Portugal has vibrant networks of academics engaged in engineering education research. This week, I got to be part of that community, thanks to the generous support of the American Corner, on a four-night visit funded by the US Embassy in Portugal.
In and around the fabulous hotel, located on a canal in Aveiro’s historic center.
Flying into Portugal on Saturday morning, I settled in and toured the area over the weekend with my dear colleague (formerly of UCL) Inês Direito and her partner Gonçalo. Inês and I continually collaborate on research — and our bond grows stronger with each project and every passing year.
Snapshots of our explorations in Aveiro… Inês and Shannon always having a ball!
On Monday morning, I delivered a keynote address on “Boosting Engineering Education: How Research Can Make Engineering Education Better” and then facilitated a hands-on workshop on “Integrating Ethics, Sustainability, and Inclusion in Your Teaching.” In all this, I was the guest of honor with the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Aveiro (UA).
I was impressed that 25 teachers and students participated in these morning events, as they happened during a week without classes at UA. Despite having the flexibility to work from home this week, people traveled to campus from all across the engineering disciplines at UA — and visitors traveled in from Lisbon, Porto, and Setúbal to partake as well.
Images from campus, the keynote and workshop.
After lunch Monday, the Engineering Education Research team at UA and I headed to the administration building to meet with the university’s Vice-Rector for Research and an expert from UA’s Research Support Office. We discussed grant proposals and laid the foundation for upcoming initiatives that we plan to launch at UA.
Wrapping up that exciting meeting, we skipped across campus to the sleek, modern library, designed by Alvaro Siza, where the American Corner has a recording studio. In a session moderated by Inês, a few of us (Inês, Pedro Fonseca, Anikó Costa, and I) discussed what engineering education is, and why it is crucial for solving societal challenges in the 21st century. We also considered what role interdisciplinary collaboration plays in engineering education, and how can we, in higher education institutions, can facilitate it more effectively. Finally, we chatted about how interested people can get involved in engineering education research.
On air from the American Corner with Inês Direito.
On Tuesday, the EER team and I set to work refining our plans to secure funding for our projects. We had the treat of bumping into a pair of scholars who currently hold the type of grant we aim to secure, and they agreed to share their experience and insight with us. I’m looking forward to meeting them at the end of the summer to learn more!
Reflecting on the visit from the boarding gate at Porto airport, I realized that I’d had the most marvelous time in Aveiro. Every single person I met helped make the trip special—from the driver Casimiro, to Inês and Gonçalo, the hotel staff, Sandra the librarian in charge of the American Corner, to UA’s engineering education research team, the energetic and ever-smiling Robertt, Barbara, Inês, and Carla. Colleagues Bill and Val, and Val’s spouse Frank, all traveled from the Lisbon area for research meetings while I was there, helping make the experience that much more special!
Always learning, with Val, Inês, and Bill!
I am bursting with energy for our upcoming projects, and hopeful what the future might hold for our team.
The architecture teachers at KLE Tech are really enthusiastic about teaching and about learning to do educational research. A number of them attended the engineering education conferences held at their institution in January — the IUCEE conference on engineering teaching and REES, the Research in Engineering Education Symposium, which focuses on research about engineering teaching.
KLE Tech’s lovely Dipanwita Chakravarty was the most enthusiastic among them, delighted as she was to find an architect speaking on a panel at REES.
That architect was me! 🙂
Dipanwita found me soon after I presented, asking me to meet her architecture colleagues. She spirited me away from the events at REES, to meet Deepa Mane and Rohini Mligi, tour a room archiving their architecture students’ work, and then meet even more colleagues for an animated chat about research and curriculum design. And tea! Such excellent tea!
Here’s a glimpse of that afternoon’s tour and interactions:
A classroom for hand drawing.It’s chock full of models and drawings by students.KLE Tech has an extensive archive of architecture students’ work.I found this size comparison of Indian temples very interesting!Seeing the work brought me to life!Rohini and I had a great chat.And Deepa took many photos of the tour with Dipanwita and Rohini.By the end of the afternoon, I’d exchanged ideas with architecture staff, including Rohini, Dipanwita, and Deepa.
In that initial discussion in their faculty boardroom, we talked about different types of research they are doing and their interests surrounding architectural accreditation.
They asked me to help them build momentum and capacity to do education research, as they were enjoying seeing work presented at REES but were not quite sure how this type of research would look in the context of architecture rather than engineering.
We decided we needed a group identity. We envisioned collaborating with the engineering education research center on their campus (which has its own building, as it’s the leader in this realm in India). We also envisioned becoming active members of India’s IUCEE (the corollary of ASEE or SEFI for India).
As a step forward, we asked Dr/Prof Vijayalakshmi M., one of the main organizers of IUCEE and this event, if we could start a special interest group for architecture (and design?) within IUCEE. She was supportive. She gave us the Indian head shake and said: sure, just get started, and let’s see how it grows!
Meeting with Dr/Prof Vijayalakshmi M. about setting up a special interest group in IUCEE.
It was a very satisfying exchange, and I returned to REES for the day, happy and energized. I toured KLE Tech’s building for technical engineering later that day alongside the always-smiling, always-energetic Dipanwita Chakravarty and my colleagues from near and far.
I received a welcome email from Dipanwita with a paper of hers that I am finally getting around to reviewing (there’s be so much to do since I returned home!).Dipanwita was an active participant throughout REES. Here, we were touring KLE Tech’s engineering research building during the Symposium.
The next morning, the architecture staff spirited me away again!
They’d assembled an even larger group to discuss what education research is, how education research differs from technical research on architecture and engineering (like the work they are already doing on thermal comfort and architectural heritage conservation), and how they can get started doing this new type of research.
Here are the lovely photos they took of that impromptu seminar along with a photo of our whole group after that meeting.
You can see they made me feel like a rock star! The meeting was so much fun.
We’ve had a gap in communication since the conference ended, because I was on the lecture circuit (lol!) and then getting caught up back home and inducting a new cohort of BIM BSc students.
