This is a supplemental section accompanying Dr. Sheppard’s profile.

Avenues for impact in engineering education: Not all the roads are paved

I think it is important to recognize that impact in engineering education can happen at multiple levels and in a variety of ways. It may be through a more traditional faculty path, but even in that, there is a need for flexibility. My Ph.D. student (who graduated in 2014) has had a strategy of showing she can teach traditional mechanical engineering classes, whether that be finite element or solid mechanics. She’s going into an interdisciplinary engineering department, bringing that as well as her scholarship concerning questions about the engineering workforce. She’s finding she has to be flexible about which parts she’s highlighting.

Impact in engineering education can happen in different ways too. For instance, it could be in a center for teaching and learning that’s working on these issues, either at the university level or at a school of engineering level in a staff role. It might also be at the National Science Foundation (NSF) on policy along these lines. Maybe that’s a temporary position as a stepping stone in your career, or maybe it’s a longer-term position.

I think there are also interesting opportunities around how universities and schools of engineering are thinking about the use of technology in teaching and learning. For instance, at Stanford we now have a Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning at the university level. Within the School of Engineering, we also have a new position based on the use of technology. So how could a background in engineering education contribute to how a school or university is designing its use of technology? There are also opportunities around institutional assessment.

It could be useful to think beyond engineering sometimes and ask, “Are there opportunities where I can take what I’ve done in engineering education and think about it at a higher level?” I think it’s important to come into this field recognizing that, even though we might be pioneers in the field, unfortunately we didn’t get all the roads built for you.