2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The Wicked Engineer: Centering Intercultural Competency and Equity (Resource Exchange)

Presented at Instructional Showcase

Wicked problems are complex issues without clear boundaries, such as climate change, food security, access to clean water, and growing inequality. This course encouraged high school students to become wicked engineers who can tackle grand challenges. Participants examined multicultural circumstances outside of their lived experiences, and explored how engineering intersects with the sustainability concepts involving the environment, human health and welfare, and social justice. This course also introduced the field of Humanitarian Engineering, which emphasizes the societal dimensions of contemporary engineering. Students engaged in self-reflection and dialogue about intercultural considerations and explored potential STEM career paths that address disparate effects on minoritized or underserved communities.

Authors

Dr. Patrick Sours The Ohio State University [biography]

Dr. Patrick Sours is an Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in Engineering for Sustainable Development and serves as the Faculty Lead of the Humanitarian Engineering Program at The Ohio State University. In this role, he leads high-impact experiential learning programs, conducts engineering education research, and instructs courses related to Engineering for Sustainable Development. He is passionate about developing engineers' sociotechnical competency to prepare them to address complex global sustainability challenges
Cherish C. Vance http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8587-7594 The Ohio State University [biography]

Cherish Vance (she/her) is an incoming Assistant Professor in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering at The Ohio State University. Her research passions include engineering for sustainable development. A first-generation student, she is currently a PhD candidate and has received a Bachelor of Science in Biological and Agricultural Engineering from Texas A&M University.

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