But my KLE architecture colleagues and I plan to hold online meetings in the near future to discuss examples of educational research in architectural education. I’ve agreed to help them envision, plan, and get started conducting education research.
One of the architects in the group emailed me later, asking me to share my own examples.
Reflecting on this request, I fear my own examples in this realm pale in comparison to my engineering education research. Architecture teachers tend to publish conference papers showing how they taught their class, and of these, my favorite among my papers reporting what might (optimistically) be called research-informed teaching or the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) would probably be Writing Architecture: The Role of Process Journals in Architectural Education and Beginning with Site in Architectural Education.
However, engineering education research is more rigorous than SOTL.
Although ‘engineering education’ conferences will allow the publication of reports on ‘how I taught my class’, the ‘engineering education research’ journals want empirical research studies. You have to collect and analyze data in a rigorous way. An example of this type of work is the book chapter Designing the Identities of Engineers, for which I collected surveys and compared results statistically between ‘engineering’ and ‘engineering technology’ students. The biggest difference I found, and my team reported, was that the ‘engineering’ students envisioned themselves as designers, whereas the ‘engineering technology’ students did not.
My primary research group, the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI), embraces architects as if they are engineers, which is a reason I identify so strongly with SEFI. Yet, SEFI doesn’t have a special interest group in architecture or architectural engineering, even though the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) does have an Architectural Engineering division. ASEE’s Journal of Engineering Education rarely publishes research on architecture education.
In contrast, SEFI’s European Journal of Engineering Education, for which I am Deputy Editor, has been reviewing an increasing number of articles on architecture and construction-related topics in education. I suspect that’s partially because I have the interest, capacity, and collegial networks to help support such articles’ review, refinement, and publication. But I also have amazing mentors in my Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Kristina Edström, and co-Deputy Editor, Dr. Jonte Bernhard. They are encouraging me to build capacity in this realm. And they understand that building the cadre of reviewers with expertise in this area takes time, patience, and much enthusiasm!
Our merry band of editors has ample patience and enthusiasm!
A past EJEE editors’ dinner in Dublin, with Dr. Kristina Edström and Dr. Jonte Bernhard (right), me and Diana Martin (soon to be appointed Associate Editor after impressing Kristina and Jonte!).
[Edit after posting: SEFI just launched a new journal that does publish SOTL papers, see: https://sefi-jeea.org/index.php/sefijeea/announcement/view/1! It says, “The SEFI Journal of Engineering Education Advancement offers a route to share ideas, emerging research, practice experience and innovations in the engineering education field.”]
In reflecting on what publications I have of my own that truly relate to architecture, I have identified Using Architecture Design Studio Pedagogies to Enhance Engineering Education as a favorite of mine. Unfortunately, it isn’t easy to find on search engines and the platform to download it is far from user-friendly. It doesn’t get the attention it deserves, but you can download it by clicking the title and see how you like it!
Another relevant work of which I am very proud is Comparing the meaning of ‘thesis’ and ‘final year project’ in architecture and engineering education. Yet this paper is more conceptual than empirically based and, thus, isn’t the best place to start the discussion with my colleagues at KLE Tech. I am delighted to report that it’s garnered nearly 1300 views since it was published, just 5.5 months ago.
A good place to start our discussion might actually be Comparing Grounded Theory and Phenomenology, an article I think is one of my best but has a very long and obscure title that I haven’t bored you with here!
My KLE Tech colleagues have a keen interest in architecture accreditation. These days, I am more engaged with engineering accreditation than with architecture accreditation (having uploaded a conference paper earlier today on engineering ethics accreditation, in fact). But in the past, I’ve been quite involved with the USA’s National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), and my colleagues at KLE Tech are using NAAB’s guidelines to help them structure their programs. One day, they may seek affiliate designation from NAAB.
Near the end of REES, I found myself again spirited away to the now-familiar meeting room of KLE Tech’s architecture building to discuss accreditation options with Sharan Goudar and another colleague.
Discussing accreditation with Sharan Goudar (right) and colleague.
A text from Sharan encouraged me to finally craft this blog post, in fact. He responded to my recent blog Why India? Inspired by IUCEE and KLE Tech with a request for me to remember the architects:
A friendly text from Sharan Goudar.
Like Sharan, I, too, cherished the moments were shared in Hubli and I look forward to opportunities for more such moments, and a bit of hard (but fun and rewarding) research work, to boot!
My work with VIT Chennai and Dr. Nithya Venkatesan of the Internationalization Office may enable another trip to India, and I will make every effort to include a flight across to KLE Tech’s architecture department while I’m there.
These KLE architecture teachers are lovely, lovely people, and I look forward to getting to know them better and collaborating with them in both research and teaching.
India is now the most populated country in the world. There’s a pressing need for more and better-educated civil engineers there. A civil engineer working in India today can expect to work 9 AM to 9 PM six days per week and 9 AM to 2 PM on Sundays (according to Dr. Balasubramaniam, Managing Director of Hitech Concrete Solutions Ltd) because their skills are in such high demand.
However, this current weekend is a holiday, so I hope most of them are taking some time off!
Based on my two-week glimpse into life in India, I believe Indian people work extremely hard. Most people working in businesses or projects at the national and international levels work in English. Higher education in India is also in English because India has around 100 languages.
Civil engineers’ work is incredibly important! In a developing nation, the infrastructure and buildings overseen by civil engineers (and architects!) shelter and support a growing population of people – a population working hard to live ethically and build a brighter future.
Building under construction on VIT campusDr. Shanmungham’s concrete testing labVIT world rankings (QS system) for 2023
In the first couple weeks of January 2024, I got an inside perspective by attending events and touring workshops and laboratories at the Chennai branch campus of Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT).
VIT’s Dr. Nithya Venkatesan, Assistant Director of International Relations, and Associate Professor Dr. Shanmuga Sundaram (who goes by Shanmugham) served as my primary hosts. They helped coordinate my entire two-week trip, and without them I never would have managed to make my first venture into this fascinating land.
