2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This paper is for ongoing work in developing unique collaborations between engineering and non-engineering students in a user-centered design course and humanitarian engineering project work. In this paper, the authors will review their integration of social and emotional competencies into engineering design and practice through a credit-based engineering course in conjunction with an Engineers in Action (EIA) Bridge Project student chapter at a midwestern public university. Previous research has shown that many universities have limited engagement with topics of multicultural engagement, working within diverse interdisciplinary teams, and approaching engineering problems from an awareness of inclusivity, cultural sensitivity and socioeconomic factors, despite the value placed on these qualities by accrediting bodies like ABET and societies like the National Society of Professional Engineers and the National Academy of Engineers. This content is often seen as a single module embedded in general engineering coursework, even though studies have shown students are often eager to connect global and societal concerns with engineering. A small number of engineering educational institutions in the United States have integrated these competencies more broadly into humanitarian or service engineering programs, but these programs are separate from traditional engineering majors such as mechanical or civil engineering. This project evaluates the professional formation of engineers by examining how engineers apply social attributes (namely those identified by the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) framework) to user-centered design in a multidisciplinary project. This is facilitated by asking two research questions: “What key social attributes do undergraduate students identify as significant factors within service-learning engineering projects?” and “How does participating in a user-centered design curriculum impact students’ identification of key social attributes associated with service-learning projects?”.
As part of an NSF proposal, this work is conducted through a multi-year grant that supports the development of the curriculum, as well as the assessment of the student participants. This presentation will review the theoretical framework used for the curriculum and mixed-methods research, as well as present the process of obtaining grant funding for this collaborative effort. The creation of the multidisciplinary advisory board and the program mechanisms for blending engineering and non-engineering students will also be discussed.