2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The Role of Diverse Teams in Engineering Innovation: A Case Study of Graduate Programs at an HBCU.

Presented at Minorities in Engineering Division(MIND) Technical Session 3

Engineering innovation is progressively seen as a product of collaborative, diverse teams that leverage a range of perspectives and experiences. This study will focus on how diverse teams in graduate engineering programs at an HBCU contribute to innovation in problem-solving, creativity, and research outcomes. Specifically, it will investigate diverse teams' unique advantages over homogeneous ones in fostering innovation, particularly in STEM fields. This research is grounded in Social Capital Theory, which posits that social networks and diverse relationships enable the flow of information and resources that lead to innovation.
The conceptual framework will focus on three key areas to formulate the hypotheses diverse inputs, cognitive diversity, and innovative outputs. This research will examine diversity in terms of race, gender, socioeconomic background, and academic experience on team dynamics and innovation metrics, such as the number of patents filed and research papers published. Homogeneous in terms of members sharing similar demographic and experiential characteristics. Research questions will focus on how diverse perspectives shape the problem-solving process, how diversity affects team performance in innovation tasks, and how institutional support can enhance these outcomes.
By examining teams from a minimum of six STEM research laboratories at an HBCU, the study shall highlight these institutions' critical role in promoting diversity and innovation in engineering education. Using a mixed-methods design, quantitative analysis of innovation outcomes and qualitative interviews focusing on team dynamics and problem-solving strategies shall be employed. SPSS, NVivo, and thematic analysis shall be considered as instruments to analyze the quantitative and qualitative data. The findings are expected to inform both academic and industry practices in forming high-performance teams that drive STEM innovation.
Keywords: Diverse teams, innovation, HBCU, engineering, problem-solving, creativity, STEM, diversity in education

Authors

Mr. Micheal Oketunde Okegbola http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2817-4737 Morgan State University [biography]

Surv. Micheal Okegbola was a faculty member with the Department of Surveying and Geoinformatics,
Federal School of Surveying, Oyo, Oyo State, Nigeria and an Adjunct with the Surveying and
Geoinformatics department, Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Oyo State, Nigeria where he teaches
undergraduate and graduate courses. Surv. Micheal is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Sustainable and
Resilient Infrastructure Engineering at the Department of Civil Engineering, Morgan State University.
He is also a graduate research assistant at the Sustainable Infrastructure Development, Smart Innovation
and Resilient Engineering Research Laboratory also at the Civil Engineering Department. His research
interests include UAV applications in high-rise and bridge infrastructures monitoring, Remote Sensing
and GIS in engineering applications, engineering education, student success and hands-on engineering
pedagogy for program enhancements.

He is an alumnus of University of Nigeria (UNN), having earned his M.Sc. in Surveying and Geoinformatics
(Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System). He previously completed a B.Sc. in Surveying and
Geoinformatics, at the Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria. Micheal is a Registered/Licensed Surveyor of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria by the professional body, Surveyors Council of Nigeria (SURCON), which is
vested with the power by the Law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to register professional Surveyors.
Dr. Oludare Adegbola Owolabi P.E. Morgan State University [biography]

Dr. Oludare Owolabi, a professional engineer in Maryland, joined the Morgan State University faculty in 2010. He is the assistant director of the Center for Advanced Transportation and Infrastructure Engineering Research (CATIER) at Morgan State Universit
Mr. Pelumi Olaitan Abiodun http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4969-9591 Morgan State University [biography]

Pelumi Abiodun is a current doctoral student and research assistant at the department of Civil Engineering, Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland. Pelumi got his BSc and MSc degree in Physics from Obafemi Awolowo University, where he also served as a research assistant at the Environmental Pollution Research unit, in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. As part of his contribution to science and engineering, Pelumi has taught as a teaching assistant both at Morgan State University and Obafemi Awolowo University. With passion to communicate research findings and gleaned from experts in the field as he advances his career, Olaitan has attended several in-persons and virtual conferences and workshop, and at some of them, made presentation on findings on air pollution, waste water reuse, and heavy metal contamination.

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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