This past Friday, I had the distinct pleasure of reviewing studio work and giving architecture students feedback on prototypes they have been developing to reuse scrap materials from the woodworking shops at the School of Architecture, Building and Environment (SABE) at TU Dublin.
A cool transformer-type system that can be moved and easily set-up.
The students are helping support the circular economy, and learning to work together.
This is a vertical architecture studio, comprised of second and third year students.
A corbelled system that can be reconfigured dozens of ways.
Each team as allocated a collection of cast-off wood sheets or wood planks to use to make a small structure. The structure needed to be at least 3 meters in at least one direction.
From the reminders of CNC routing
This architecture studio is led by Marcin Wojcik and Kevin Donovan. The project is also tied to a grant from Ireland’s Housing Authority to study how to modularize materials brought to construction sites, but never used to allow them to be reused elsewhere. Marcin and Kevin are doing the grant-funded project with Noel Brady.
And I am an enthusiastic observer, doing what I can to help my colleagues get more involved in research.
Reviewing the proposal by Group 4.
Overall, the work I saw presented and the level of attentiveness and collegiality among the students were all highly impressive! They have done all this in just three weeks. 
A pavilion for bird watching; intriguing lessons in tension and compression.
I was excited enough about the work I saw to convince Marcin to draft a short conference paper, which he accomplished over the weekend. It’s about the outcomes of this three-week assignment, how it has evolved over the years, and the implications of Friday’s presentations for the grant-funded project.
Kevin and I are editing Marcin’s draft today, so I’d better get to it!
Hope you have enjoyed seeing the students’ collaborative work! I was thrilled they agreed to let me post photos of them and what they designed and constructed.
NewGiza University (NGU), located on the outskirts of Cairo, just released a video of me discussing the Architectural Engineering curriculum that I co-designed with Professor Emanuela Tilley, starting back in 2020: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMVKR4HvVQ0/?igsh=MWo1dDE3cTB4Y2cxeQ== (opens in Instagram):
Because of the pandemic, I did not have a chance to visit NGU before we started designing the curriculum. In fact, I didn’t get to visit until this past February, 2025, when I travelled over with two staff from UCL to provide feedback on the quality of the program’s delivery.
It was a whirlwind tour, considering that I arrived a day later than expected due to a British Airline delay.
In my two working days there, I got to observe the program the public relations folks at NGU captured the footage on this video.
Designing this curriculum, via a contract between Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) and University College London Consultants (UCLC) which pays for hours out of my timetable each semester, has been a real joy. It has required me to stretch, been , and develop new communication skills to explain complex concepts to people from a culture and language much different from my own.
Visiting the program and meeting the people who are delivering the content and the amazingly dedicated studentswho are forging the way by implementing a brand new curriculum has definitely been a highlight of 2025.
Many tanks to Dean Aly and the programme staff for welcoming us and helping us feel at home!
We three visitors also got a chance to tour the brand new Egyptian museum, lead by NGU’s architectural history, teacher. The experience was truly eye-opening and full of intrigue.
I look forward to a chance to visit NGU and Egypt again soon!
I have to say, none of this would’ve been possible without the Marie Curie fellowship I got to spend 2018 and 2019 working at UCL. The bonds I made with the folks at UCL in the Centre for Engineering Education have made such a difference in my and personal and professional life.
Being part of UCL has been so incredibly good for me, and good also for my employer, TU Dublin.
I am so honored to have had the chance to build an architecture program in Egypt and work with the people there who seek to build a stronger community of architects in Egypt. Thank you so much John Mitchell and Emanuela Tilley, for including me in this incredible project!
Last week, I presented the Routledge Handbook of Engineering Ethics Education at a World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development conference in Krakow.
Presenting at WED in Krakow
Today, I get to share it via a presentation to the All-Ireland Architectural Research Group (AIARG).
Leaving Dublin on the train this morning from Heuston Station headed to the AIARG conference
Below is a synopsis of what I’ll say in my 15-minute presentation to the architecture educators today.
Presenting the handbook at the Association for Practical and Applied Ethics (APPE) in February
This handbook is a product of the global engineering education research community and the ethics special interest group within the European Society for Engineering Education, known as SEFI.
The engineering education research community considers architecture to be a field of engineering and welcomes participation of architects. They are highly engaged in pedagogical research and in implementing innovation active learning methods. That said, engineering education has historically been more compartmentalized and positivist than architecture education.
