Three broad issues have been identified in the professional formation of engineers: 1) the gap between what students learn in universities and what they practice upon graduation; 2) the limiting perception that engineering is solely technical, math, and theory oriented; and 3) the lack of diversity (representation of a wide range of people) and lack of inclusion (incorporation of different perspectives, values, and ways of thinking and being in engineering) in many engineering programs. These three issues typically are treated as separate problems that require their own interventions. Although the interventions may result in some change in desirable directions, they cannot address the assumptions and values that sustain the problems. These issues prevent the profession of engineering from having the most positive contributions to society as possible and they leave little space for training all students to utilize a broader set of skills and work toward a clearer benefit to peoples, society, and the environment. Despite changes in some engineering disciplines and curricular reforms, there still has not been the deep transformation needed to integrate inclusion and diversity in professional formation. The reason is, in part, that these issues are highly complex, interconnected, dynamic, reflexive and not amenable to simple solutions. They require design thinking, namely, mindsets and processes that inspire continuous prototyping with stakeholders to systematically address issues embedded in particular contexts. This project applies design thinking for studying professional formation and for finding sustainable solutions to the inclusion and diversity issues that have stumped engineering educators for decades. The design thinking methodology established in this project can then be applied to other problems facing engineering as well as facing higher education in general.
Despite change in some engineering discipline profiles and curricular reforms for engineering education, there still has not been the deep transformation needed to integrate inclusionary processes and thinking in professional formation. In part, the reason is that diversity and inclusion are still framed as "problems" to be solved. What is needed instead is an approach that understands and explores diversity and inclusion as interrelated with the epistemological (what students need to know) and ontological (what it means to be an engineer) underpinnings of engineering. This study utilizes a design thinking approach and research activities to explore foundational understandings of professional formation, diversity, and inclusion in engineering while addressing the three project objectives: 1) Better prepare engineers for today's workforce; 2) Broaden understandings of engineering practice as both social and technical; and 3) Create and sustain more diverse and inclusionary engineering programs. The project is organized around the three phases of the design process: inspiration, ideation, and implementation. Embedded within the design process is a longitudinal, multiphase, mixed-methods research study. The project involves key stakeholders (students, faculty, staff, and administrators) from the schools of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University in the research and design processes. This study addresses essential and persistent issues in engineering and higher education, and pioneers an analysis process that other institutions might adopt to delve into their problems of diversity and inclusion in professional formation. By analyzing challenges more holistically using design thinking, this approach should identify the underlying paradigms embedded in the disciplines and professions that make these issues intractable.
