Letter from the President
Strategizing Our Future
Systems-level perspectives can both help resolve 2022 problems and generate sustainable solutions for 2050 and beyond.
By Adrienne Minerick
Dear ASEE members,
As the fall flew by and I fell behind on my ambitious ASEE agenda, it became apparent that hopes of gaining superwoman efficiency to make up for two years of COVID-19 career disruptions were unrealistic. But what our leadership team did accomplish is still significant. For instance, our Board recently voted to recommend to the membership the creation of a new vice president of scholarship position. If the position is approved by members, this person will focus on a system-wide integration and optimization of scholarly work for ASEE.
Like past Presidents, I gave invited talks (five!) at international and regional conferences. Unlike past Presidents, I delivered all of them from the (now snowy) edge of Lake Superior. I’ve focused each talk on the important challenge of re-strategizing engineering curricula and engineering practice to incorporate healthy respect and appreciation for synergistic disciplines using a systems-thinking construct.
Systems thinking is the incorporation of multiple contexts into engineering problem-solving. This approach embraces that the societal context (for example, attitudes and behaviors during each new wave of the pandemic) impacts the success or failure of our engineered solutions (a stellar air-filtering head bubble is ineffective if people will not wear one). Systems thinking accepts that current crises (such as global climate change with record-breaking temperatures, fires, tornados, ice storms, floods, and droughts) are a cumulative consequence of our past engineering feats upsetting the balance of the natural world and that the power of natural events can tear apart some of the greatest engineered infrastructure. The method also incorporates historical pattern analysis. Consider the once-great Mayan Empire; engineering accomplishments were insufficient to counter natural and social forces that caused its decline. Systems thinking is thus consideration of multiple contexts, but also the life cycle of those contexts over time.
You are likely to think that this is an overwhelming amount of additional knowledge to expect our engineering students to gain in four years. That is a valid perspective, but it is confining—to our detriment. To engineer for the future, to envision, to test, and to build solutions that solve our 2022 problems in a manner that is both sustainable and just into 2050 (and later), we need to strategically rethink the foundational paradigms of our profession.
Let me start with the attitude of disdain for other fields, even other engineering disciplines. Pause and think about what is considered rigorous and thus framed as more valuable: the mathematical proofs, the theory, the designs. We front-load math in our curriculum and dismiss those who don’t excel (with the way it is taught) as unworthy of our esteemed profession. What material is treated as less valuable or even dismissed? “Soft” skills, including analyses of resource utilization, social justice, and environmental sustainability.
What pains me about engineering are the pervasive behavior patterns that dismiss or disregard alternative views and approaches. I’m becoming more convinced that this exclusionary engineering culture will be our downfall. So, why did we develop this type of behavior and what forces encourage the behavior to persist? I have a theory. At the mathematical level, the approach developed over centuries is to make assumptions to simplify equations in order to obtain analytical solutions (which are viewed as more robust than discrete ones). Assumptions are strategically selected based on what physical forces are smaller and “can be safely neglected.” Possibly this mathematical approach is what has driven social behavior to disregard what, at a single glance, is perceived as having a small influence.
However, we have also all learned cumulative sums and exponential growth. Small perturbations in flow can cause eddies and turbulence; these perturbations can accumulate and grow into large, even catastrophic, disruptions. A single outbreak from a SARS mutation progressed into 5.7 million (and counting) SARS-CoV-2 deaths globally. Pollution from fossil fuel combustion was imperceptible in the early 1900s, but with population increases and scale, chemical byproducts such as carbon dioxide and nitric oxide are influencing climate patterns on a global scale. Items deemed negligible can still accumulate and grow, so they should not be ignored.
If grappling with systems thinking is too large a task to tackle today—and it is for the vast majority of us who are worn down by the COVID-19 pandemic—let’s just start with small and consistent acts of kindness. (See this essay by the former president of the Society for Freshwater Science: https://bit.ly/3GqULlh.) Kindness and collegiality can be the motivators for fully hearing that different perspective or idea, pausing to look for valid nuggets and understanding instead of just listening long enough to formulate a counterargument. Kindness can be the inspiration to focus on why a different kind of learner could be great at engineering instead of fixating on how their skill set differs from those of students we know will do well. Collegiality can be the reason to seek out colleagues in other disciplines to equitably collaborate on projects, demonstrating appreciation and respect for their field, ways of knowing or framing their expertise, data collection methodologies, analysis techniques, interpretations, logic processes, and conclusions.
Kindness can be the impetus to value all contributions from our academic community. As Executive Director Norman Fortenberry likes to say, “ASEE is the American Society for Engineering Education, not the American Society for Engineering Teaching,” which is a poignant way to articulate that the Society encompasses all aspects of the educational enterprise. This is a systems-thinking framing that brings the separate components of the educational endeavor together into a community of scholars from all different disciplines of engineering and career paths in industry and academe. We join together around the core of engineering, learning and adapting new skills to serve our society and our planet.
