2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Bringing Emerging Engineering Technology into Classrooms Through a Transdisciplinary RET Program (Evaluation)

Presented at Pre-College Engineering Education Division (PCEE) Technical Session 8: Innovative Teaching Approaches for Advanced STEM Topics

This evaluation paper outlines a transdisciplinary Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program that aims to close this gap by engaging high school teachers in CellAg and tissue engineering research while also facilitating collaborative curriculum co-design. Emerging engineering technologies such as cellular agriculture (CellAg) and tissue engineering are becoming increasingly important for addressing societal issues, including sustainability, food systems, and ethics, yet they are largely absent from secondary STEM classes. Further, teachers often lack access to authentic research experiences and the curricular resources required to integrate such cutting-edge technologies into their classrooms. Our six-week summer RET brought together high school teachers from biology, physics, engineering, and environmental science for laboratory-based tissue engineering activities, digital manufacturing, and related organized talks. Teachers created curricular modules relevant to their disciplinary settings, grounded in engineering design and prototyping, and tested chosen activities with middle and high school students at a community-based workshop. In this paper, we share our work based on our (teacher) written retrospectives, curricular artifacts, and field notes from the pilot workshop implementation of the first year of the three-year program. We detail (1) the types of curricular modules we created, including low-cost engineering tools like DIY Instron machines and scaffold-based investigations; (2) the opportunities and challenges that we encountered when adapting emerging technologies for non-laboratory learning environments; and (3) our reflections on student engagement that we observed during the pilot workshop. During the pilot workshops, we observed high levels of student engagement and inquiry, but also noted time, tempo, material, and logistical difficulties. This work can provide practical insights for in-service teacher-oriented program designers and STEM teachers who want to present complex, emergent engineering technology using accessible, transdisciplinary approaches.

Authors

Mobina Beheshti
Claire Mikulski
Cindy Capitolin-Laurent
Deborah S Dessner de Jose
George Herrick Wales
Jake Friedenberg
Jenny Bello
Kayone Chitolie
Shereen Mejia
Thomas P Hayes
Ali Salifu
Antonio Carlos Freitas dos Santos
Glenn R Gaudette [biography]

Glenn Gaudette, PhD, is the inaugural John W. Kozarich '71 Chair of the Department of Engineering at Boston College (BC) and is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). Working together with his colleagues, they developed the first Engineering program in the history of BC. His research has pioneered the use of spinach and other plants as scaffolds for heart regeneration and more recently, for lab-grown meat. His work has featured throughout the world including on Bill Nye Saves the World (on Netflix), live interview on the BBC, Popular Science and at the Centre Pompidou (Paris). Dr. Gaudette also enjoys teaching engineering mechanics, design and innovation, biomechanics and physiology.
Helen Zhang [biography]

Helen Zhang is a senior research associate working at the Lynch School of Education, Boston College. Her research interest includes science education, design thinking, and learning from failure.
Dr. Luke Roger Perreault http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6005-9459 California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo [biography]

Luke Perreault earned his B.S. and M.Eng. in Biomedical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Tufts University under Dr. Lauren D. Black III.
Dr. Perreault then joined Boston College (BC) in 2021, as a postdoctoral fellow in BC’s newly established Department of Engineering. His research emphasized sustainable decellularized plant biomaterials for cellular agriculture (lab-grown meat), and he collaborated on computational oxygen transport models to support scalable bioreactor design. Appointed a Visiting Assistant Professor and Core Fellow in 2023, Dr. Perreault worked between BC’s liberal arts Core Curriculum and the Department of Engineering to teach coursework integrating history and ethics into engineering design, and collaborated with colleagues in engineering education outreach at the K-12 level, including contributing as a Co-PI to an NSF Research Experience for Teachers grant focused on bringing bioengineering and cellular agriculture to high school courses.
He joined Cal Poly SLO as an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering in 2025. In his classroom, he strives to help students pursue their own ideas and to reflect on the broader impacts of their work and identities as engineers within an interconnected global community.
Dr. Avneet Hira Boston College [biography]

Dr. Avneet Hira is an Assistant Professor in the Human-Centered Engineering Program and the Department of Teaching, Curriculum and Society (by courtesy) at Boston College.

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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