Visiting the VIT Chennai Internationalization Office and meeting Dr. Nithya Venkatesan.Sightseeing with Associate Professor Dr. Shanmuga Sundaram, my primary host.Meeting with VIT’s vice president for academics, Dr. Sekar Viswanatha (second from left), Dr. Nithya Venkatesan (far left) and Prof. Dr. Johnson Alengaram.
Dr. Renukadevi Selvaraj, Professor and Head of the Dept. of Education at the National Institute of Technical Teachers Training Institute (NITTTR), run by the Ministry of Education for the Government of India, connected me with VIT after I met her in Blacksburg, Virginia (my hometown) at an ethics symposium last summer.
At VIT, I attended a two-day conclave on civil engineering organized by Shanmugham that included presentations by academic and industry partners. Shanmugham’s areas of specialization include sustainable building materials, special concrete, alternative binding processes.
I delivered the opening keynote address for the conclave. Most of the audience of around 45 participants were civil and structural engineering students, but their teachers, some PhD researchers, and some industry partners also attended.
Other presenters at the conclave talked about structural failures within existing buildings (causes, effects, and ways of avoiding or addressing defects), earthquake resistance and previous structural failures in India due to earthquake activity, and the importance of being part of professional organizations (such as the UK-based Institution of Civil Engineers, ICE). India does not yet have a licensure program for professional/licensed/chartered engineers of the type you see in the US, UK and Ireland, but Professor Johnson Alengaram from the University of Malaya encouraged the audience to join ICE and maintain their learning and their credentials with care.
Shanmugham noted that he’s in the second generation of civil engineers the people of his father’s age with a first generation of civil engineering professional in the country. The students he is educating now, he sees as the third generation of civil engineering in India.
Arvindh Raj Rajendran, who earned a Master of Structural Technology degree, delivered the conclave’s final talk with an extremely well-articulated presentation about an apartment complex that his family’s company, Hitech Civil Engineering Services, Ltd., has worked to diagnosed and remediated. The original construction, by a different company, had severe deficits that had made national news in India. Hitech has made interventions to keep the structure inhabitable and conducted detailed analyses to help the government and the courts decide if the building can be salvaged or must be replaced. He explained the analysis and rectification process in detail. Arvindh showed other faulty structures that Hitect has been able to salvage, as well as the equipment they use (all pictured below).
A slide from Arvindh Raj’s Hitech presentation.A slide from Arvindh Raj’s Hitech presentation.Monitoring devices used at Hitech.
Before the conclave started, I had the distinct honor of visiting four of the engineering laboratories on the VIT Chennai campus, being shown around by Shanmugham. We visited the soil testing lab where he and his colleague, Associate Professor Dr. Karthiyaini train PhD students and conduct research.
We visited Shanmugham’s materials testing laboratory. He has just gained national certification to test materials (such as concrete samples from active construction sites). He can test the performance of all kinds of concrete steel and concrete-related products. He is also researching possibilities for creating concrete mixed with less embodied carbon than today’s standard material.
He’s working towards a net-zero-type concrete method using byproducts of other industries in India — because concrete is a central construction material in the country. China and India are using a huge portion of the entire amount of concrete fabricated each year currently worldwide.
Dr. Shanmungham’s colleague added Tom and Jerry to my visit to the Shanmugham’s concrete testing lab!Official certifications for Dr. Shanmungham testing lab.A machine to demonstrate to students how to protect reservoirs from infiltration of contaminated water, built by Shanmungham.PhD research students in the geology lab.PhD students in the water quality lab.
I also visited a water quality research lab and met the academic leader and her PhD students. They are working on a wide array of topics, including addressing toxic landfill effluents that leak into the soil, reviving microplastics from water, desalination process, and ocean clean-up techniques. I learned so much and wish I’d taken notes!
The geology lab was equally interesting as the students were taking samples from a soil boring to study contaminants. They introduced me to each doctoral research project, and I asked loads of questions, which, again, unfortunately, my brain failed to file into long-term memory. It does this filing in the night while I sleep and in the day when I retell what I’ve learned. But I learned so very much in that single day of touring that my brain couldn’t hold it all.
One thing I will never forget is how many talented women are studying engineering at VIT. To my delight, the research labs are gender balanced.
On the day of the tours, I also met VIT’s vice president for academics, Dr. Sekar Viswanathan. He holds this role on all four VIT campuses. I was very impressed with how attentively he communicated with Dr. Johnson, another international guest speaking at the conclave, and me.
VIT is a private institution that provides itself in excellence and holds academic world rankings. The Chennai campus is currently educating about 10,000 engineering students and is expanding its facilities to double its enrollment. This is very important in a country where many hundred thousand engineers graduate from higher education institutions each year but are not well-prepared for industry. Receiving an education at a highly-ranked institution like this helps ensure the graduate will be ready to perform well in the industry. The country desperately needs more civil engineers who can do this. Hopefully, one day, India’s civil engineers won’t need to work seven days a week!
Shanmugham was an exceptional host during my trip. He and his wife (Rama, an electrical/computer engineer who runs a startup business with a colleague) and their six-year-old daughter (Shanmuga, who speaks English in addition to her mother tongue), took me shopping for Indian outfits — so I’ll fit in better on my next trip to India!
They also invited me to their home, located in a huge complex of apartments. There are 20 buildings, each about 17 stories tall. I met their neighbors, and I learned something about how they live. We got to share a bit of our own cultures with each other, which was a true highlight of my time in Chennai.
Shanmungham with Shanmunga and Rama, at their home.The shrine in their home.Shopping for Indian outfits with Shanmunga.Shanmunga and Rama’s neighbors also welcomed me into their home. The daughter will marry next week, and I have been invited. Unfortunately, I’ll be at work in Ireland during the multi-day wedding events.
