. Cross worked to redesign the curriculum in Bioengineering department through the NSF program Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) at UIUC. She is a member of the ASEE Leadership Virtual Community of Practice (LVCP) that organizes and facilitates Safe Zone Training workshops. Dr. Cross has conducted workshops on managing personal bias in STEM and promoting inclusion in higher education, online and in-person. Her research interests include diversity and inclusion in STEM, identity construction, intersectionality, teamwork and communication skills, and educational assessment. Her teaching philosophy focuses on student centered approaches such as problem-based learning and culturally relevant pedagogy. Dr. Cross’ complimentary professional activities promote inclusive excellence through collaboration.
Dr. Leroy Long III is an Assistant Professor of Engineering Fundamentals at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, FL. Dr. Long directs a research team called Engineering, Arts & Sports Engagement (EASE). His research interests include: (a) educational equity and racial justice, (b) student retention and career readiness, as well as (c) students' ethical reasoning and technology use, with a particular focus on STEM students. He has helped to lead research, funded by the NCAA Innovations in Research and Practice Grant, to improve the well-being of the student-athlete through support of their career readiness. He has also helped to secure funding from NSF (award # 2024973) to examine the potential benefit of using critical narratives as a pedagogical tool in the professional formation of engineers.
James Holly, Jr. is a native Detroiter, educator, and researcher who is focused on mitigating anti-Blackness in P-20 STEM education. He has a bachelor's degree from Tuskegee University and a master's degree from Michigan State University, both in Mechanical Engineering. These experiences motivated his pursuit of a doctoral degree in Engineering Education from Purdue University as he sought to revolutionize the conceptualization of engineering presented to urban Black youth. Dr. Holly, Jr. is currently an Assistant Professor of Urban STEM Education at Wayne State University, where he trains aspiring math and science teachers to critically-conscious STEM educators that affirm the assets of urban non-White students. His research explores the complexities of teaching the STEM disciplines in an urban context, the process of developing engineering-literacy among pre-service teachers, and how the narratives of Black people with STEM degrees can inform equitable STEM education.
Ebony McGee, associate professor of diversity and STEM education at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, investigates what it means to be racially marginalized in the context of learning and achieving in STEM higher education and industry. In particular, she studies the racialized experiences and racial stereotypes affecting the education and career trajectories of underrepresented groups of color by exploring the costs of academic achievement and problematizing traditional forms of success in higher education, with an unapologetic focus on Black folx in these places and spaces. McGee’s NSF CAREER grant investigates how marginalization undercuts success in STEM through psychological stress, interrupted STEM career trajectories, impostor phenomenon, and other debilitating race-related trauma for Black, Indigenous, and Latinx doctoral students.
As part of the distinguished lecturer series, the Pre-College Engineering Education Division has partnered with the Minorities in Engineering and Women in Engineering divisions to promote inclusion and diversity within the P-12 engineering education space by inviting a speaker that has many accomplishments in this area.
Dr. Renetta Garrison Tull is the Vice Chancellor of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the University of California, Davis, and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience about inclusion and diversity in STEM education. In her distinguished lecture, she explains what we can do as an engineering education community to foster positive inclusion and diversity in different P-12 learning environments.
Before joining UC Davis in 2019, Tull was Associate Vice Provost for Strategic Initiatives at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and Professor of the Practice in UMBC’s College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT). Within COEIT, she served as part of the engagement team and pursued research in humanitarian engineering. Tull was founding director and co-PI for the 12-institution National Science Foundation University System of Maryland’s PROMISE AGEP, and co-director/co-PI for the NSF USM’s Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP).
She also served the University System of Maryland as special assistant to the senior vice chancellor for academic affairs and student affairs, and was the system’s director of graduate and professional pipeline development. In 2017, Dr. Tull was appointed to serve as chair for the University System of Maryland’s Health Care Workforce Diversity subgroup. She has engineering and science degrees from Howard University and Northwestern University.
An international speaker on global diversity in STEM, Tull has led discussions around the world on topics such as “Inclusive Engagement – Engineering for All,” “Cultivating Inclusive Excellence within Science, Engineering, and Technology,” work/life balance, family, and prevention of domestic and work-place abuse. She co-led Puerto Rico’s ADVANCE Hispanic Women in STEM project, and continues to lead the “Women in STEM Forum” for the Latin and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions (LACCEI) and the Engineering for the Americas/Organization of American States as LACCEI’s current Vice President for Initiatives.
