Fall 2025
Friday October 24, 9am CT - Dr. Nicole Pitterson, Virginia Tech
The Power of Words: Language as a Tool for Teaching Foundational Engineering Concepts
Abstract: Language is an essential yet often underappreciated tool in engineering education, especially when teaching foundational engineering concepts. The clarity and precision of language directly affect how students interpret, internalize, and apply core principles across multiple courses within a curriculum. This presentation explores the role of language in shaping students’ understanding of core engineering concepts and provides practical strategies for improving communication in the classroom.
Through an examination of foundational circuits courses, the study on which this work is anchored investigates the impact of technical jargon, metaphors, and analogies in both aiding and obstructing conceptual clarity. In particular, emphasis will be placed on how language can either support or impede diverse learners, including students from non-traditional backgrounds or those encountering engineering terminology for the first time. Additionally, this presentation will explore the use of language as a means of fostering critical thinking and interdisciplinary connections, enabling students to navigate the complexities of engineering systems more effectively.
Participants will gain insights into how small linguistic adjustments - such as rephrasing questions, selecting accessible terminology, and encouraging students to articulate their reasoning - can lead to profound improvements in comprehension and engagement. By aligning language use with pedagogical goals, educators can empower students to grasp the foundational concepts that form the bedrock of their future engineering knowledge. This presentation ultimately aims to highlight the importance of intentional language in engineering education, offering actionable techniques to make foundational concepts more approachable and enriching the learning experience for all students.
Biography: Nicole P. Pitterson is an Associate Professor and Assistant Department Head for Undergraduate Programs in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. Prior to joining Virginia Tech, she worked as a postdoctoral scholar at Oregon State University. Dr. Pitterson holds a PhD in Engineering Education from Purdue University, a Master of Science in Manufacturing Engineering from Western Illinois University, and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Technology, Jamaica. Her research interests include difficult concepts in engineering, increasing students' conceptual understanding of complex concepts, curriculum design, and promoting collaboration through using active learning strategies as well as exploring students' disciplinary identities through engagement with knowledge.
Friday November 14, 9:10 - 10:25am CT - Seminar Exchange Program
Ethical Decision-Making Processes in Authentic Environmental Engineering Contexts Through Systems Thinking and Team Collaboration Lenses: An Embedded Single Case Study
UNL Ph.D. Candidate Toluwalase Brower will virtually present at Virginia Tech's seminar.
Abstract: Ethical and professional responsibility is a critical learning outcome emphasized in ABET accreditation. However, ethics instruction in engineering education often lacks system-level consideration of economic, environmental, and societal factors essential for developing solutions that ensure the safety and welfare of diverse stakeholders. This study investigates the influence of ethics instruction on students' ethical judgment in a junior-level environmental engineering course at a Midwestern US university in Spring 2025. Four modules focused on specific ethics topics were used by students to address ethical issues in real-world engineering scenarios. To investigate team collaboration and the ethical decision-making process, data was collected from three teams of four through activity reports, meeting minutes, end-of-class surveys, and a demographic profile survey. Findings from the embedded single-case suggested that team collaboration style significantly influenced how students engage in system-level analysis of ethical problems and solutions, ultimately shaping the quality of ethical judgments constructed by each team. Practical insights will be shared for implementing team-based problem-based ethics instruction.
Biography: Toluwalase Opanuga is a Ph.D. candidate in Engineering Education Research in the College of Engineering at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She holds a M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus, and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Her research focuses on evidence-driven instructional design, ethics education, and problem-based learning. Toluwalase’s work seeks to advance ethical and professional competence among engineering students by fostering learning environments that promote social interaction, reflection, and cognitive skill development. Her additional interests include undergraduate mentoring, data analytics, and mixed methods research.
Friday December 5, 9 am CT - Seminar Exchange Program
“I still feel like I need a little more”: A Phenomenographic Approach to Uncover When Latinx Students See Themselves as Engineers
Lili Castillo, PhD Candidate, Engineering Education Systems & Design, Arizona State University
Abstract: Engineering role identity is a dynamic process influenced by individual expectations and environmental factors, particularly sociocultural influences. Existing literature highlights the link between a strong engineering identity and students' persistence, major choices, and sense of belonging. However, little is known about when students start to identify as engineers, which is crucial for understanding their development. This study examines Latinx students' temporal perspective of their engineering identities and the sociocultural factors that shape its development. This phenomenographic approach used, semi-structured interviews with 15 upper-division Latinx students from three Hispanic-serving institutions in the U.S.
Southwest. Findings revealed three distinct engineering role identity time perspectives: (1) present-oriented, (2) liminal, and (3) aspirational. Overall, this study aims to expand our understanding of engineering identity as a development process and provide practical strategies to better support Latinx students with liminal and aspirational engineering identities.
Four-Year College Engineering and Computer Science Student Mental Health: Relevant Factors and Demographic Differences
Xingchen (Stars) Xu, PhD Candidate, Engineering Education Systems & Design
Abstract: Mental health challenges are increasingly recognized as critical barriers to academic success and overall well-being among university students, particularly in high-intensity disciplines such as engineering and computer science. While prior research has examined factors influencing students’ mental well-being, less is known about their relative importance and how they vary across demographic groups. In this study predictors of mental health changes among Eng. and CS undergraduates were identified and ranked. Variations across gender, race/ethnicity, and first-generation status were examined. Random forest analysis was used to integrate data from the nationally representative BPS 12/17 Survey, the American Community Survey, and FBI Hate Crime data. Results indicate that physical health is the most important predictor of mental health outcomes, followed by academic preparation, institutional characteristics, social support, and psychological factors. These findings suggest that effective interventions must integrate physical infrastructure with psychological support mechanisms. Special attention should be given to the intersectional experiences of marginalized and first-generation students to promote more equitable mental health outcomes.