2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This paper explores the intersection of engineering, violence, and peace through an arts-based project. Drawing from our lived experiences, we would like to build a narrative that highlights how engineering is deeply entwined with societal structures, including systems of oppression and colonialism. We have conceptualized our work as a tree. This tree is the representation of hope and peace as well as the engineering ecosystem.

The roots of the tree represent the foundations of our humanity. Our need for shelter, clean water, food, security, community and love. Meeting these basic needs are the reasons engineers do what they do. The body of the tree represents the engineering education. This body is generally considered as solid and solitary, disregarding the relationship between the tree and the rest of the world. Finally, the leaves of the tree are the stories of how humanity interacts with engineering and how engineering can help us achieve peace.

All parts of the tree are made with papers that have our experiences, stories, thoughts, discussions and research written on them. These experiences go back to our experiences growing up; one person during a war and the other growing up during peace but in a military family. These experiences form the foundations of our understanding of the roles that the engineers and the engineering profession play in the world.

As this is an interactive piece, we ask the conference participants to write and leave their stories in the tree. However, each person will also be asked to drop a marble into the base of the tree. These marbles are to represent the bombs and rockets that are made by engineers and will be used for destruction. The sizes of the balls vary based on the amount of military budget in the country that the participant is from. Once the weight of the marbles has reached a critical value, the tree will shake, making the leaves fall. The hope is by increasing the number of stories we leave; we will increase the hope that the tree of Hope survives.

Using a collaborative collage shaped like a tree, this work invites collective reflection on the role of engineers in perpetuating or challenging violence. Each leaf symbolizes a story or commitment to peace, while the tree’s periodic "shaking" represents systemic disruptions. By fostering community engagement, the project reimagines engineering as a force for justice, advocating for responsive pedagogy and transformative practices in engineering education.

This paper explores how engineering educators can foster a culture of peace by deconstructing oppressive norms and advocating for socially just practices. Drawing on the lived experiences of two faculty members, one from Canada and the other from Iran, we reflect on the intersections of engineering, violence, and peace through an arts-based research methodology.