I identify first and foremost as an architect and teacher of architecture students and I have been welcomed warmly by this community since I moved to Ireland in 2012. I welcome you to join us!
Today, I’m here to tell you about a new handbook our ethics group has developed that can serve as a resource for you. I hope it will inspire you to draw some new ideas into the education you deliver.
The handbook cover
The book was a community effort, with six editors and 99 other authors from all around the world. This map shows where our authors have lived and worked.
We’re working hard to hear and learn from voices outside the areas most active in engineering education research—here you can see the concentrations of activity in engineering ethics education.
So what’s in the book of relevance to an architecture educator? What can you learn? What opportunities do you see for applying or adding to the content? Would you want to create a parallel text for architects? Would you want to join this community of education researchers?
This comprehensive compendium of the state-of-the-art of literature on engineering ethics education is divided into six sections. Most of these have something of interest to architects.
At the Krakow sustainable development conference
The first section discusses foundations such as ethical theories and the role of professional organization and their codes in helping define and uphold ethics. How we do this as individuals and communities is discussed. Environment and AI are also covered here in the first section.
Section two delves into interdisciplinary perspective that inform ethics and how we think about ethics in engineering and built environment. We discuss philosophy, sociology, decolonization, and critical theory, psychology and moral development, engineering design, law, and the like.
Section three touches on five overarching fields of engineering, with the first chapter on civil engineering holding the most relevance for architects. The areas of focus vary quite widely across the disciplines. Even as an architect, I found reading the entire set fascinating.
Section four on teaching methods can be extremely helpful for any educator wanting to integrate ethics into the modules they teach. We look at case studies, problem- and challenge-based learning, value-sensitive design, humanitarian engineering, arts-based, reflective and dialogical approaches. These aren’t mutually exclusive and as an architecture teacher, I combine these methods daily.
Still from video of me discussing the handbook at the end of February at NewGiza University
Assessment is perhaps the most challenging topic in the book. What are we seeking to assess in students with regard to ethics? How can we gauge students’ ethical competencies? What is the role of values, of culture?
The final section, on accreditation, is not as confined to engineering as you might expect. It critiques the increasingly globalized approach to education promoted by engineering accreditation bodies and global accords seeking to align engineering practices globally. The section questions whose voices get heard, whose have been ignored, and what we might be overlooking. We look at the history of ethics accreditation, how various cultures define what students should be able to demonstrate (social justice appeared in only Columbia’s documents of 12 countries studied). We end the book with a fascinating critical feminist standpoint analysis and a critique of how to personalize entities education to fit the local context.
Just arrived at AIARG!
Our engineering ethics education community welcomes you to get involved with us in applying and extending the contents of this book.
On behalf of TU Dublin, on March 24-26, I’m hosting an Ethics Spring Symposium about the book in Dun Loaghaire. You’re welcome to join us for a day or more. Just ask me for more info.
Colleagues including TU Dublin’s Emma Geoghegan and Noel Brady kicking off AIARG by presenting the Building Change project.
My colleague Emma Geoghegan and I spent the most magical three days in Mexico City with the family of my PhD student, Sandra Ireri Cruz Moreno.
On Sunday morning, following the ASCA conference, a short night’s sleep, and a tasty “petite dejune” at a French cafe in Querétaro — and with organizational assistance from Sandra — Emma and I boarded a bus headed to north Mexico City.
petite dejunemaking friends on the bus
Sandra and her family met us at the bus station. Sandra’s lovely dad, Jose, brought a second car to the station so our luggage could go directly to their home while we went sightseeing in the other family automobile.
That was both very thoughtful and exceptionally fortunate, because I had bumped into a colleague from the ACSA conference, Ayad from Washington State, at the bus station. I asked Sandra by text if we could invite him along with us for the day. Ayad wanted to see the pyramids and was having trouble arranging transportation. We managed to squeeze six people into the family car!
We arrived at Teotihuacán with two hours explore. The State of Mexico explains, “Teotihuacan is a vast Mexican archaeological complex northeast of Mexico City. Running down the middle of the site, which was once a flourishing pre-Columbian city, is the Avenue of the Dead. It links the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, the Pyramid of the Moon and the Pyramid of the Sun, the latter two with panoramic views from their summits.” (Although we didn’t make it to the Museum of Teotihuacan Culture in time to see the artifacts that “include pottery and bones,” I was able to see these type of artifacts later in my trip.)
