Happy 120th Anniversary

Putting students first in all we do

The School of Engineering Education (ENE) is proud to celebrate this special anniversary with our community. New and foundational collaborations across the College and University continue to further our mission for each of our programs – First-Year Engineering (FYE), undergraduate degree programs in Interdisciplinary Engineering Studies (IDES) and Multidisciplinary Engineering (MDE), the graduate program in Engineering Education, and the INSPIRE Research Institute for Pre-College Engineering.

Despite the pandemic, ENE has had an exciting year with record enrollments in our undergraduate degree programs and in FYE. IDES/MDE continues to be one the most diverse undergraduate programs in the College. We also hit a milestone of more than 100 doctoral students graduating from our program, making their own impacts at higher education institutions and agencies across the globe. Our PhD program is 15 years young, and we celebrate with more than a dozen institutions following our lead in developing the research area of engineering education. We are very proud of these achievements and our sustained leadership expanding the vision and legacy of our founding head, Dr. Kamyar Haghighi.

An integral part of the School of Engineering Education, the FYE program is the entry point for all beginning engineering students at Purdue, continuing our mission dating back to our founding as the Department of Freshman Engineering more than 65 years ago: advise, prepare and retain students as they discover and prepare to move to one of the 16 College majors. Having educated hundreds of thousands of Purdue engineering alumni, we couldn’t be prouder of the accomplishments of our community and of the students we have served. These successes include the essential work of ENE Assistant Head Isabel Jimenez-Useche; our academic advising team led by Billie Jennings; the instructional support team led by Nicole Towner; and our team of faculty curators, instructors, and teaching assistants.

In a Purdue Engineering Podcast episode, ENE Head Donna Riley discusses discuss the origin of the first School of Engineering Education in the world, the transformation of our First-Year Engineering program, and how we adapted to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Because of our wealth of experience in research-based educational innovation, we have met the challenges of COVID-19 disruptions with a deep bench of talent and a broad, ever-expanding toolkit, anticipating and addressing student learning needs – be they practical, cognitive, emotional or interpersonal. This has held true not only for FYE but also for our undergraduate and graduate programs. Our team can make a complex, large-scale operation look effortless. In these deeply difficult days, we have stood by our mantra to put students first in all we do. Words fail me in seeking to express my depth of gratitude for the considerable sacrifices we have made at this historic moment to fulfill our mission.

Recognizing that the COVID-19 pandemic was occurring alongside an ongoing pandemic of anti-Black racism in the United States, ENE students, faculty and staff engaged in a series of workshops to broaden our competencies for anti-racism work and accountability. We have prepared and are implementing an action plan centered on addressing anti-Black racism at a systemic level – a long-haul effort that requires our sustained focus.

ENE celebrates several notable collaborative projects in research and education as 2020 winds to a close:

  • Officially launched last month, the Fusion Studio for Entertainment and Engineering is an exciting new space for our MDE students. The new center is in collaboration with the College of Liberal Arts and co-directed by Mary Pilotte (ENE) and Rich Dionne (Theatre). Activity is well underway, with two national symposia conducted already, as well as an increasing number of academic institutions and industry partners joining this rapidly growing interdisciplinary area.
  • The National Institute for Engineering Ethics (NIEE) has found a new home in the School of Engineering Education. Originally established by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), the NIEE is dedicated to promoting ethics and engineering practice and education. With several new and ongoing research projects in engineering ethics in ENE, other schools in the College of Engineering, and across Purdue, we look forward to growing these activities through inter-unit collaborations in 2021 and beyond.
  • In a National Science Foundation (NSF) RAPID grant project, a team led by Dr. Kerrie Douglas is studying approaches to online implementation and social support in undergraduate engineering courses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • ENE faculty are engaging in varied workforce development efforts across engineering disciplines as part of several large-scale research collaborations, funded by the NSF, U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), and other organizations. For example, Audeen Fentiman is collaborating with John Sutherland and others on an NSF PEER project to develop online manufacturing education; Tamara Moore and Kerrie Douglas are working with Peter Bermel on a DoD Cornerstone Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) project for microelectronic workforce development; Ed Berger is teaming with Jeff Rhoads on a U.S. Army-funded project on advanced energetic materials; and I am the new engineering workforce development director for the recently funded ASPIRE Engineering Research Center, developing electrified transportation infrastructure.
  • We continue to dream of the possibilities for embodying our commitment to putting students first in a new way in the Gateway Complex, where the School of Engineering’s FYE program will continue to advise, prepare and retain students for success throughout their careers in the College.

More information: Engineering Education Research Briefs with Dr. Ruth Streveler

Wishing everyone a warm and cozy holiday season,

Donna Riley
Kamyar Haghighi Head and Professor
School of Engineering Education

Medium articles:

Igniting a fire: Educating a new wave of engineers - Morgan Hynes

Engineering the future of entertainment - Mary Pilotte and Rich Dionne

Supportive education in the time of COVID-19 - Kerrie Douglas

Purdue Engineering Podcast

Transformation of First-Year Engineering with Dr. Donna Riley