Online Session Locator

Session Description

Free ticketed event
The NSF-funded National Academy of Engineering-ASEE WINWO Project is working to develop a framework of evidence-based practices designed to help institutions recruit, admit, onboard, and graduate a more diverse cohort of students in terms of pre-college preparation and opportunity.
At present, most institutions use pre-college opportunity and the preparation it provides as a proxy for ability in engineering, filtering out students who arrive less prepared, when in reality, opportunity and ability are not the same. Participants will learn about the framework and rationale behind the project, and have the opportunity to help shape communication of the framework and suggest evidence-based practices that align with the framework goals.

Leaders:

Dr. Beth Cady, Senior Program Officer, National Academy of Engineering
Dr. Joanna Livingood, Senior Visiting Fellow, National Academy of Engineering; Senior Technical Advisor, US DOE Office of Science
Dr. Sarah Rodriguez, Associate Professor, Virginia Tech
Dr. Homero Murzi, Assistant Professor, Virginia Tech
Dr. Sheryl Sorby, Professor, University of Cincinnati

Moderated by

1. Dr. Elizabeth Cady

Speakers

1. Joanna Livengood

   Dr. Joanna Livengood is a Senior Advisor to the Office of Science in the Department of Energy (DOE) and is beginning a 2-year assignment as a Senior Visiting Fellow with the National Academy of Engineering. For the prior 12 years, Joanna was the DOE Argonne Site Office Manager and senior federal executive responsible for oversight of Argonne National Laboratory. She previously held similar responsibilities for 5 years as the DOE Fermi Site Office Manager at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. She has an extensive technical background spanning science, energy systems, environmental controls, energy-efficient technology, and nuclear safety and security. Joanna spent her early career as a researcher in air pollution control technology at the Pittsburgh Energy Technology Center (now NETL); a project manager in the DOE Clean Coal and Environmental Management Programs; and a team leader managing public-private partnership projects in energy efficiency and electric transmission/distribution. She earned a B.S. in chemistry and mathematics from Mary Washington College and an M.S. and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Honors include the 2012 Secretary of Energy’s Achievement Award, the 2015 Secretary of Energy’s Excellence Award, and the 2017 Presidential Meritorious Rank Award for sustained distinguished service as a senior federal executive.

2. Dr. Elizabeth Cady

   National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

   and Research (PEER) program of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). PEER conducts studies, workshops, and other activities focused on equitable and inclusive engineering education writ large and related research at the precollege and higher education levels. She earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Cognitive and Human Factors Psychology from Kansas State University and a B.A. in psychobiology and political science from Wheaton College in Massachusetts.

3. Dr. Sarah Rodriguez

   Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

   Sarah L. Rodriguez is an Associate Professor of Engineering Education and an affiliate faculty member with the Higher Education Program at Virginia Tech. In her research, she concentrates on identifying and asking urgent questions about systemic inequities such as racism, sexism, and classism that marginalized communities experience as they transition to and through their engineering and computing higher education experiences. Her strengths include a research-to-practice approach with practitioners, particularly for enhancing outcomes for Latina/o/x students and community colleges.

4. Dr. Homero Murzi

   Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

   Dr. Homero Murzi (he/él/his) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech with honorary appointments at the University of Queensland (Australia) and University of Los Andes (Venezuela). Homero is the leader of the Engineering Competencies, Learning, and Inclusive Practices for Success (ECLIPS) Lab where he leads a team focused on doing research on contemporary, culturally relevant, and inclusive pedagogical practices, emotions in engineering, competency development, and understanding the experiences of traditionally marginalized engineering students (e.g., Latinx, international students, Indigenous students) from an asset-based perspective. Homero’s goal is to develop engineering education practices that value the capital that traditionally marginalized students, bring into the field, and to train graduate students and faculty members with the tool to promote effective and inclusive learning environments and mentorship practices. Homero aspires to change discourses around broadening participation in engineering and promote action to change. Homero has been recognized as a Diggs Teaching Scholar, a Graduate Academy for Teaching Excellence Fellow, a Global Perspectives Fellow, a Diversity Scholar, a Fulbright Scholar, a recipient of the NSF CAREER award, and was inducted into the Bouchet Honor Society. Homero serves as the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Chair for the Commission on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (CDEI), the Program Chair for the ASEE Faculty Development Division, and the Vice Chair for the Research in Engineering Education Network (REEN). He holds degrees in Industrial Engineering (BS, MS) from the National Experimental University of Táchira, Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Temple University, and Engineering Education (PhD) from Virginia Tech.
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. Dr. Sheryl A. Sorby