At the very start of my trip, I also got the chance to visit some stone temples near Chennai. Shanmugham showed me around the massive site and, in true Indian fashion, took pictures of me at each important structure. These temples, carved from solid granite boulders protruding from the sand at this coastal location, have stood for 1300 years. The craftsmanship was superb and awe-inspiring.
The day we visited the temples (the day I landed in India, January 2) was a holiday. The site was being visited by many busloads of tourists from all over India dressed to the nines. I included pictures of one group of visitors in the gallery below.
“The Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram is a collection of 7th- and 8th-century CE religious monuments in the coastal resort town of Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, about 60 kilometres south of Chennai.”
The Indian people definitely made me feel welcome and safe and thankful for this opportunity to meet and learn from them. Everywhere I went, people stopped and asked to take a picture with me. Little children looked at me in amazement. Shanmugham noted that many visitors to the temple had come from afar, from rural parts of India, and only some of the children had seen anyone like me before.
Incidentally, the food was incredible! During my two-week visit, I enjoyed the taste of every single thing I ate. At VIT, I had the privilege of residing at the international guesthouse. The drivers and guesthouse staff were absolutely incredible and made my stay a joy. At first, they offered me more Western foods, but when they saw that I enjoyed the Indian dishes more, that changed! The entire staff went the extra mile to ensure my safety and comfort.
In this post, I described just five of my days in India. I hope to post another blog this week about my experiences at REES 2024 in Hubli, India, and visiting NITTTR outside Chennai.
From ancient stone temples to teaching labs and structural failure — I got insider perspectives of civil engineering in India from the staff of VIT and I look forward to my next visit to India.
Monuments at Mahabalipuram, a UNESCO World Heritage Site near Chennai, India.
Although the days are short, dark, and frequently wet now that we’ve gone off daylight savings time, I’m still savoring memories of a recent week in London. As you likely know, I spent all of 2018 and 2919 on an MSCA fellowship from the European Union, working at University College London and developing fabulous new skills and an invaluable network of colleagues at UCL and around the globe. UCL is truly a magnet for talent and an ongoing source of inspiration.
The time change happened again this year while Aongus and I were in London for the October bank holiday… I often overlap a bank holiday Monday with a working visit to London since my colleagues at UCL have different days than me (at TU Dublin) and I can visit UCL without falling behind at my main job. This was my second Halloween in a row visiting UCL.
I’m fact, this Halloween I spent a full week in London, collaborating with colleagues and attending lectures including Emanuela Tilley’s inaugural professorial lecture (and reception!) and a guest lecture in one of Professor Nick Tyler’s transport engineering classes.
Emanuela Tilley’s Inaugural Professorial Lecture and Reception at UCL.
I worked several days at UCL’s Henry Morley building, which houses the Centre for Engineering Education. I enjoyed catching up with colleagues there, especially Drs Vivek Ramachandran, Kate Roach, and Fiona Truscott. I showed Vivek, who is new to UCL, some of my favorite places in and around campus, including the Thursday Farmers’ Market, the Life Goddess restaurant, and the Building Centre. I after work one night, I attended a comedy show at the newly renovated Bloomsbury Theater.
In the daytimes, I kept Dr Inês Direito’s old desk warm as she’s moved to the University of Aveiro in Portugal. Never fear, though, Inês and I are still in close communication, and now, my mentee Dr Diana Martin is joining CEE so I’ll still never be more than a WhatsApp away from the Center!
During the week, I attended strategic planning meetings with my two “bosses” at UCL — the two directors of the curriculum design project I’ve been working on, via a contract between UCL and TU Dublin, since 2020. They are Professors Emanuela Tilley and John Mitchell, two truly fabulous people to work with.
Thanks to the marvel of online communication, I also completed a half day training on finance software at TU Dublin while I was in London. I also attended online meetings with co-editors of the handbook I’m leading as well as co-authors on a chapter I’m contributing to the handbook.
For the extended weekend, Aongus joined me in the city. We attended two musicals (the Tina Turner musical and “Crazy for You”) and an improv comedy show. We took architectural tours of the Royal Albert Hall and the Barbican complex. We visited the Royal Academy of Art , the photography museum off Oxford Street, and the Natural History Museum including its Wildlife Photography of the Year exhibition.
We also visited our favorite haunts around Shoreditch, where we previously lived for 18 months. We got to know the area around Victoria Station better. We even saw Rebecca from “Ted Lasso”, Hannah Waddingham, up close and in person as she’d attended “Crazy for You” and was in the lobby when we exited.
Glimpses of our adventures around the city.
While in London, I also drafted text for my handbook chapter, worked on various projects, attended an improv musical called “Showstopper!”, and did loads of Spanish lessons on Duolingo in the evenings before bed.
It wasn’t supersizing, really, that I picked up a cold somewhere in London. I brought it home along with heaps of inspiration to help carry me through the long working weeks until Christmas.
Now that I’ve recovered from that nasty cold, I can say with conviction that life is good and I am blessed beyond belief.
I’d like to highlight some creative endeavors of two people I have had the pleasure to teach and/or mentor over the years. They take time to post about their hobbies and/or professional work on WhatsApp or social media, and I benefit from what they share.
I have felt such inspiration due to recent posts by Shane Ormond (who lives in Ireland) and Nikkolas Smith (who lives in the USA).
Shane was previously a student in DIT’s School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and he’s been part of our RoboSlam activities for nearly a decade now (see RoboSlam.com and its blog section). DIT has transformed since then into TU Dublin — and RoboSlam has evolved into the Dublin STEM Ensemble. Shane has been a big part of both. He can frequently be seen supporting STEM Ensemble activities, like our annual exhibit at Dublin Maker, or our periodic planning and knowledge-sharing sessions held in the new Granegoreman Central Quad.
Here’s a video Shane shared on our STEM Ensemble WhatsApp thread last week about one of the projects he’s been doing in his spare time:
At the end of the video, Shane mentioned GitHub, where he posts his work for others to draw from. STEM Ensemble recently held a seminar on GitHub that Shane and I both attended. (The difference is, he understood a lot more of the presentation than I did!)
