Experiential Learning, Co-ops & Career Readiness in Engineering
For those interested in: Academia-Industry Connections, Advocacy and Policy, Broadening Participation in Engineering and Engineering Technology, and New Members
John S Gero
Research Professor in Psychological and Brain Sciences Drexel University
Artificial intelligence did not start in November 2022 when ChatGPT was released. It started some 70 years ago in the 1950s. The first papers on AI’s use in design were in the 1970s. The first PhDs on AI in design were completed in the 1980s. This talk will cover some the developments of artificial intelligence in design research and its flow on into design education from the 1970s to the 2000s, including expert systems, knowledge-based systems, machine learning and a variety of generative AI systems. It will ... (continued)
John Gero has been a Visiting Professor of Architecture, Artificial Intelligence, Civil Engineering, Cognitive Psychology, Computer Science, Computational Social Science, Design and Computation, and Mechanical Engineering at MIT, Columbia University, UC-Berkeley, UCLA, CMU, INSA-Lyon, University of Strathclyde, EPFL, University of Provence, GMU and UNCC. He was elected a Fellow of Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence for his contributions to AI in Design. He is the author/editor of 57 books and has published some 850 research papers that have over 33,000 citations and an h-index of 81.
The Journal of Engineering Education is one of the premier scholarly publications sponsored by the
American Society for Engineering Education and serves as an important mechanism for members of the
Educational Research Methods Division to share their scholarly work with the global engineering
education research community. This proposed special session/panel is a key mechanism for advancing
the journal’s strategic goal to continue building an inclusive community of engineering education
researchers, reviewers, and readers, as we laid out in our recent editorial (Main & Knight, 2023).
This session focuses on reimagining how energy concepts are taught, assessed, and applied across engineering education. Papers cover AI-assisted thermodynamic property analysis, a technology-driven remote energy assessment framework, a targeted scholarship program preparing students for power and energy careers, and a world-crisis analytical approach to teaching decarbonization across transportation and power sectors.
For those interested in: Academia-Industry Connections, Advocacy and Policy, Broadening Participation in Engineering and Engineering Technology, New Members, and Pre-College
Institutional implementation of ethics or cross institutional ethics collaboration
For those interested in: Academia-Industry Connections, Advocacy and Policy, Broadening Participation in Engineering and Engineering Technology, New Members, and Pre-College
AI in Engineering Librarianship
This panel will convene engineering professionals from the Charlotte, North Carolina region who occupy leadership roles that blend technical expertise with organizational oversight, including engineering managers, technical leaders, project managers, and executive leaders. Drawing from experience across engineering services, automation and robotics, digital transformation, supply chain operations, and organizational leadership, the panelists will provide perspectives grounded in real-world engineering practice and workforce development.
The discussion will explore how engineering leadership i ... (continued)
For those interested in: Academia-Industry Connections and Broadening Participation in Engineering and Engineering Technology
Jennifer Braganza is an engineering executive with experience in operational excellence, strategy and transformation, customer experience, digital transformation, and risk management. She currently serves as Vice President of Global Recruitment Operations Transformation at The Adecco Group, where she leads initiatives focused on organizational transformation and operational scalability.
Previously, Jennifer led global teams in operational excellence, design thinking, customer experience, and change management. Earlier in her career, she worked in product development within the automotive indu ... (continued)
Wendall Horton, PE, is a Project Manager at ACRO Development Services in Charlotte, North Carolina. With nearly a decade of experience in both the public and private sectors, he has designed and managed a wide range of land development projects throughout the southeastern United States, including residential, commercial, medical, office, and institutional developments.
In addition to his industry role, Wendall serves as an adjunct instructor in the Civil Engineering Department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he teaches undergraduate courses focused on land development and ... (continued)
Social, Equity & Research Support Topics
For those interested in: Academia-Industry Connections, Advocacy and Policy, Broadening Participation in Engineering and Engineering Technology, New Members, and Pre-College
Centered on professional development, this session explores ways to support and empower faculty in environmental engineering and sustainability education. Topics may include mentoring, interdisciplinary collaboration, work-life balance, and strategies for sustaining impactful teaching and scholarship.
For those interested in: New Members
Graduate Studies Division (GSD) Technical Session focused on Identity and Belonging. This session will begin with the 2026 ASEE GSD Best DEI Paper, presented by Dr. Christina Alston.
Instrumentation is ordinarily part of large, automated processes. It senses data, formats it for use in key functions and control of a wide range of systems. Automatic control becomes possible with sophisticated, automated instrumentation systems providing measurement and feedback to characterize performance in real time. This enables us to achieve useful results from our process and product creation. Teaching students to work in this environment requires multidisciplinary approaches and a wide range of resources and talent. In this session, we begin the mechatronics, the intersection of me ... (continued)
For those interested in: Academia-Industry Connections
This panel featuring Donna Riley, Yvette Pearson, and Cindy Rottmann will explore the challenges of these trying times, particularly as a part of their leadership roles, responsibilities, and research. This conversation invites the LEES community into an honest, grounded exchange about what leadership across scales actually looks and feels like right now.
For those interested in: Advocacy and Policy, Broadening Participation in Engineering and Engineering Technology, and New Members
Dr. Yvette E. Pearson is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Strategic Initiatives in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and Associate Dean for Effectiveness and Accountability in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at The University of Texas at Dallas. She is recognized globally for over 30 years in higher education, particularly for her work in the areas of sustainability, access, and opportunity for individuals from minoritized and marginalized identities.
Pearson founded The PEER Group in 2017, specializing in evaluation, organizational leadership, p ... (continued)
Donna Riley is a leader in engineering education and inclusive excellence. She was a founding faculty member of the Picker Engineering Program at Smith College, the first engineering program at a U.S. women’s college, where she spent 13 years. In 2005, she received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award for developing critical pedagogies for engineering classroom implementations. She is a fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and was elected vice president of scholarship for ASEE in 2023.
Before joining UNM, she was the Kamyar Haghighi Head and Professor in ... (continued)
Professor Cindy Rottmann brings extensive research, teaching and curriculum development experience to her work as Associate Director, Research at Troost ILead. In January 2023, she was appointed Assistant Professor, Engineering Leadership in ISTEP and has joined the teaching team for our introductory undergraduate course—TEP343 Engineering leadership. Cindy joined Troost ILead in 2012 as a staff researcher and has since taken responsibility for leading an interdisciplinary team of engineers and social scientists on research projects investigating engineering leadership in professional practice co ... (continued)
This technical session highlights innovative approaches to experiential learning in manufacturing education, including hands-on labs, project-based learning, industry-integrated experiences, simulations, and emerging digital tools. The session welcomes papers that share effective practices, assessment methods, and lessons learned for preparing students with the practical skills and problem-solving abilities needed in modern manufacturing careers.
For those interested in: Academia-Industry Connections and Broadening Participation in Engineering and Engineering Technology
Best practices for teaching common courses in materials science both in and out of materials engineering departments and their impact on students beyond materials engineering majors.