2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Psychological Safety in Undergraduate Engineering Teams

Presented at Engineering Leadership Identity and Skill Development

Psychological safety is increasingly recognized as a critical factor in the success of teams. High levels of psychological safety have been linked to improved performance, creativity, and individual well-being within teams. In engineering education, teaming is both a pedagogical best practice and a required learning outcome. Despite its significance, psychological safety remains underexplored in engineering education, especially in terms of actionable teaching strategies. This paper builds on a previous work and highlights psychological safety as a valuable assessment tool for evaluating team dynamics. Additionally building on previous work in progress work, this paper measures impact of psychological safety interventions from multiple programs. Drawing connections to established models such as an affective domain psychological safety framework and applying team role awareness and interpersonal curiosity to engineering teams, we identify promising interventions from experience and the literature and share their impact.

Authors

Dr. Michelle Marincel Payne Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology [biography]

Dr. Michelle Marincel Payne is an Associate Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. She earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, her M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology, and her B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla (same school, different name). At Rose-Hulman, Michelle is co-leading a project to infuse an entrepreneurial-mindset in undergraduate students’ learning, and a project to improve teaming by teaching psychological safety in engineering education curricula. Michelle also mentors undergraduate researchers to investigate the removal of stormwater pollutants in engineered wetlands. Michelle was a 2018 ExCEEd Fellow, and was recognized as the 2019 ASCE Daniel V. Terrell Awardee.
Dr. Kenneth W Lamb P.E. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona [biography]

Kenneth is a Professor of Civil Engineering at Cal Poly Pomona and a licensed Professional Engineer in Nevada with experience working on a variety of water, stormwater, and wastewater system projects. He also oversees the College of Engineering Leadership Program at Cal Poly Pomona.
Mr. Seth Claberon Sullivan Texas A&M University [biography]

Seth Sullivan is the Director of the Zachry Leadership Program in the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University. Prior to joining the university, he worked in consulting in the private sector and as an analyst in the U.S. Government. Heâ€™s earned

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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