Images from our recent STEM Ensemble meeting that was followed by two presentations on using GitHub and a jaunt to the pub.
I see the video (above) with the blue model car as an evolution of Shane’s earlier work with robotic model cars with cameras on them, which I captured in this March 5, 2020 video. I shot it days before campus ground to a close with Covid lockdown:
Shane does all this as a hobby; at a couple of Dublin Maker faires he developed the technology to power talking heads. This year’s talking head automatically answered spoken questions using ChatGPT.
Like Shane, Nikk Smith is internally motivated to create. Nikk was an architecture student of mine at Hampton University, many moons ago. He often posts his “Sunday sketches” on social media. Here are a couple examples:
A couple of Nikk SMith’s “Sunday sketches”. One of gymnast Simone Biles, and another of children from Palestine, Sudan, and Congo. His work has socio-political relevance, and he highlights Black causes and heroes.Nikk also illustrates and sometimes also writes books for children. “Born on the Water” has been extremely successful, and has just been published in Spanish. The original is in English. He uses art to support his activism, and coined the term “activist” encouraging others to combine art and activism!Nikk used to work as a full-time Disney Imagineer, but now he works for himself (I think) and does consulting for Disney. A tower he designed for Disney to honor Black architects has just been opened at a Disney park. Nikk also designs movie posters — and I included his most recent poster here.
I am proud beyond compare of the work my former students and mentees are doing in the world — the creativity and passion they bring to the world and the lives they design for themselves.
Shane and Nikk are two outstanding examples, and I hope to feature more of my own personal heroes on this blog in the months to come. Being an academic educator and researcher connects me with many amazing people.
Following an extra-warm couple of weeks here in Dublin, fall set in with a cold, hard thud. Despite low thermometer readings, the sun did peek over the horizon, hanging low in the sky.
We were blessed with a couple of crisp, cold but gloriously sunny days of weekend. I bundled up in preparation, kitted with a lovely hat my aunt Kitty gifted me this summer.
Kitty has honed her kitting skills to a T, and I’m reaping the benefits of her hard work and loving craft.
Saturday, Aongus got up early for a gym session then we headed out on our bikes to catch an early tour offered as part of the annual festival called “Open House Dublin”. This event has been a highlight of every year I’ve lived in Dublin and this year did not disappoint. We didn’t manage to snag tickets to many events, but the three we attended were grand!
We started with a single-family house (our favorite type of tour here) on Pleasant Street, near Aongus’ new job site at Kevin Street. The house was designed by DUA and is currently rented to three super-luck Trinity students until the owners move in from abroad.
Following that tour, we cycled at top speed over to RDS for the “Place in the Sun” expo. We listened attentively to four panels and got to meet Jasmine Harmon, the TV show’s most active host.
Heading back into town after a full day of sun and star-gazing, we enjoyed lunch and a drink at Opium on Camden Street. Then we were off again, headed to the Lighthouse Cinema for a second Open House event, called “Cities Have Feelings”. We enjoyed a film and poetry reading by LionHeart. We also soaked in a super-intriguing lecture by city architect Finn Williams who has worked in London and now works in Marmö, Sweden. There was a follow-up panel with them both that yielded even more intriguing insights. At the end, I got to catch up with my architecture colleague, Jim Roach, at the drinks reception.
Sunday morning, Aongus and I hit the gym bright and early. He had a personal training session, then we both did spin class before he headed into an abs class. (Maybe you’re getting the drift that I can’t keep up with the man, but I try!). We fueled up with oatmeal and fruit afterward and then jumped on our bikes again for one last Open House tour.
This was a visit to Printing House Square—better known to me as Oisín House—the construction project Aongus has worked on since our return from London. Architect Valerie Mulville delivered the tour and I got to see the fruits of Aongus’ efforts.
The edifice was awarded “Building of the Year” and Aongus’ employer named “Builder of the Year” at a recent event. This was the first time I’d had a chance to see inside. It’s quite an impressive structure and the quality of the finishes and detailing was surprisingly high.
I enjoyed a cycle through the city center while Aongus sped off for visits to his aunt and mum afterward.
Then, I made my way home to field incoming questions from students. They are culminating a sprint course on Research Methods. Last week was a marathon on the topic for the 23 students, my co-teacher Claire Simpson, and me. The students’ final proposals will need grading and feedback in the morning since they’ll start their Dissertation module this Thursday. My sprint hasn’t ended!
In any case, I’m so extremely thankful for sunlight, energy and vibrant health, curiosity, a full set of senses, mobility and freedom to explore, citizenship, warmth and comfort, quality food, an interesting and secure job that I love, and a strong and fit partner to enjoy all this with. Long may these blessings last!
Last week I taught two evening classes of Research Methods with my BSc in BIM (Digital Construction) students–and I have another starting at 6PM tonight. The students are earning “honors-level” bachelor’s degrees in just one year at TU Dublin. It’s an action-packed year, and they complete 60 ECTS (a full-time academic load, equivalent to 30 credits in the US university system) over 12 continuous months. It’s a great credential to earn and they learn so many new skills. “Honors-level” means they need to write a research paper, and I teach them the basics of that in Research Methods. So, last Tuesday, I welcomed them back from summer (where they completed their Work-Based Learning module) via an online class I taught from a hotel room in Athlone.
And just why was I in Athlone, halfway across Irland, on a school night?
I was lucky enough to attend the 2023 CitA BIM Gathering as an observer. CitA is the Construction IT Alliance in Ireland, and its BIM Gathering is held every second year.
This year the Gathering had a great innovation. The first two days (Monday and Tuesday) were online for a manageable two hours each day. The third (Wednesday) we had a full day in person, in the midlands of Ireland, along the Shannon River.