   University of Cincinnati

   Dr. Sheryl Sorby is a Professor of Engineering Educaton at the University of Cincinnati. She was a Fulbright Scholar at the Dublin Institute of Technology conducting researh in engineering education and is a professor emerita of Mechanical Engineering at Michigan Tech. She is the former Associate Dean for Academic Programs in the College of Engineering at Michigan Tech and served at the National Science Foundation as a Program Director in the Division of Undergraduate Education for nearly three years. Prior to her appointment as Associate Dean, Dr. Sorby served as chair of the Engineering Fundamentals Department. She received a BS in Civil Engineering, an MS in Engineering Mechanics, and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, all from Michigan Tech.
   Dr. Sorby has a well-established research program in spatial visualization, receiving her first grant from the NSF in 1993 to develop a course and course materials for helping engineering students develop their 3-D spatial skills. She has received numberous follow-up grants from the NSF and the Department of Education to further her work in developing and assessing spatial skills. Her spatial skills curriculum has been adopted by several engineering programs across the country. In 2005 she received WEPAN’s Betty Vetter award for her work in improving the 3-D spatial skills of engineering students. She received ASEE’s Sharon Keillor award for Outstanding Woman Engineering Educator and the Claire Felbinger award for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from ABET. She is a Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education, a fellow of the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI), and is a Past President of ASEE.

6. Dr. Elizabeth Cady

   National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

7. Idalis Villanueva Alarcón

   University of Florida

   Dr. Villanueva Alarcón is Associate Professor and Associate Chair for Research & Graduate Studies in the Department of Engineering Education at the University of Florida. She has over 12 years of experience in engineering education research and practice on hidden curriculum, mentoring, mixed- and multi-modal methods, engineering professional development, and performance.

8. Dr. Jamie R Gurganus

   University of Maryland Baltimore County

   Dr. Jamie Gurganus is a faculty member in the Engineering and Computing Education Program and Affiliate Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at UMBC. She is the Associate Director STEMed Research in the College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT). She also serves as the Director for the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL) in the graduate school. Her research is focused on solving problems relating to educating and developing engineers, teachers, and the community at all levels (k12, undergraduate, graduate, post-graduate). A few of these key areas include engineering identity and mindsets, global competencies, failure culture, first year experiences in engineering, capstone design thinking, integrating service and authentic learning into the engineering classroom, implementing new instructional methodologies, and design optimization using traditional and non-traditional manufacturing. She seeks to identify best practices and develop assessments methods that assist in optimizing computing and engineering learning. She is a co-founder and the Director of Innovation Programs and Operations for the non-profit research group, Advancing Engineering Excellence in P-12 Engineering Education and is working to Launch PROMISE Engineering Institute Global, for international future faculty development. Dr. Gurganus teaches several first and second year Engineering classes along with the Mechanical and Multidisciplinary Engineering Senior Capstone design courses at UMBC. She is also this year’s Program Chair for the Pre-College division and on the task force for Weaving in students versus weaving them out with the President of ASEE.

9. Dr. Bruk T Berhane

   Florida International University

   Dr. Bruk Berhane received his B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland. He holds an M.S. in engineering management from the George Washington University and a Ph.D. in minority and urban education from the University of Maryland. In 2003, Bruk was hired by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL), where he worked on nanotechnology and microsystems. In 2005 he left JHUAPL for a fellowship with the National Academies and researched methods of increasing the number of women in engineering. Later that year, he briefly served as a mathematics instructor in Baltimore City High Schools.

   From 2005 through 2018, Dr. Berhane directed engineering recruitment and scholarship programs for the University of Maryland. He oversaw an increase in the admission of students of color and women during his tenure and supported initiatives that reduce the time to degree for transfers from Maryland community colleges. The broader implications of his research are informed by his comprehensive experiences as a college administrator. He now advances this research as an assistant professor of engineering education at Florida International University. His areas of scholarly interest include:
   • Broadening participation in engineering through community college pathways
   • Rethinking undergraduate student pathways for post-traditional learners in engineering

10. Dr. Tanya D Ennis

    University of Colorado Boulder

    Tanya Ennis recently led the broadening participation plan for the SpectrumX Center NSF proposal and will be working with the college Research Support Office to develop similar plans for grant proposals as well as a comprehensive strategy for broadening research participation plans across the college. Her work with SpectrumX will have a national impact through the 13 research institutions and 14 minority-serving institutions associated with the center and will provide a pathway for increasing diversity among College of Engineering and Applied Science graduate students. Ennis has previously supported broadening participation plans for four NSF CAREER grant proposals.

    Ennis previously served as the director of the BOLD Center. Under her leadership, the Engineering GoldShirt Program received recognition in 2020 from the National Academy of Engineering as an “exemplary admissions practice that promotes diversity in engineering” and the BOLD Center was named 2018 Program of the Year by CoNECD, the Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity. She received the CU President’s Diversity Award in 2015. She holds a PhD from the learning sciences and human development program in CU Boulder’s School of Education.