Collegiality and kindness can also be at the root of revisiting academia’s entrenched assumptions about what engineering skills and knowledge are valuable. Our built, natural, digital, and social worlds desperately need engineers to leverage our depth of knowledge in our subfields of engineering while simultaneously engaging in systems-level thinking and implementation.
If tackling the big task of incorporating systems thinking into engineering education seems too daunting right now, I hope you will start by shifting engineering culture toward openness to diverse ideas and collegial respect of individuals from partner disciplines. This paradigm shift in what we say and how we approach engineering will help overcome barriers to systems thinking and enable coordination between disciplines. Such coordination is the key to fully utilizing the talent available to sustainably and justly address the problems of 2022 such that solutions remain viable well into the future.
A few words on progress at ASEE. Kindness and good intentions to support members of ASEE are motivating factors for all of the volunteers serving on the Board of Directors; we partner with headquarters staff to provide our members the highest quality networking connections, knowledge sharing, and venues for your valuable scholarly work! In this issue of Prism, you can read about all the Society’s great efforts over the 2020–21 year in our annual report.
ASEE has increased its advocacy for policy that impacts the field of engineering. We partner with a respected government relations firm, Lewis-Burke Associates, and STEM-focused coalitions to make members’ voices heard. The Public Policy Colloquium of engineering deans (February 7–9) and the Engineering Technology Leaders Institute (September 2022) both include visits with representatives in Congress.
Thank you to each of you for your daily good intentions, efforts to infuse kindness into engineering, and engagement in ways to incorporate systems thinking into engineering practice. I hope you and yours maintain, or recover to, good health so that we all can sustainably thrive in our rapidly evolving world.
Adrienne Minerick is President of ASEE.
Norman’s Notes
New Year, New Normal
By Norman Fortenberry
ASEE members,
Welcome to 2022. I wish you all a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!
We greatly look forward to resuming in-person meetings this year! We are giddy at the prospect of the increased networking, camaraderie, collaboration, knowledge sharing, and serendipity that physical events allow. But to get back to our “new normal” will require some adjustments to the realities of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. ASEE will require attendees at all Society-sponsored meetings to be fully vaccinated and boosted. Some events may also require proof of a negative COVID test. We will be using a vendor to collect and verify the status of all attendees prior to arrival. Masks will also be required at ASEE-sponsored meetings, except for meal functions. Your safety remains our top priority.
The new year brings many excellent events:
- The Public Policy Colloquium (PPC), February 7–9, is a window into political Washington for engineering deans and government relations professionals.
- The Conference for Industry and Education Collaboration (CIEC), February 9–11, connects academe and industry.
- The Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity (CoNECD), February 20–23, is a forum showcasing research-based practices to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion across a variety of under-participating populations.
- The Engineering Deans Institute (EDI), March 7–10, convenes engineering deans to share best practices in research, education, and public service while advocating for the interests of engineering education.
- The Research Leadership Institute (RLI), March 21–23, brings together research leaders to discuss topics critical to their success.
- The Industry 4.0 Workforce Summit, April 25–26, will spark conversations among industry, academia, government, professional society, and accrediting body representatives on preparing graduates of engineering, engineering technology, and engineering technician programs for Industry 4.0 and beyond.
- The ASEE Annual Conference, June 26–29, enables members to gather and share best practices, innovations, and education research at the premier event dedicated to all disciplines of engineering and engineering technology.
In addition, the various Board task forces are hard at work and making progress toward their goals. The Scholarly Publications Task Force (cochaired by Cindy Finelli of the University of Michigan and Nadia Kellam of Arizona State) has been converted into a standing committee of ASEE. The Curriculum Task Force (chaired by Gary Bertoline of Purdue) and the Faculty Teaching Excellence Task Force (chaired by Donald Visco of the University of Akron) are seeking support from the National Science Foundation to advance their efforts.
At ASEE, we are always searching for better ways to serve our members. With approval from the ASEE Board of Directors, last year we began phasing out Monolith, our old and homegrown association management software (AMS) that served as a combined abstract/paper management system, web application system, and website back end. We are replacing Monolith with three separate systems. Unfortunately, this transition has not gone as smoothly as we had hoped. We apologize for the growing pains and disruptions associated with implementing the new systems. Please know that your ASEE headquarters team is working diligently to fix these issues and make our technology fully functional as soon as possible within the coming months.
This year, we also plan to launch a member survey that will explore how ASEE can improve current offerings, identify new services members find valuable, and sunset activities that are less useful. We plan to survey current and former members as well as people who have never been ASEE members. The goal is to learn how we can adapt to fast-changing times and provide members with meaningful services that vigorously promote engineering education for 2022 and into the unforeseeable future.
Norman Fortenberry is the executive director of ASEE.