I really appreciated CitA’s multi-type conference format as we got to hear from speakers who couldn’t travel to Athlone. This format used travel resources more wisely, and the rhythm suited me as a participant. I particularly valued the online presentations by lawyer May Winfield of Buro Happold, Lèon van Berlo from buildingSMART International, Johnthan Reinhard from TU Dublin, and Carolina Soto Oguerta from Chile.
Because I had a class to teach on Tuesday night, I bolted from home to Heusten Station as soon as the Tuesday Gathering events ended, to settle into my hotel room and make sure the wifi connection was sound.
I thoroughly enjoyed traveling with Irish Rail, and I worked on a review for the European Journal of Engineering Education on the way. Sooooo much preferable to driving!
Here’s a map comparing Europe’s train network with the USA’s. Whereas I can’t get outside Ireland by rail, it’s a pleasure when I can use the train domestically.
Athlone is home to the new Technological University of the Shannon (TUS), and I am hoping this increased exposure of the name “Shannon” helps Irish people learn my name 🙂 as they never seem to understand my pronunciation of it. It just doesn’t fit many people’s schema for a woman’s first name here, and they revert to calling me Sharon shortly into almost any conversation.
View from the conference room at the Radisson Blu in Athlone.
CitA is headed by Dr. Alan Hore, who will soon retire from TU Dublin. I’m not happy to learn that bit of news, but I am sure Alan has new plans for doing something big and meaningful!
In-person attendance from TU Dublin was strong, and many students presented really impressive research during the conference. I was particularly impressed with the presentations by students, including Sadaf Dalirazar from UCD, Léa Laurent (affiliated with Munster University of Technology, but presenting on behalf of her firm O’Connell Mahon), and TU Dubin’s Peshawa Mohammed, Ryan Dempsey, and Jennifer McAuley. Sadaf was nominated for an award (at her first-ever conference, for her first-ever conference paper). Léa won for best industry paper and Jennifer won for best academic paper, so I must have picked my sessions well! I also found Ryan’s presentation–though high speed!–to be very enlightening. I applaud them all for their fabulous work.
Presentations pictured by Sadaz Dalirazar, Ryan Dempsey, Léa Laurent, and Jennifer McAuley.
I also got to chat with graduates of our BSc from the first three cohorts, Divia Chadwa and Martin King, as well as one student currently completing the course, Bronte Kavanagh, and my co-teachers from TU Dublin, Davitt Lamon, Kevin Furlong MA, MSc, Dr. Malachy Mathews, and more!
I was also happy to hear from the Mayor of Athlone, who is an architect; Louise Heavin delivered a thought-provoking address and is enhancing the sustainability and livability of her small city. David Philip‘s presentation was also very interesting, “The Unexpected Road, from Premise to Prediction”, and I had the pleasure of chatting with David over lunch.
Main stage presentations by Louise Heavin, David Philips, and Jonathan Reinhard (this time speaking on behalf of Diatec).
Following a summer of intense curriculum design, a relaxing holiday in Greece, and the Dublin Maker fair, I dove right into the new academic year, voicing my perspectives at various meetings and workshops with colleagues at TU Dublin and–last week–attending and throwing myself into the annual conference of SEFI, the European Society for Engineering Education which was held just ten minutes walk from my apartment in Dublin.
Incidentally, SEFI is an acronym for our organization’s French name, Société Européenne pour la Formation des Ingénieurs, in case that wasn’t clear….
We kicked off on Sunday with a full-day pre-conference Doctoral Symposium, that I organized alongside Jonte Bernhard, Tinne De Laet, and Kristina Edström. It was, in all honesty, a highlight of the overall week, and each participant shared insights at the end of the day. “I found my village” exclaimed one of the PhD students to resounding applause. Indeed this annual symposium, where experienced researchers provide one-to-one advice to doctoral students helps bring our research community together. Everyone participating learns and grows, and we grow stronger as a group and also as individuals. With 37 students, 24 seniors, and 4 organizers present, we had plenty of others to learn from and with!
Favorite moments from the 2023 SEFI Doc Symposium include small group coaching, the extremely popular “speed dating” event, and the sharing of take-home messages.
All the photos on this post are by the talented photographer Conor Mulhern <conor@eyeon.ie>, hired to document the event.
Running straight from the Doc Symposium to Temple Bar that Sunday, I hosted my second event of the day — a new-to-SEFI pre-conference welcome for anyone feeling like they’d like a sense of community before the big event started. We had nearly 30 participants for our “Birds of a (Different) Feather” event, organized by Inês Direito, Predrag Pale, and I.
The main conference kicked off Monday morning. It was the 51st conference for SEFI, an organization that just reached 50 years of age, and a record number of people attended. Our TU Dublin East Quad was busting at the seams with 575 participants fully engaged.
I was a member of our Local Organizing Committee and I witnessed first-hand the heroic efforts and calm resolve of a truly outstanding member of our TU Dublin community, Ger Reilly, who led the cause.
Recognizing Ger Reilly for all his amazing work organizing SEFI 2023!
Monday morning started with a plenary on our new International Handbook of Engineering Education Research, organized by Aditya Jordi and Diana Adela Martin, with Bill Williams, Kristina Edström, John Mitchell, and Diana Adela Martin as panelists. Each panelist shared intriguing new insights on the current state of engineering education and thoughts and advice on where we’re headed as a field. I’ve worked closely with each of these scholars and feel a deep connection to each of them.
The opening plenary on the future of engineering education research. With Aditya Johri, Bill Williams, Diana Martin, John Mitchell, and Kristina Edström.
To tell the truth, I could not be prouder of Diana Adela Martin and her outstanding contributions to this year’s conference. She had asked me, when she completed her Ph.D., to mentor her (e.g., to learn about reviewing and editing for journals and books). That was just a few short years ago. And then, here she was–center stage–presenting ideas born from her work as an author and Associate Editor of our International Handbook of Engineering Education Research! At SEFI, she also led workshops, the Special Interest Group on Ethics that she co-chairs with Helena Kovacs, presented research, attended our EJEE editors’ dinner in her new capacity as Associate Editor of EJEE, and served as a senior advisor at the Doc Symposium, mingling with her new colleagues from UCL’s Centre for Engineering Education where she will soon start working as a Senior Research Associate.