Recognitions include the 2015 O’Reilly Media “Women in Data” cover, 2015 Global Engineering Deans Council/Airbus Diversity Award Finalist, and the 2016 ABET Claire L. Felbinger Award for Diversity. She has been an invited plenary panelist for diversity in engineering initiatives for the 2016 International Conference on Transformations in Engineering Education in India, and an invited speaker for the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies (IFEES) “Global Engagement in Diversity” webinar. She was also part of an invited United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) team for the “Engineering Report II” meeting in Beijing in September 2017, hosted by the Chinese Academy of Engineering. In 2017, she was appointed to a two-year term for the National Academies for Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s committee on the Science of Effective Mentoring in Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine, and Mathematics (STEMM). In 2018, she was invited back to the United Nations Headquarters to talk about women in engineering as part of a UNESCO-sponsored side event during the 62nd Session on the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women.
Tull, a Tau Beta Pi "Eminent Engineer," has more than 50 publications and has given more than 200 presentations on various STEM topics. She also engages the public on topics related to STEM and society, and was a speaker for “Diversity, STEAM, and Comics,” where “A” adds the “arts” to STEM, at Awesome Con in March 2018. She is a passionate advocate, global mentor, education policy strategist, and champion for equity in STEM.
Join ASEE President Sheryl Sorby as she "passes the gavel" to incoming President Adrienne Minerick.
ASEE President
Professor Emerita Sheryl Sorby, a professor of engineering education at the University of Cincinnati
Dr. Sorby was a longtime faculty member at Michigan Tech, where she was a professor of mechanical engineering-engineering mechanics, associate dean of engineering for academic programs, and chair of the Engineering Fundamentals Department. She was responsible for the development and delivery of the First Year Engineering Program and has been the principal investigator or co-PI on more than $14 million in grant funding, mostly for educational projects. For nearly three years, she served as a program director in the National Science Foundation’s Division of Undergraduate Education. In 2013 she was a Fulbright Scholar conducting engineering education research at the Dublin Institute of Technology. Sorby earned a BS in Civil Engineering, an MS in Engineering Mechanics, and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering-Engineering mechanics, all from Michigan Tech.
The author of seven textbooks and more than 150 papers, Sorby has a well-established research program in spatial visualization and is actively involved in the development of various other educational programs. She received her first grant in 1993 to develop a course for helping engineering students develop their 3-D spatial skills and has received numerous follow-up grants from NSF to further this work. She received the Betty Vetter award for Research on Women in Engineering through the Women in Engineering Pro-Active Network (WEPAN) for her work in improving the 3-D spatial skills of engineering students.
Sorby has been a member of ASEE since 1991 and has served the Society in various capacities. In 2009 she was inducted as a Fellow of ASEE, and in 2011 she received the Society’s Sharon Keillor award as an outstanding female engineering educator
ASEE President-Elect
Adrienne R. Minerick is Director of ADVANCE at Michigan Tech and Professor of Chemical Engineering. She has served as Associate Dean for Research and Innovation in the College of Engineering, Assistant to the Provost for Faculty Development, Dean of the School of Technology, founded the College of Computing, and most recently served as Interim Dean of the Pavlis Honors College.
She has received numerous honors and awards, including the distinction of Fellow of AAAS and ASEE, a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the Raymond W. Fahien Award from the Chemical Engineering Division of ASEE, and Michigan Tech's Fredrick D. Williams Instructional Innovation Award. She and her students have published over 75 archival journal publications, book chapters, or proceedings articles and earned 23 best paper/presentation awards.
Adrienne previously served as the President of the American Electrophoresis Society and on the ASEE's Board of Directors as First Vice President and Professional Interest Council I Chair. She also chaired ASEE's National Diversity Committee. Her research and service interests regularly intersect and involve underserved individuals with an emphasis on research experiences to increase engagement and retention
Dr. Carpenter is Founding Dean of Engineering at Campbell University. She is Chair of the ASEE Long-Rangge Planning Committee and the ASEE Strategic Doing Governance Team. She is a past Vice President of Professional Interest Councils for ASEE and past President of WEPAN. Currently Chair of the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenge Scholars Program Steering Committee and an ASEE PEV for General Engineering, Dr. Carpenter regularly speaks at the national level on issues related to the success of women in engineering and innovative STEM curricula.