Engineering faculty member receives NSF CAREER Award
Avneet希拉, an assistant professor in the department of Engineering at 电子游戏软件, has been awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER grant, the institution’s most prestigious honor in support of a junior faculty member who exemplifies the role of teacher-scholar through research and education, and the integration of these endeavors in the context of their organization’s mission.
五年, $596,000 NSF grant is designed to develop comfort and fluency in engineering and technology among youth historically underserved in STEM fields, and to develop educational programming for engineering students 和协调员 of collaborative work spaces in the Greater Boston area.
Titled “Engineering in Youth-led Technology-rich Settings: Promoting Belonging and Preventing Harm,” the project will recruit middle and high school students who are typically unlikely to engage with engineering and technology, and involve them in participatory action research.
Avneet希拉
希拉’s CAREER award is the first for BC’s recently formed Engineering department, 哪所学校在2021年秋季招收了第一批学生.
“We live in a world where we increasingly use technology to do essential daily tasks, and the number of STEM and non-STEM jobs that use technology is steadily growing,希拉说。, 首席电子游戏正规平台员. “然而, only students who have access to expensive resources or see themselves as people who are `good with technology,’ feel like they belong in engineering and technology.”
希拉, who notes this estrangement is attributable to the pervasive technology divide evident since the advent of computers — along with the inadvertent gatekeeping behaviors of individuals in charge — established as primary goals the support of youth in leading their own explorations of how technology use and creation can reinforce a sense of belonging in engineering, and co-developing a framework with youth that focuses on preventing human and environmental harm when engineering.
Middle and high school youth will lead the design of work stations featuring different types of technologies, 比如3D打印机, 激光和乙烯基切割机, 单片机板, 缝纫机, 手工具, 传感器和其他电子设备, for use in solving youth-relevant engineering problems, 但风险很低, 成长的环境. They also will meet and collaborate with coordinators who manage such “makerspaces,” and with students who are or might become leaders in such work spaces, to learn and develop best practices for similar, 青年, 技术设置.
“We live in a world where we increasingly use technology to do essential daily tasks, and the number of STEM and non-STEM jobs that use technology is steadily growing. 然而,, only students who have access to expensive resources or see themselves as people who are `good with technology,’ feel like they belong in engineering and technology.”
The youth will also work with the research team to develop ways to introduce the principle of detriment prevention as an essential tenet of engineering.
“Using technology to create artifacts aligned with students’ interests and motivations has great promise in promoting inclusion and attracting students to engineering,希拉说。, who also has a courtesy appointment in the Lynch School’s Department of Teaching, 课程, 和社会.
“然而, 女性, and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and underserved racial and ethnic groups remain underrepresented in these inclusion efforts. The lack of a sense of belonging in engineering and STEM contexts plays a clear role, as do the inadvertent but nonetheless discouraging gatekeeping behaviors of teachers, 商店工作人员, 和协调员. This project addresses these barriers by conducting youth participatory work to meet the unmet promises of technology-rich spaces in engineering education.”
格伦·R. 高德特，约翰·W. Kozarich '71 Chair of the Department of Engineering, noted that this award recognizes 希拉’s dynamic work within the Engineering department, 还有校园里的合作者.
“作为一名创始教员, she has made significant contributions to the department to ensure our students have the technical knowledge needed in engineering, combined with a mindset focused on making the world a better place for all,他说. “This grant will help Avneet expand her impact to include middle and high school students.”
BC’s undergraduate Human-Centered Engineering degree is one of just a few programs that purposefully integrates a general engineering education with the full strength of the liberal arts experience to develop engineers focused on complex problems that impact society and the planet.
“Professor 希拉’s work is well aligned with the vision for this innovative engineering program,高德特说。.
“This honor recognizes Professor 希拉’s innovative research and commitment to address the many barriers to students entering engineering and other STEM-related fields,托马斯·Chiles说, BC’s vice provost for Research and Academic Planning, 德卢卡生物学教授. “This CAREER award supports the NSF’s mission to broadening participation in engineering,”