Diana Martin in action (and leading an Ethics SIF workshop with Helena Kovacs, above).
After the panel, paper presentation sessions and workshop sessions swung into full gear.
My fabulous PhD supervisee, Sandra Cruz, presented a paper on one facet of her research. Her paper is titled “Exploring Women’s Teamwork Experiences in Engineering Education: A Phenomenological Analysis”.
TU Dublin Ph.D. student Sandra Cruz, a joy and an inspiration to supervise!
Just before Sandra’s presentation, I myself presented a paper co-authored with Barry McAuley of a “Preliminary mapping of bachelors’ research to enhance digital construction in Ireland”. Afterward, I joined two really fun Special Interest Group workshops (Ethics, and Engineering Education Research).
I really enjoyed the paper presentations and workshops, as evident in the photos below that Conor captured, and I helped lead two of the workshops.
Fun at workshops and paper sessions.
During the opening reception, a number of energetic colleagues were honored: Kristina Edström, Pieter de Vries, Yolande Berbers, and Maartje van den Bogaard have given so much to SEFi over the years and it wouldn’t be the organization it is today without their efforts. They we all named Fellows of SEFI, and Maartje even thanked me for being a mentor and role model during her acceptance speech–that was a big surprise to hear!
Moments from the open reception. Here Mike Murphy congratulates Yolande Berbers following her award as SEFI Fellow.
I must acknowledge all the exceptional work done to support this conference by SEFI staff Klara Ferdova over the year we’ve been planning this event.
My dear colleagues Klara Ferdova and Jonte Bernhard.
Aongus and I joined friends at Oscar’s Cafe after the reception.
On Tuesday, afternoon, Jye Benjamin O’Sullivan presented our co-authored paper “Drawing from SEFI Ethics Knowledge to Support Eco-ethics Education within the European University of Technology”.
Jye Benjamin O’Sullivan presenting our paper. (My smartphone photo, not Conor’s, or it would be much clearer!)
During SEFI, I helped lead workshops for new authors (Tuesday) and reviewers (Wednesday). I attended breakout meetings such as the EJEE Editorial Board meeting, EERN-UK & Ireland, and a celebration of our dear friend John Heywood, and Emeritus Professor from Trinity College Dublin, who at 92 years young is still working away, publishing research.
My university president, David FitzPatrick, and dean, James Curtain, and TU Dublin did a tip-top job representing our institution at this event. They’ve really grown into their roles over the past few years and their short speeches at the conference opening and closing were informative and engaging. Their support for the conference was important in so many ways, including having so many TU Dublin staff members present as volunteers and participants.
Dean Jame Curtain, President David FiztPatrick, and the amazing Ger Reilly, leaders at TU Dublin.
I attended SEFI’s General Assembly meeting to support my fabulous collaborators in taking on new leadership roles. For instance:
Emanuela Tilley was elected Vice President of SEFI for the coming two years. She and I work closely together to design a new curriculum for NewGiza University.
Emanuela Tilley in action, delivering awards and assuming the role of SEFI vice president.
Inês Direito joined the SEFI Board of Directors. She is also my mentee, and it brings such joy to my heart to see her flourish as a scholar, leader, and truly amazing friend and collaborator. I actually didn’t see much of Inês at SEFI this year… we were both so busy spreading our wings. To say I’m proud of the scholar she is and the leader she’s becoming is an understatement!
Inês Direito assumed a new role on the SEDI Board of Directors during the conference.
At the EJEE Editorial Board meeting, Kristina Edström, our Editor in Chief shared statistics showing that our journal is rising in stature. I’m very pleased to serve as Deputy Editor, alongside Jonte Bernhard, and look forward to helping lead this journal forward in the coming years.
Our superb leader, and EJEE editor-in-chief, Kristina Edström.
Special guests joined us from far and wide. Even though this is the annual European conference, dozens upon dozens of researchers in engineering education joined us from Africa, Australia, and North America.
Two very intriguing keynotes were delivered in the last two days of the conference, and I was delighted since our Local Organizing Committee had nominated them as keynote speakers.
Anette Kolmos, from the Aalborg University UNESCO Center for Problem-Based Learning, put enormous energy into preparing and delivering her keynote–developing incredibly helpful new graphics and descriptions of extremely advanced concepts regarding transdisciplinary team challenge-based learning and the like. She pulled together ideas that she’s been sharing for years into an extremely effective presentation that brought these ideas to life.
Anette Kolmos’ keynote at SEFI 2023.
Anette also won top honors at our gala banquet on the final night, taking home SEFI’s coveted Leonardo DaVinci Award, an honor long overdue I’d say. She’s in great company as Santiago Calatrava is one of many illustrious past winners of this award.
Tinne De Laet won SEFI’s Maffioli award for all she does to support engineering students at her university—not forgetting that she also delivers the Doc Symposium each year!
Tinne De Laet coming up to accept the 2023 Maffioli awardSEFI past and current presidents awarding Anette Kolmos the 2023 Da Vinci medal.
The award was given at the “gala dinner” out at a banquet hall of Dublin’s RDS. The food was lovely and I enjoyed the evening alongside my colleagues from Univesity College London, where I serve as Honorary Professor. The banquet was a hoot, our colleague Gavin Duffy‘s daughter was one of the musicians entertaining the crowd. There was also Irish Céilí dancing (think “River Dance”) on stage.
UCL’s Centre for Engineering Education enjoying the gala dinner and its entertainment.
Our past SEFI president Mike Murphy even finally got a photo with the three Fulbright fellows who most recently came to TU Dublin during his tenure as Dean of Engineering and Built Environment: me (Shannon Chance), Sheryl Sorby, and Stephanie Farrell. Sheryl and Stephanie have both served as presidents of the mega-sized organization ASEE (American Society of Engineering Education), whose conference I attended in June.
