The project described here is one of six “revolutionizing engineering departments” (RED) grants recently awarded by the National Science Foundation. The RED project at Arizona State University (ASU) focuses on empowering faculty to be agents of change to expand our project-based learning pedagogy throughout our mezzanine engineering fundamental courses, and our upper division concentration area disciplinary courses. We approach this challenge by attending to the larger ecosystem of people and organizations within which change happens, and by using evidence-based methods to make revolutionary advances within our engineering program. We have developed six current working groups in order to manage the range of research foci and provide structure to our project activities. These working groups focus on the following topics: 1) capturing the culture, 2) characterizing the ecosystem, 3) coordinating a NEXUS and realizing an additive innovation mindset, 4) studying making in the mezzanine courses, 5) measuring pedagogical risk taking by the faculty, and 6) tracing impact. This paper provides an overview of each of these six areas, describes how they advance the goals of the project, and presents results to-date.
Ann F. McKenna is a Professor in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and Director of The Polytechnic School at Arizona State University. Prior to joining ASU she served as a program director at the National Science Foundation in the Division of Undergraduate Education, and was on the faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Segal Design Institute at Northwestern University. Dr. McKenna received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.
Dr. Nadia Kellam is Associate Professor in the Polytechnic Engineering Program at Arizona State University. In her research, she is interested in understanding how engineering students develop their professional identity, the role of emotion in student learning, and synergistic learning. A recent research project uncovers the narratives of exemplary engineering faculty who have successfully transitioned to student-centered teaching strategies. She co-designed the environmental engineering synthesis and design studios and the design spine for the mechanical engineering program at UGA. She is engaged in mentoring early career faculty at her university and within the PEER National Collaborative. In 2013 she was selected to be a National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering Education Faculty Member.
http://orcid.org/https://0000-0003-4964-5654
Arizona State University, Polytechnic Campus
[biography]
Micah Lande, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering programs at The Polytechnic School in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University.
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8607-5959
Arizona State University, Polytechnic Campus
[biography]
Samantha Brunhaver is an Assistant Professor of Engineering in the Fulton Schools of Engineering Polytechnic School. Dr. Brunhaver recently joined Arizona State after completing her M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. She also
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1639-779X
Arizona State University, Polytechnic Campus
[biography]
SHAWN JORDAN, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of engineering in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. He teaches context-centered electrical engineering and embedded systems design courses, and studies the use of context in both K-12 and undergraduate engineering design education. He received his Ph.D. in Engineering Education (2010) and M.S./B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University. Dr. Jordan is PI on several NSF-funded projects related to design, including an NSF Early CAREER Award entitled “CAREER: Engineering Design Across Navajo Culture, Community, and Society” and “Might Young Makers be the Engineers of the Future?” He has also been part of the teaching team for NSF’s Innovation Corps for Learning, and was named one of ASEE PRISM’s “20 Faculty Under 40” in 2014.
Dr. Jordan also founded and led teams to two collegiate National Rube Goldberg Machine Contest championships, and has co-developed the STEAM Labs™ program to engage middle and high school students in learning science, technology, engineering, arts, and math concepts through designing and building chain reaction machines. He has appeared on many TV shows (including Modern Marvels on The History Channel and Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC) and a movie with his Rube Goldberg machines, and worked as a behind-the scenes engineer for season 3 of the PBS engineering design reality TV show, Design Squad. He also held the Guinness World Record for the largest number of steps – 125 – in a working Rube Goldberg machine.
Jennifer M. Bekki is an Associate Professor in and Associate Director of The Polytechnic School within The Fulton Schools of Engineering. Her research aims to understand and address inequities arising from racism and sexism within STEM graduate education.
Dr. Adam R. Carberry is Professor and Chair in the Department of Engineering Education at The Ohio State University (OSU). He earned a B.S. in Materials Science Engineering from Alfred University, and received his M.S. and Ph.D., both from Tufts University, in Chemistry and Engineering Education respectively. He recently joined OSU after having served as an Associate Professor in The Polytechnic School within Arizona State University’s Fulton Schools of Engineering (FSE) where he was the Graduate Program Chair for the Engineering Education Systems & Design (EESD) Ph.D. Program. He is currently a Deputy Editor for the Journal of Engineering Education and co-maintains the Engineering Education Community Resource wiki. Additional career highlights include serving as Chair of the Research in Engineering Education Network (REEN), visiting École Nationale Supérieure des Mines in Rabat, Morocco as a Fulbright Specialist, receiving an FSE Top 5% Teaching Award, receiving an ASEE Educational Research and Methods Division Apprentice Faculty Award, receiving a Frontiers in Education New Faculty Award, and being named an ASEE Fellow.
Dr. Jeremi London is an Assistant Professor of Engineering at Arizona State University. She holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Industrial Engineering and a Ph.D. in Engineering Education, all from Purdue University. She employs mixed methods research designs and computational tools to address complex problems relevant to her research interests. She leads projects related to her research interest in primary research interests, which are focused on the characterizing and communicating the scientific and societal impact of federal investments in STEM education R&D; the use of cyberlearning tools to facilitate personalized learning experiences for students; applications of simulation and modeling tools to address undergraduate engineering education research problems; broadening the participation of underrepresented groups in engineering and computer science; advancing the scholarship on teaching and learning in engineering education. Prior to joining the ASU faculty, she worked as a Post-doc at ASU, spent several summers at the National Science Foundation, and worked in various traditional industrial engineering roles at Anheuser-Busch and GE Healthcare.
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