2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 22: Work in Progress: Promoting and Assessing Curiosity Through A Tissue Engineering Course Project Incorporating Biomimicry

Presented at Biomedical Engineering Division (BED) Poster Session

To better implement the curiosity aspect of entrepreneurial-minded learning (EML), biomimicry was adopted in a tissue engineering course project to nourish curiosity. Biomimicry belongs to bioinspired design and has been reported to offer educators a way to engage students with systems thinking and creative problem-solving, which can potentially inspire student curiosity. Students were required to use natural materials (from plants, insects, etc.) and natural structures/mechanisms in tissue-engineered product design to adopt the biomimicry principle. At the end of the project, an anonymous survey was conducted to assess the relationship between student curiosity and project experience. The curiosity-related assessment was based on the five-dimensional curiosity scale including Joyous Exploration, Stress Tolerance, and Thrill Seeking. Contrary to hypotheses, students’ reported project experience did not relate much to their overall curiosity. However, students’ reported interest in the project was positively related to their desire to problem-solve (Deprivation Sensitivity) and negatively related to their Social Curiosity. Additional assessments will be conducted in the future to validate and expand upon the findings.

Authors

Dr. Wujie Zhang Milwaukee School of Engineering [biography]

Dr. Wujie Zhang is an associate professor of Biomolecular Engineering in the Physics and Chemistry Department at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). He received his M.S. and B.S. degrees in Food Science and Engineering from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology and his Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of South Carolina. Dr. Zhang’s scholarly work and research span biomaterials, tissue engineering, drug delivery, and cancer treatment. With numerous external and internal funding sources, he is actively engaged in research involving undergraduate students in various areas, including engineered red blood cells for oxygen therapeutics development. Dr. Zhang has published more than 40 peer-reviewed journal articles, authored the book Nanotechnology for Bioengineers, and holds multiple patents. When it comes to engineering and chemical sciences education, he is especially interested in integrating the entrepreneurial mindset into a wide range of courses. Dr. Zhang has been recognized by the ASEE's Prism magazine as one of 20 high-achieving researchers and educators under 40 (2018), the Milwaukee Business Journal 40 under 40 (2019), and as one of Wisconsin’s 34 Most Influential Asian American Leaders (2021). Dr. Zhang is devotedly involved in the community and currently serves on the City of Milwaukee’s Board of Health and as a prior Milwaukee section chair of the America Chemical Society (ACS). He is an advocate for equity and inclusion, and his work in this space was recognized by the MSOE community with the 2020 Diversity and Inclusion Advocate Award.
Lauren M Beverung Milwaukee School of Engineering
Rebecca McKeown
Tammy J. Rice-Bailey

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