Dean Nieusma on Engineering, Design & Society

Integrating the Social and Technical in Engineering Education: Practical Challenges, Conceptual Barriers, Promising Responses

Nov. 27, 2018

2-3 p.m.

Memorial Union: Graham Rm 226

This talk explores a series of experiments in engineering education that span course instruction, educational culture reform, interdisciplinary programming, and department identity building through a lens of “sociotechnical integration” — where social and technical dimensions of engineering are brought together as co-equal components of engineering practice. It considers some of the specific practical challenges that arise around these integration efforts, the conceptual underpinnings explaining those challenges, and reflections on how institutions committed to rethinking their approach to engineering education might respond.

Seating is limited.

Biography: Dean Nieusma is Division Director and Associate Professor of Engineering, Design, & Society at the Colorado School of Mines. His research focuses on integrating social and technical dimensions of engineering in education and practice, with a focus on design and project-based learning. He is also broadly interested in the social and ethical implications of technologies and the application of engineering and design expertise to enduring social and environmental problems.