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Deans Diversity Equity Inclusion Curriculum Challenge

Racial Justice in EngineeringWe are hearing over and over from our students that they want issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and racial justice embedded throughout the engineering curriculum. This is a challenge for all of us to use our engineering problem-solving skills to develop creative ways to incorporate these ideas in every class we teach.
 

Faculty

  • We ask every faculty member in the College of Engineering to submit at least one lesson plan for at least one class they are teaching this semester that incorporates these ideas. We understand that this will be much more challenging for some classes than for others. But, we believe that our faculty are willing to face challenges head-on.  Download a lesson plan template.
     
  • We ask faculty to submit lesson plans as they design them, with a deadline each week of Thursday at 5pm as the semester proceeds. The lesson plans will be evaluated by a panel of students, and the best ones will be highlighted the following week. We will update each week how each department is doing.

Students

  • Help evaluate lesson plans submitted by faculty and select ones to be highlighted. If you are interested, contact Dr. Paula Rees
     
  • Let's work together to host a hack-a-thon with engineering students taking on the challenge of designing lesson plans for classes submitted to us by faculty. More info soon.

We are also planning a series of trainings for faculty who are seeking support and resources. Event details will be shared here as they become available.

 

Highlights & Updates
 

Submissions Received by Week Ending Sept 11:

 

Cumulative

This Week
 

Number

As a proportion of faculty*

Number

As a proportion of faculty

BME

0

0%

0

0%

CEE

3

11%

0

0%

ChemE

4

17%

1

4%

ECE

3

7%

0

0%

MIE

2

5%

1

3%

 

Highlighted Plan, week of Sept 11: 

 
Jungwoo Lee; ChemENG 575: Tissue Engineering
This class will consist of an interactive lecture and group discussion on diversity, equity, and inclusion issues in biomedical research, focused three specific examples; including the lack of research on sickle cell anemia, a disease that primarily impacts the Black population. Student evaluators liked that it “gives concrete case studies explaining the history of inequity in biomedical research,” but also “presents positive steps being taken to address these issues…” thus empowering students to take action and advocate for improvements in their field.
 
Congratulations to Professor Lee for bringing DEI into the curriculum in thoughtful, impactful ways!  This and other lesson plans are available in Box. 
 
Other noteworthy lessons included a discussion on batch processing in chemical engineering that highlights the role of the first woman to get a PhD in Chemical Engineering; and a class that includes breakout discussions from both a technical  and social viewpoint of how discrimination effects security engineering.

 

 

Submissions Received by Week Ending Sept 4:

Cumulative

This Week
 

Number

As a proportion of faculty*

Number

As a proportion of faculty

BME

0

0%

0

0%

CEE

3

11%

1

4%

ChemE

3

13%

2

9%

ECE

3

7%

1

2%

MIE

1

3%

0

0%

*Faculty may submit more than one. This is the total number submitted by a department divided by number of faculty; and so may be over 100%

 

Highlighted Plans, week of Sept 4

Nick Tooker, Engin 111: Introduction to Civil and Environmental Engineering
In this lesson, students are asked to examine their semester project of designing a building from the perspective of sustainability along with structural, geotechnical, transportation, and environmental &water resources engineering. They specifically discuss differences and similarities in their personal backgrounds and experiences, and how this impacts design preferences. Student evaluators liked the inclusion of resources (an article and a podcast) that allow the students to “critically examine their field.” They noted that the lesson plan is “explicitly impactful in racial biases in STEM.”
 
Peter Beltramo, ChemE 297A: Special Topics- The Business of Chemical Engineering
In this lesson students use the Flint water crisis to examine engineering solutions to real world problems, policy and environmental regulations and the disproportionate impact of failures on marginalized groups and communities. The lesson plan combines technical content on lead exposure and engineering of water purification systems with reflections on racial bias. Student evaluators noted that the lesson does a “good job of taking a problem that was created by flawed engineering based in systemic racism--pertinent to the class and geared towards DEI concepts,” and that it “addresses important engineering issues while also tying in social and economic justice issues seamlessly into the lesson plan.”
 
Congratulations to professors Tooker and Beltramo for bringing DEI into the curriculum in thoughtful, impactful ways!
 
Especially creative and effective lesson plans will be highlighted and available in Box.
We hope the sharing of ideas will inspire even more unique approaches. 
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