2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

WIP: Opening Doors for All: Creating an Inclusive and Equitable Engineering Education Model Inspired by the ASEE Mindset Report

Presented at First-Year Programs Division (FPD) Work-in-Progress 5: Academic Support, Retention, and Success Strategies

This WIP paper originates with the 2024 ASEE Engineering Mindset Report [1], created and published in collaboration with the ASEE community, the NSF, and the NAE, that calls for transforming the engineering education ecosystem to “better meet the needs of our ever-changing world.” The report lays out six wide-ranging recommendations to address the challenges of “diversity, inclusivity, pathways, and mindset” that confront engineering education today.
In this paper, we present an ongoing pilot project at the University of Detroit Mercy to reimagine the freshman-year engineering experience through a model that seeks to address the critical themes outlined in the Mindset Report. A central feature of our innovative model is a multidisciplinary studio classroom where students will learn physics, math and engineering using an integrated competency-based curriculum that combines didactic lectures, laboratory experiments, simulations and other pedagogical methods to support student learning (Recommendation 2, [1]). As the report emphasizes, transforming math and physics education from its current role as “bottlenecks to engineering degrees” to tools and concepts for solving “real world” engineering problems would go a long way to “eliminating barriers to entry and success” for the broadest diversity of future engineers (Recommendation 1, [1]).

The University of Detroit Mercy is also well positioned to address the other key recommendations of the report. Multiple multi-year grants from Federal sources aimed at increasing the representation of minoritized students pursuing biomedical science careers have created support infrastructures to provide equitable and inclusive support for all students through a mentoring and student advocacy program; partnerships with industry, community, and government leaders, particularly from underrepresented communities, to serve as mentors and role models for our students; and student-centered Institutional Development programs that train faculty and staff in improving learning and retention for a diverse student body. Our goal is to use these established resources and best practices to help transform our first-year engineering experience by addressing the systemic inequities outlined in the Mindset report.

This paper explores the critical themes driving this transformation of engineering education. By emphasizing equity, flexibility, and inclusive support structures, we aim to transform the academic ecosystem and many of its accepted practices to create pathways into engineering that are accessible to all students, particularly those from marginalized and underserved backgrounds. Simultaneously, we will align outcomes with the evolving needs of industry, equipping students to thrive in a dynamic and diverse workforce.

References
[1] The Engineering Mindset Report: The Vision for Change in Undergraduate Engineering and Engineering Technology Education, ASEE, 2024, https://mindset.ASEE.org.

Authors

Hiba Assi University of Detroit Mercy
Dr. E. Prasad Venugopal http://orcid.org/https://0000-0002-4709-4804 University of Detroit Mercy [biography]

Dr. E. Prasad Venugopal is a Professor of Physics and Affiliate Faculty, African American Studies at the University of Detroit Mercy. His research interests include physics education research and science and technology studies.
Dr. Shuvra Das http://orcid.org/https://0000-0003-0082-9102 University of Detroit Mercy [biography]

Dr. Shuvra Das started working at University of Detroit Mercy in January 1994 and is currently Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Over this time, he served in a variety of administrative roles such as Mechanical Engineering Department Chair, Associate Dean for Research and Outreach, and Director of International Programs in the college of Engineering and Science. He has an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and Master’s and Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics from Iowa State University. He was a post-doctoral researcher at University of Notre Dame and worked in industry for several years prior to joining Detroit Mercy.

Dr. Das has taught a variety of courses ranging from freshmen to advanced graduate level such as Mechanics of Materials, Introductory and Advanced Finite Element Method, Engineering Design, Introduction to Mechatronics, Mechatronic Modeling and Simulation, Mathematics for Engineers, Electric Drives and Electromechanical Energy Conversion. He led the effort in the college to start several successful programs: an undergraduate major in Robotics and Mechatronic Systems Engineering, a graduate certificate in Advanced Electric Vehicles, and a thriving partnership for student recruitment with several universities in China. He has also been the dissertation advisor for and graduated many Ph.D. students.

Dr. Das’s areas of research interests are modeling and simulation of multi-disciplinary engineering problems, modeling multi-physics problems in manufacturing, engineering education, and curriculum reform. He has worked in areas ranging from mechatronics system simulation to multi-physics process simulation using CAE tools such as Finite Elements and Boundary Elements. He has authored or co-authored five books on these topics.
Dawn Archey University of Detroit Mercy
Prof. Mark Andrew Steffka University of Detroit Mercy [biography]

Mark A. Steffka, is a Professor in the Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science Department (ECECS), teaches electrical/electronic circuit design, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), and communication systems. He has extensive experience with military HF/VHF/UHF secure communications, spacecraft instrumentation, automotive control systems, and on-vehicle antenna systems for terrestrial and satellite applications. In 2018 he retired from General Motors as the global vehicle engineering technical leader for the antenna group. Prior to that, he was a team leader and EMC Technical Specialist with General Motors Global Propulsion Systems. He holds patents on methods for electromagnetic interference reduction, and vehicle antenna systems. He is the author (or co-author) of a number of publications including books and technical papers presented international conference/symposiums. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Electromagnetic Compatibility Society, a member of SAE International, and has had numerous technical and organizational leadership roles both within IEEE and SAE. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, and a Master of Science from Indiana Wesleyan University. He joined the university as an Adjunct Professor in 2006, and became a full-time faculty member in 2018.
Dr. Darrell K. Kleinke P.E. University of Detroit Mercy [biography]

Dr. Kleinke has over 25 years of industry experience in the design and development of electro-mechanical systems. As a tenure-track faculty member and Chair of the University of Detroit Mercy Mechanical Engineering department, he has developed a program o

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