Carlos, Nicholas and Sandra at the Sun Pyramid The Moon Pyramid Visiting Teotihuacan
As the pyramids closed for the day, our merry little band headed for a nearby cave restaurant, applauding Sandra’s magnificent planning skills. Our meals arrived in clay pots. These and the guacamole were tasty and delicious! The restaurant staff explained the spiritual beliefs surrounding the place and we lit candles in honor of our ancestors.
A memorable meal in a cave.
Dropping Ayad at his hotel, we proceeded to Sandra’s parents’ home in a neighborhood of Coyoacán, where Emma and I spent three nights. It was lots of fun getting to know Sandra’s family and learning about Mexican culture!
Everyone in the family is vivacious and full of joy. They enjoy sharing food and conversation and learning about other people. We had many meals at home with (papa) Jose and (mama) Vice (ve-say). Staying in their home and getting to know them was a rare treat!
On the second day, Sandra and Jose brought us to tour Luis Barragan’s home and studio. We thank our TU Dublin colleagues for insisting that we visit some Barragan projects! His home and studio are stunning and so well connected to the landscape. Immensely peaceful and beautifully furnished. The spaces and threshold conditions are truly breathtaking. This ranks at the top of all houses I’ve visited, an assessment shared by Emma.
Luis Barragan’s home and studio
The garden across from the Barragan house was also stunning. We visited it before the house tour, after a brief walk around the neighborhood.
Following the house visit, we toured the central city by car, enjoyed lunch at a vegetarian restaurant with Jose and Sandra, drove past the Palacio de Bellas Artes, and visited the Plaza of Three Cultures with ruins of Aztec pyramids and a colonial church built from stones taken (stolen) from it.
Palacio de Bellas ArtesPlaza of Three Cultures
After resting and catching up on work a bit at the family home, we went for a meal out in the center of Coyoacán, the “Coyote place,” where Frida Kahlo lived her early and late life. The town has lovely, spacious, bench-filled, and festively illuminated public plazas and we enjoyed tacos and mariachi. Sandra even danced for us! Being surrounded and serenaded by seven musicians and a dancing sociologist was a truly remarkable experience!
Mariachi in Coyoacán.
At every step, Sandra navigated the way and cheerfully achieved her ambitious plans to make our visit seamless and deeply meaningful. She has a charming way of convincing people to help find a way where needed, and that proved immensely valuable.
For each morning of our stay, breakfast was an elaborate family affair, with all members of the family cooking and chipping in to (1) care for baby Nicholas (who turned 20 months old on our final day here) and (2) feed two curious foreigners with a wide array of Mexican food types.
The meals and the camaraderie were remarkable. Sandra, her husband Carlos, and her parents all have such passion for learning and sharing. Emma and I absorbed many valuable lessons about the diverse language and cultural groups in Mexico, and about pre-Colonial Mexico, Spanish colonialism, and the blending overtime with Mexico’s indigenous peoples. (Querétaro where we’d been for our conference, has many spectacular colonial buildings, for instance, but also benefits from local culture pre-dating the area’s invasion by Spain.)
Painting by Vice’s sister of a revolutionary. Painting by Vice’s sister of a favorite town. Learning at the family home in Coyoacán.
In the cracks and crevices of our stay, Emma and I managed to keep our work on track, too. I had a meeting with colleagues at University College London and Newgiza University online Tuesday morning. I also managed to submit a couple peer reviews that I’d completed while flying to Mexico.
On our final day in Mexico City, we headed with Carlos, Nicholas, and Sandra to the UNAM university campus (where our colleague Dino from the ACSA conference is Dean of Architecture). Both Sandra and Carlos studied on this campus.
UNAM has 300,000 students—just imagine that! They have a famous library building by an Irish-Mexican architect, Juan O’Gorman. There were many tourists and tour groups visiting the exterior of Gorman’s library building while we were. And although the campus buildings were closed for break, there was plenty to enjoy with the lively facades, architectural forms, mosaics, and well-kept grounds. These were lovely to behold.
The largest faculty at UNAM is philosophy and all the students seem socially motivated. The art on campus reinforces this theme of social activism. And it resonates with Sandra’s dad, a retired sociologist, as well. Incidentally, Sandra’s mum is a retired doctor and their house is above her former clinic. Their home and neighborhood were very interesting to see!
A construction by architecture students. UNAM architecture building. UNAM campus with Juan O’Gorman’s library design.
