2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

NSF IUSE Integrating Sociotechnical Issues in Electrical Engineering Starting with Circuits: Year 2

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session I

This NSF-funded Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) project aims to integrate sociotechnical issues into Introduction to Circuits, typically the first course in electrical engineering (EE) for undergraduate students. To prepare graduates for the real-world problems, which are interdisciplinary and involve complex social impacts, instructors must help students address the sociotechnical nature of engineering. However, many engineering instructors are unsure how to do this. In this project, we aim to make it easier for them by developing sociotechnical modules with detailed teaching guides for the Introduction to Circuits course, each connecting fundamental circuits topics to larger social issues. In year 2, we implemented our first two modules at different institutions, developed and administered a survey assessing students’ perceptions about sociotechnical issues in engineering, recruited and facilitated a cohort of graduate students from across the USA to develop more modules, and presented our work at several international venues.

Authors

Dr. Susan M Lord http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2675-5626 University of San Diego [biography]

Susan Lord is Professor and Chair of Integrated Engineering at the University of San Diego. She received a BS from Cornell University in Materials Science and Electrical Engineering (EE) and MS and PhD in EE from Stanford University. Her research focuses on the study and promotion of equity in engineering including student pathways and inclusive teaching. She has won best paper awards from the Journal of Engineering Education, IEEE Transactions on Education, and Education Sciences. Dr. Lord is a Fellow of the IEEE and ASEE and received the 2018 IEEE Undergraduate Teaching Award. She is a coauthor of The Borderlands of Education: Latinas in Engineering. She is a co-Director of the National Effective Teaching Institute (NETI).
Dr. Cynthia J. Finelli http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9148-1492 University of Michigan [biography]

Dr. Cynthia J. Finelli is the David J. Munson, Jr. Professor of Engineering, a professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, a professor of Education, and and Director and Graduate Chair of Engineering Education Research at University of Michigan In her research she focuses on increasing faculty adoption of evidence-based instruction, identifying ways to better support students with neurodiversities, and promoting students'’ sense of social responsibility through engineering coursework.

Professor Finelli is a fellow of both the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE). She previously served as deputy editor for the Journal of Engineering Education, associate editor for the European Journal of Engineering Education, and associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Education. She founded the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching in Engineering at University of Michigan in 2003 and served as its Director for 12 years.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

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