2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This full theory paper investigates the role of improvising in engineering. Traditionally, improvising has been conceptualized as a practice among performing artists, occasionally taught to undergraduate engineering students to encourage confidence and divergent thinking –crucial for brainstorming. However, engineers engage in improvising more formally through their productive work under uncertainty and creative problem-solving. Through the structured iterative processes of trial and error (a form of improvising), engineers rely on deep disciplinary knowledge and collaboration with teams, such as tinkering with calculations and sense-making with empirical biochemical data. Making visible improvising as a core practice of engineering requires reflections on what engineers do in the face of uncertainty, ambiguity, fast-changing environments, and ill-defined conditions. We argue that improvising is a core practice often overlooked in the engineering and engineering education literature as a key component of disciplinary practices. We adopt a definition of improvising from the organizational behavior literature that is then applied to engineering in the contexts of crises, troubleshooting, and innovation. Drawing on engineering scholarship, we present examples of improvising in three engineering disciplines —chemical engineering, software engineering, and civil and environmental engineering— to articulate this point. We conclude by discussing the implications of thinking about improvising as an engineering practice for the design of engineering learning experiences and environments.