Learn More
Access more information about these 2022 ASEE events:
- Public Policy Colloquium (PPC):
www.asee.org/events/COUNCIL-EVENTS/PPC - Conference for Industry and Education Collaboration (CIEC):
www.asee.org/events/featured-events/ciec2022 - Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity (CoNECD)
https://sites.google.com/vt.edu/conecd2022 - Engineering Deans Institute (EDI):
www.asee.org/events/COUNCIL-EVENTS/EDI - Research Leadership Institute (RLI):
https://www.asee.org/events/COUNCIL-EVENTS/RLI - Industry 4.0 Workforce Summit:
https://workforcesummit.asee.org - ASEE Annual Conference:
www.asee.org/events/Conferences-and-Meetings/2022-Annual-Conference
Society Leader Awarded NAE’s Gordon Prize
ASEE President-Elect Jenna Carpenter has been named a 2022 recipient of the Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education. The prestigious award from the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) recognizes recipients who have “transformed engineering education.”
Carpenter is being recognized for her work with the Grand Challenges Scholars Program (GCSP), which develops students into engineering leaders who can help solve society’s most pressing engineering problems. Since its inception in 2009, GCSP has spread to more than 90 engineering schools across the United States as well as to several international institutions.
Grand Challenges Scholars add to their degree requirements a portfolio including such components as a hands-on project or research related to one of the NAE Grand Challenges, general education (including behavior, economics, and policy), and service learning.
GCSP founders Thomas Katsouleas, Richard Miller, and Yannis Yortsos are co-recipients of the $500,000 annual Gordon Prize, which spotlights innovative educational approaches that develop engineering student leaders.
The three pioneered the Grand Challenges Scholars program at Duke University, Olin College, and the University of Southern California, respectively. Carpenter later joined the initiative, making “valuable contributions, drawing on her research on integrating STEM curricula” according to a news item from Campbell University, where she serves as School of Engineering founding dean. Carpenter spent seven years as chair of the GCSP steering committee and deems her work to advance the program nationally and internationally a “tremendous privilege.”
The ASEE President-Elect has been active in the Society since 1998 and has filled numerous roles within the organization, including vice president of Professional Interest Councils (PICs), director for the Educational Research and Methods Division, and director-at-large for the Women in Engineering Division. Carpenter was named an ASEE Fellow in 2013, and in 2019 she received both the Society’s Outstanding Campus Representative Award and the Sharon Keillor Award for Women in Engineering Education. A national expert on innovative STEM curricula and factors affecting the success of women in STEM, Campbell has also served as the president of the Women in Engineering ProActive Network.
New Workshops Will Aid in Publishing Process
ASEE is launching two workshops to help engineering professors convert their educational research into manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals, underwritten by a $650,000 grant from the Kern Family Foundation. The first workshop is scheduled to take place April 20–22, and the second is slated for later this year.
The free workshop series, entitled Archival Publications Authors in Engineering (APA-ENG), aims to help professors promote an entrepreneurial mindset in engineering education. The Kern Family Foundation oversees the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN), a partnership of 50 colleges and universities across the United States whose mission is to graduate engineers with an entrepreneurial mindset.
The series will be open to professors across engineering disciplines at four-year schools. The only requirement is that participants focus their manuscript research on the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), emphasizing creativity, an entrepreneurial mindset, and teaching innovations within engineering education.
ASEE’s workshops will also help professors find potential collaborators, submit drafts that are reviewed by workshop mentors, and learn about the review process used by archival journals. After completing the series, participants will have a complete understanding of the manuscript process and feel empowered to publish their research in peer-reviewed journals. The workshops will also help professors’ research reach new audiences in academia and among the public.
The first workshop will focus on how to generate manuscript ideas as well as how to identify and effectively collaborate with research partners. The second will guide participants in writing and updating manuscript drafts based on feedback from experts. It is planned to begin in summer or fall 2022.
Participants must register to attend the free workshops. For more information, visit http://apa-eng.asee.org or contact apa-eng@asee.org.
Call for Board Candidates
The ASEE Nominating Committee, chaired by Immediate Past President Sheryl Sorby, requests member participation in nominating candidates for the 2023 ASEE Board election. Board positions to be nominated are: President-Elect; Vice President, External Relations; Chairs of Professional Interest Councils II and III; Chairs of Council of Sections for Zones II and III.
- All nominees must be individual members or institutional member representatives of ASEE at the time of nomination and must maintain ASEE membership during their term of office. Nominating Committee members are not eligible for nomination.
- Candidates for President-Elect and for Vice President of External Relations must be active members who have served or are serving on the Board of Directors. Because ASEE is a Department of Defense contractor, candidates for President-Elect must currently be US citizens and undergo a security clearance. Candidates for Chairs of Council of Sections for Zones II and III will be selected by the members of their respective sections, as the ASEE Constitution stipulates.
- Each proposed candidate for a Society-wide office should submit a first-person biographical sketch of fewer than 400 words that documents career contributions, ASEE offices held, awards and recognitions received, and educational background. Include comments on leadership qualities, ability to collaborate with others to achieve objectives, and willingness to serve if elected. Self-nominations are accepted. For nominations for the office of President-Elect, please include a statement summarizing why you think your nominee is a good candidate for the position. A listing of members who meet constitutional eligibility requirements for the offices of President-Elect and Vice President, External Relations is available from the executive director’s office at ASEE headquarters.