2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Engineering Design Representations: A Bestiary

Presented at Design in Engineering Education Division (DEED) Technical Session 10: Using Metaphor and Modeling to Represent Design

Engineering design is inherently representational—designers use sketches, diagrams, schematics, storyboards, and other media to think through problems and communicate ideas. Research in design cognition and education highlights that external representations are not merely communicative tools but essential components of design reasoning. Yet undergraduate students often struggle with the meta-level understanding of when, why, and how to choose appropriate representations. To address this, we developed the Engineering Design Monster Manual, a visually rich, 50+ page supplemental resource that presents design concepts as illustrated “monsters,” inspired by medieval and fantasy role-playing bestiaries.

Each “monster” personifies a different class of design representation—such as “The Block Diagram,” “The Class Diagram,” or “The Gantt Chart”—complete with illustrated traits, design context, strengths, and vulnerabilities. The manual uses humor, metaphor, and fantasy tropes to demystify technical representations and emphasize their roles across different design stages and their appropriateness for different audiences and contexts. It was developed iteratively with student feedback in a senior capstone course, refined through classroom use and reflection, and co-written using generative AI to save labor.

The manual supports a pedagogy where students build representational fluency alongside traditional design skills. Early evidence suggests that students learn over time and exposure engage with abstract design tools through repetition, iteration, and using representations as conversational artifacts. This paper describes the development process, pedagogical rationale, and alignment of the resources with theories of design learning and representational fluency. By drawing on elements of humor, narrative, analogy, and visual storytelling, the Monster Manual supplements design project development in capstone and other design courses.

Authors

Dr. Alan Cheville Bucknell University [biography]

Alan Cheville studied optoelectronics and ultrafast optics at Rice University, followed by fourteen years as a faculty member at Oklahoma State University working on terahertz frequencies and engineering education. While at Oklahoma State he developed courses in photonics and engineering design. After serving for two and a half years as a program director in engineering education at the National Science Foundation, he took a position in electrical & computer engineering at Bucknell University. He is currently interested in engineering design education, engineering education policy, and the philosophy of engineering education.
Dr. Stewart Thomas http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5554-1475 Bucknell University [biography]

Stewart J. Thomas received the B.S. and M.Eng. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky in 2006 and 2008, respectively, and the Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina in 2013. He has served on the organizing committee for the IEEE International Conference on RFID series since 2014, serving as the Executive Chair in 2022, with research interests in areas of low-power backscatter communications systems and IoT devices. He is also interested in capabilities-based frameworks for supporting engineering education. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Bucknell University in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Lewisburg, PA USA.
Dr. Stu Thompson http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3444-8503 Bucknell University [biography]

Stu is an associate professor and chair of the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Bucknell University, in Lewisburg, PA. While his teaching responsibilities typically include digital design, computer-related electives, and senior design, his focus
Sarah Appelhans http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7313-3504 Lafayette College [biography]

Sarah Appelhans is an Assistant Professor of Engineering Studies at Lafayette College. She earned her PhD in Cultural Anthropology at the University at Albany (SUNY) where she conducted research on the cultural factors that contribute to inequalities in engineering. As a postdoc at Bucknell University, she was the resident ethnographer in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, exploring applications of Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach in engineering education. Her current book project, On the Bleeding Edge: Gender, Immigration and Precarity in Semiconductor Engineering, investigates the intersections of gender, race/ethnicity, and immigration status among semiconductor engineers.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 21, 2026, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 24, 2026

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