2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

WORK-IN-PROGRESS
The cross-disciplinary endowed professorship in Engineering: Student perceptions of communication and teamwork workshops

The endowed professorship in the College of Engineering provides a complex challenge for a faculty member working across disciplines that will be discussed in this work-in-progress. Goals of the endowed professorship are to: (a) guide the College to meet ABET requirements for communication and teamwork, (b) work with the College’s Undergraduate Education Team, (c) assist individual departments with matters of communication and teamwork, (d) participate in the introduction of communication and teamwork across Introduction to Engineering Courses, and (e) assess the quality and efficacy communication components related to Engineering curricula.

When working cross disciplinarily I have found it important to employ an “ethnographic mindset” that seeks first to understand the needs within a given context before collaboratively integrating adaptive solutions. As part of this presentation, I will share the signature workshops (see below) I have developed for the College of Engineering and feedback related to each workshops.

Poster Presentation Design: Develop impactful posters that communicate to an audience with or without you being present. Learn how to incorporate a powerful visual layout and increase audience view time of your research.

Advanced PowerPoint: Transform your slide decks into an immersive presentation with a cinematic feel. Learn high-end industry standard slide design concepts that are guaranteed to leave a positive impression with any audience.

Team Conflict Management: Employ various conflict response options to manage different conflictual situations. Learn your conflict response preferences and strategies for making decisions to respond to situations where the concerns of two or more people appear to differ.

Team Leadership: Reframe your understanding about complex tasks that require individuals to work as a team. Learn the essential behaviors high performance teams frequently engage in to accomplish collective tasks and increase team performance.

I seek to share what effective approaches I have employed in the endowed professorship role and look for guidance about how I can further collaborate and support the growth of engineering education. My preferred presentation method is a lightening round table.