2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Change | Makers: What can come next in engineering design?

Presented at Liberal Education/Engineering & Society Division (LEES) Technical Session 1: Critical Reflections on Teaching and Learning

There have been growing calls for engineers and engineering educators to take more complete responsibility for their role in society as technological developers and technically literate members of society, the exclusivity of their practice, and the impact their work has on the world both socially and environmentally. These calls appear in various forms including Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [1], calls to action [2], and academic literature [3-5]. However, change in engineering often comes slow. While some change has been seen, for example, in some engineering codes of ethics and graduate attributes, others have been slow to change [6].
Everywhere we look, the world is asking us as educators and engineers to design, innovate, address global issues, and prepare future engineers to meet the needs of tomorrow. This suggests that traditional ways of practicing and teaching engineering design are not enough and that new strategies are needed. Important changes have already been made but more is needed to ensure that tomorrow’s engineers are well prepared to work and design with the rest of society to ensure a sustainable, just, and equitable future for our planet.
Taking a non-traditional approach to an academic paper, this paper will use a combination of storytelling, reflection, and commentary in which the authors will be having a conversation with readers. Our goal with this paper is to offer reflections from the Canadian perspective on integrating social justice, Indigenization, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (IEDI), and empathy into engineering education expanding on earlier conversations at the (Anon) [7] [8]. The authors are all working on practical ways to embed new ways of thinking, navigating the world, and understanding into the engineering curriculum. While very close to the American perspective, Canada does navigate a different context – one that is more restricted due to budget, rather than governmental influences. Authors will share not only their practices, but their lived experience, so that the full context of their personal contexts, locality, journey, and work are presented as one to elicit deeper meaning and insights [5, 7, 9, 10]. Our goal is to share learning, thinking, and practical suggestions, offering our lived experiences as paths that can be adapted, or inspire change in different contexts.
The authors will speak to the change they are pushing for in engineering context, the progress they have already made towards their goals, challenges they have faced, and advice they have to offer to others with a passion for change. This paper focuses on the perspectives of people currently living and working in Canada. Authors in this paper will all work in, or adjacent to, the engineering context but will include folks who are and are not Engineering faculty members. By including Indigenous knowledge keepers, Information Specialists, and EDI experts sharing perspectives alongside Engineering Faculty members, the goal of this paper is to begin a conversation in a new direction.

References
[1] United Nations – Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The 17 Goals. https://sdgs.un.org/goals [Accessed 8 Oct 2024]
[2] Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action. 2015. https://ehprnh2mwo3.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf [Accessed 8 Oct 2024]
[3] Nasser, R., Romanowski, M. (2016). Social Justice and the Engineering Profession: Challenging Engineering Education to Move Beyond the Technical. In: Abdulwahed, M., Hasna, M., Froyd, J. (eds) Advances in Engineering Education in the Middle East and North Africa. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15323-0_17
[4] Baillie, C. (2020). Engineering and Social Justice. In: Michelfelder, D.P., Doorn, N. (eds) The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Engineering. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315276502
[5] Tunstall, E. (D.) (2023). Decolonizing Design: A Cultural Justice Guidebook. MIT Press. ISBN: 9780262047692.
[6] R. Kirkscey, J. Vale, J. Howcroft. Identifying the foundation: Connecting codes of ethics, accreditation, values, and social justice to the engineering curriculum. CEEA 2023. 19-21 June 2023.
[7] Baillie, C. (2020). The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Engineering. Routledge. ISBM 9781315276502
[8] [Anon]
[9] Wilson, S. (2008). Research is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods. Fernwood Publishing. ISBN: 9781552662816
[10] Chrona, J. (2022) Wayi Wah! Indigenous Pedagogies An Act for Reconciliation and Anti-Racist Education. Portage & Main Press. ISBM 9781774920466

Authors

Dr. Jennifer Howcroft http://orcid.org/https://0000-0001-6055-9357 University of Waterloo [biography]

Jennifer Howcroft is an Associate Professor, Teaching Stream in the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo and is currently the Associate Chair, Academic for the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo. She received her PhD from the University of Waterloo. Her pedagogical research focuses on engineering design, holistic engineering education, stakeholder interactions, and empathy in engineering education. Her technical research focuses on naturalistic driving and older driver fitness assessment.
Dr. Kate Mercer http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6958-3396 University of Waterloo [biography]

Dr. Kate Mercer graduated with a Master of Information from the University of Toronto, and a PhD in Pharmacy from the University of Waterloo, focusing on communicating health information. Kate is the liaison librarian for Systems Design Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Waterloo where her job includes collaborating with faculty, staff, and students to effectively provide instruction and support and conduct research. By providing support around subject-specific and interdisciplinary research Kate both supports and collaborates in driving research forward. At the University of Waterloo, Kate works on strategies related to information and misinformation, understanding the research landscape, and building innovative partnerships that span disciplines.
Dr. Julie Vale University of Guelph [biography]

Julie Vale received her Ph.D in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo. She joined the University of Guelph in 2012 as a teaching focused faculty member and is currently Associate Director Undergraduate Studies for the School of Engineering. Originally trained in electrical engineering as a systems and control theorist, Dr. Vale’s current research focuses on engineering education and pedagogy. Her research has two aspects. The first focuses on the development of a tool to assist instructors in building assessments that promote problem solving skills rather than promoting memorization. The second is about how and why values-based learning outcomes should be scaffolded into STEM curricula and capstone experiences.

Dr. Vale believes that building student and faculty appreciation of the intersections between social justice and engineering is crucial to empowering engineers to fulfil their mandate to serve the public. She brings this view to the classroom, to curriculum design and development, and to her research.
D'andre Jermaine Wilson-Ihejirika P.Eng. http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4436-0895 University of Toronto [biography]

D’Andre Wilson-Ihejirika is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto within the Institute for Studies in Transdisciplinary Engineering Education & Practice (ISTEP). Prior to that she worked for many years as an engineer and project manager in the Oil & Gas industry. She is originally from Nassau, Bahamas, and completed her B.Eng in Chemical Engineering at McGill University and her MASc. from the Centre for Management of Technology and Entrepreneurship (CMTE) at the University of Toronto. She also currently sits as the President of the Board for BrainSTEM Alliance and is the Executive Director of Work Integrated Learning at the Calgary Economic Development.
Stephen Mattucci University of Guelph [biography]

Mattucci was raised in the traditional territories of the of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nations, Anishinaabek and Haudenosaunee Peoples (Southwestern Ontario, Canada). He has strong core values around continuous personal improvement, and love for learning. His post-secondary education includes three technical engineering degrees (two mechanical, one biomedical). Mattucci’s post-doctoral work shifted to focus on collaborative change management and communities of practice in engineering education at the national level in Canada, before beginning a faculty appointment in 2022 with a teaching focus. Mattucci’s favourite courses to teach are engineering design, mechanics (solids), dynamics, and anything related to leadership and professional / transferable skills. His favourite things to do are backcountry camping, and going on adventures with his family.

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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