Mike Murphy with his last three Fulbright scholars: Shannon Chance, Sheryl Sorby, and Stephanie Farrell.
For the final keynote of the conference, Ed Byrne, a sustainability leader from Cork, Ireland did not disappoint! I count on Ed for up-to-date reports on changes to engineering accreditation in Ireland. Like Anette, Ed had crafted a presentation chock full of cutting-edge research on educational issues and pedagogies to improve sustainability. I enjoyed his info-packed presentation, and meeting him in person afterward. I’d previously attended and presented at the Engineering Education for Sustainable Development (EESD2021) online conference he organized.
I really enjoyed the main stage events this year!
Enjoying the full house and engaging with plenary speakers. To the right, I’m sitting beside former SEFI president Yolande Berbers.
During the conference, a couple people, including Klara Kövesi, stopped me to say they follow this blog. That inspired me to get new content posted (thank you!).
All in all, it was a very satisfying week. By Friday, I’d discovered the trove of brilliant photos captured by Conor Mulhern <conor@eyeon.ie>. Conor, the official conference photographer, was with us every minute of the week. Starting at 9 AM Sunday morning and sticking it out until the very last moments Thursday afternoon. Conor seemed to be in all places at once!
Conor captured us so skillfully. I had to dash off an email:
Dear Conor,
I just got my hands on the Dropbox link, and I am stunned with your astonishing ability to capture us as individuals and as a community. Thank you so very much for being part of our event. You saw us not as outsiders but captured our hearts and souls.
Your Doc Symposium photos exude the joy I felt. I’ve not yet viewed the other folders, but I am full of pride, happiness and satisfaction, thanks to the memories you’ve so aptly captured.
Warm Regards,
Shannon
And he replied:
Hi Shannon,
Ah you’re very kind to say so!
It was my pleasure. Everyone seemed very happy to be there which made my job much easier, and even in the sessions with faces in deepest concentration, you in particular always had a smile to make a good photo! 🙂
Well done all-round on making it all happen.
All the best,
Conor
An enthusiastic round of applause for Conor, our photographer! Here are my great colleagues Emanuela Tilley, Sarah Junaid, John Mitchell, and Klara Ferdova in the front row, with Klara Kövesi in green behind them.
Ultimately, I agree with our Doc Symposium participant who said she’s found her village. I found this village in 2012, at the SEFI conference in Thessaloniki that I attended alongside Mike Murphy, Brian Bowe, and Gavin Duffy. I met new colleagues, like Bill Williams, who welcomed me warmly and with whom I collaborate frequently today. I began to cherish the SEFI community at my first conference, and I also thoroughly enjoyed my time before and after that conference exploring Thessaloniki. The city stuck in my memory long after I left. I hope SEFI 2023 and Dublin live long in the hearts of those who attended this year!
I haven’t been blogging much these days, as I’m so embroiled in research publication activities (mostly in the roles of editor and peer reviewer) that I rarely spend time at the computer for recreational activities like blogging. That said, I feel compelled to report how rewarding it has been to work with the Bachelor’s level Building Construction Modeellign/Digital Construction students at TU Dublin. I coordinate the BSc (honors level) degree program, lead its Research Methods and Work Based Learning modules, and support its Dissertation module.
One of our recent students, Anne Grego, has presented her bachelor’s level work at two conferences. The one presented last month at the EU BIM conference has been published. You can download the paper, “USING BIM TO INCREASE THE EFFICIENCY OF ENERGY-DRIVEN RETROFITTING PROJECTS” by Anne Grego, Shannon Chance and Barry McAuley from https://arrow.tudublin.ie/surconcon/2/
Aongus and I enjoyed an amazingly warm and sunny Bank Holiday weekend, the start of June. We travelled by car with bikes on a rack, cycled parts of the Greenway along the Wild Atlantic Way, and enjoyed beaches and restaurants along the way.
We also found posters for the following weekend’s Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival, so we booked train tickets and accommodation and headed back out West just four days after motoring home.
And boy, did we enjoy the music festival! We felt part of this small group of folks—a hundred or so musicians and enthusiasts, for the past three days.
The folk and bluegrass tunes from Appalachia sang to my heart and had me longing for days of old, attending Statler Brothers concerts in the park every Fourth of July.
During the country sets this weekend, I relived Saturday nights, sprawled across my grandparents’ den, watching Hee Haw with all its slapstick humor, surrounded by a happy extended family.
This morning’s gospel set, presented aside prayers at Westport’s magestic Anglican (Church of Ireland) church was a highlight. It was standing room only and people also flowed out past the doors. Aongus and I had arrived mare than an hour early, thankfully. So, we enjoyed second-row seats to hear the Kody Norris Show quartet for the second time. They also played at last night’s show, and boy, are they a hit!
I also loved the Derryberries, from Tennessee, Bill and the Bells, Melody Walker & Jacob Groopman, Lunch Special, and Tim Rodger’s gig, among others.
We sat very front at the main stage Friday night, and very back there on Saturday. Westport’s Town Hall Theater has fabulous acoustics and great sight lines throughout.
This intimate three-day music festival is organized by a gent with an amazing Mayo accent, named Uri, who moved to Ireland 19 years ago, I’m told, from Israel. He is clearly now a cornerstone of the community, bringing this annual event to Westport since 2007.
Aongus and I loved both weekends—cycling along the seaside and swaying with the tunes. We’ve already booked to come back again next year. We think Westport is the prettiest town in Ireland and the hospitality can’t be beat. My favorite publican, Tom Mulligan says it’s Ireland’s only panned town. I think Derry, up in Northern Ireland (UK), is another in this island.
All in all, being surrounds by folks with such a passion for music is a treat. And Westport is a gem in Ireland’s green, green crown.
Ireland by Chance 