HOUGHTON – Michigan
Technological University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering
Mechanics is one of five mechanical engineering departments nationwide selected
by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to participate in a new diversity
training program. The others are Purdue, Oregon State, Texas Tech and the
University of Oklahoma.
The NSF program
is called Transforming Engineering Culture to Advance Inclusion and Diversity
(TECAID). The program’s goal is to diversify mechanical engineering
education, making it more inclusive of women and under-represented minorities.
Michigan
Tech’s mechanical engineering department applied for the program because it
wants to increase the diversity of its undergraduate students. Yet despite the
department’s best efforts, it has had little success increasing undergraduate
diversity, going from 3.9 percent under-represented minorities and 8.7 percent
women in fall 2009 to 5.1percent under-represented minorities and 11.8 percent
women in fall 2014.
In a letter
endorsing the mechanical engineering department’s application for TECAID, Dean
Wayne Pennington said that the College of Engineering has made “significant
strides in diversifying our faculty and student body, particularly the
representation of women. In disciplines such as mechanical and electrical
engineering, however, the gains have been very small.”
The
mechanical engineering department’s winning application focused on its new
curriculum, including a shift to project-based mechanical engineering practice
courses in which students work as teams to tackle open-ended problems more like
real engineering practice. The new curriculum launched in fall 2014.
“Cultural
differences on teams can lead to miscommunication and feelings of frustration
and resentment,” a team led by Greg Odegard, associate chair and director of
undergraduate studies, wrote in their TECAID application. “We want our
students to learn the importance of actively forming teams that are diverse in
terms of ethnic background, gender and perspective. By valuing diversity
and inclusiveness, they will be better mechanical engineers.”
Through its
TECAID activities, Tech’s mechanical engineering department hopes to become a
model for other departments at Michigan Tech and for mechanical engineering
departments across the nation.
The team
guiding the TECAID program, in addition to Odegard, includes Bill Predebon,
chair of mechanical engineering-engineering mechanics; Nancy Bar,
communications and senior design program advisor; Professor Brad King, director
of research; and Professor Michele Miller.
