Board 31: Engineering with Engineers: Revolutionizing a Mechanical Engineering Department Through Industry Immersion and a Focus on Identity

Abstract

Her research interests include micro-scale molecular gas dynamics, micro fluidics, and heat transfer applications in MEMS and medical devices as well as autonomous vehicles and robotics. She is passionate about Engineering Education and experienced in developing inverted classroom lectures and facilitating students' learning through authentic engineering problems. She is currently the Co-PI for the NSF Revolutionizing Engineering and Computer Science Departments grant awarded to the Mechanical Engineering department at Seattle University to study how the department culture changes can foster students' engineering identity. Dr. Han received her BS degree in Material Science and Engineering from National Tsing-Hua University in Hsinchu, Taiwan, her PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering and MS degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California. She is a member of American Society of Engineering Education and American Society of Mechanical Engineering.

Board 225: Building a Culture of “Engineering with Engineers”

“…We group the items related to establishing and sustaining a shared vision into three endeavors and each item, i.e., process or product, supporting each endeavor is briefly described in Table 1. Develop a revised mission statement using a custom process Faculty identified issues with the previous mission statement and agreed on aspects to be included in the revised mission statement [2].…”

“…Practicing engineers served as mentors to students in design projects, gave guest lectures or simply participated in social events to connect with students and faculty [2]- [4]. Define, recruit and mentor part-time Industry Advisor(s) An Industry Advisor with extensive experience in the industry and a passion for engineering education was hired to join the program at the beginning of the project to help bridge the program and the industry [1] - [4].…”

“…Three groups of change endeavors related to change in curriculum and pedagogy and their items are listed in Table 3. The Department examined the previous curriculum and identified several ways to strengthen it and include the industry [2], [3].…”

“…The Department worked closely with the University ADVANCE [40] team to revise the University tenure and promotion guidelines, which now recognize contributions from a broader list of faculty activities relevant to sustaining changes initiated by our RED project [2] - [5]. Support College-wide and University-wide efforts on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)…”

Cultivating a Culture to Foster Engineering Identity

“…At the beginning of this project, through in-depth discussion, the faculty decided to establish a departmental culture of "Engineering with Engineers" to foster engineering identity. Collectively, the faculty work to make the Mechanical Engineering Department a hub of engineering activity where faculty, students, and industry can share experiences and ideas [2]. Even during the pandemic, this shared vision continued to guide many community building activities for the Department.…”