The three-year study will explore three issues that have been identified as limiting factors in the formation of professional engineers:

• the gap between what students learn in their college programs and what they practice upon graduation;
• the limiting perception that engineering is based solely on math, physics, and other technical theory and skills; and
• the lack of diversity (representation of a wide range of people groups) and lack of inclusion (incorporation of different perspectives, values, and ways of thinking and being) in many engineering programs.

“These three issues typically are treated as separate problems with separate interventions,” said Carla Zoltowski, principal investigator and assistant professor of engineering practice of electrical and computer engineering. “While typical interventions, such as curriculum reform, may lead to positive changes, they don’t address the underlying assumptions and values that sustain the problems.”

The researchers will utilize an engineering approach (design thinking) and multiple research activities to investigate the foundational understandings of professional formation, diversity, and inclusion in engineering. The study is designed to identify the underlying paradigms embedded in engineering disciplines and professions that make these issues intractable.

Also leading the work are co-principal investigators Patrice Buzzanell, distinguished professor of communication and engineering education (courtesy) and chair and director of the Susan Bulkeley Butler Center for Leadership Excellence and Andrew Brightman, associate professor of engineering practice and assistant head of the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering.

The project will involve key stakeholders (students, faculty, staff, and administrators) from Purdue’s Schools of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Biomedical Engineering.

Results of the study will support the deep transformation needed to integrate inclusion and diversity in professional formation for a greater benefit to peoples, society, and the environment.

Contact: Andrew Brightman, 765-496-3537, aob@purdue.edu