After touring campus, we visited the San Angel neighborhood to see three houses designed by Juan O’Gorman. One was for himself, and the other two (joined by a bridge) for Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. The two artists lived in separate houses, joined only by the roof-level bridge, three stories in the air. This pair sits on a lot beside O’Gorman’s own home. The three make a nice assembly. They’re in an upscale neighborhood and fenced off with an aesthetically pleasing row of cacti.
Homes of Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and Juan O’Gorman.
Next, our hosts brought us to a former-courtyard house designed by Luis Baragan that has been turned into a restaurant. The most dramatic feature was the glass floor, providing views into the volcanic terrain below the house. There’s also a large yoga room in the complex that I’d love to give a try!
Another Luis Baragan design.
We wrapped up the day with a visit to Xochimilco Ecological Park next to Coyoacán, near the home of Vice and Jose. In the park, we took a ride in a colorful flat-bottomed boat.
Boat ride at Xochimilco Ecological Park.
Then we walked around and visited a demonstration garden that uses pre-Spanish technology for growing produce and flowers. Mexico City is on land reclaimed (infilled) from lakes. Xochimilco still has its lake, whereas the other lakes are entirely gone—which has created havoc for the water table and aquifers of the area.
In order to farm on water, ancient inhabitants developed floating gardens atop mat-raft foundations covered with soil. Early examples of this construction type were rectangle-shaped floating gardens separated by canals for transporting goods to market, although this demonstration garden is fixed in place and circular in form. Nearby are thousands of booths of flower sellers who still cultivate the land and water.
Ecological Park of Xochimilco and agricultural exhibition garden.
Because the park closed, we headed home and had light dinner with the family.
The next morning we enjoyed one final, magnificent breakfast with our hosts. Then Carlos, Sandra, and Nicholas drove us onto our next adventures.
Vice and Carlos did all the cooking!
They saw me off from the Mexico South bus terminal and Emma from the international airport where she flew home to join friends and family for a trip to one of Ireland’s Aran islands.
What spectacular and heartfelt memories Emma and I now bring with us — these experiences will enrich our work as architectural educators, researchers, program leads, and curriculum developers. We are grateful to Sandra, Carlos, Vice, Jose, and Nicholas for sharing their lives with us!
I spent last week exploring architectural topics and sites in Mexico, alongside my TU Dublin colleague and Head of Architecture, Emma Geoghegan.
Early morning walk to the conference venue. My first ACSA International conference!
Emma and I met up in Mexico, to attend a three-day conference in Querétaro, a UNECSO world heritage city and one with a population similar in size to our home base of Dublin, Ireland.
The conference was hosted by the Technológico de Monterrey and the US-based Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA). I was a member of ACSA from 1999-2014, when I taught architecture in the States. I have represented ACSA with the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) and am still invited to serve annually, though the trip to the USA is prohibitively long.
Yet, this summer, I wanted to attend the organization’s conference to reconnect with ACSA, brush up on my architectural vocabulary and earn continuing education credits to support my Virginia-based architecture license, extend my professional network into Latin America, and learn more about the homeland of my PhD student, Sandra Cruz.
I asked Emma to join me for the trip, and she submit a paper to ACSA that was successful and, subsequently, very well received! Based on her submission, she was also invited to serve on an international panel of architectural education leaders (administrators and deans). She presented her ideas to the entire assembly of this ACSA International conference!
Dean’s panelfeaturing my colleague, Emma Geoghegan.
Emma’s work and her engaging delivery were a hit in both sessions. Her paper presentation garnered a packed, standing-room only, no-more-space-to-enter-the-room crowd. This was likely due to the popularity of both her engaging panel discussion and her paper topic (educational transformation for resilience and long-term sustainability, with a focus on housing and environment).
But before all the sessions got rolling, on Thursday morning, Emma and I started our conference experience with an Open House tour. Architects and developers from Querétaro taught us about the architectural and urban design history of the city and brought us to visit several contemporary architectural projects. We got to tour a mixed-use housing project, an environmentally sensitive adaptive reuse project, and a courtyard house turned into an art museum that was chock full of artistic treasures that combine painterly style with contemporary themes!
Mixed-use residential building tour delivered by the developer. Commercial re-use projectfrom old shopping mall. Visit to a convent and then walking through town together. Enticing courtyards leftand right!I could do a pub crawl here! The art museumin a former courtyard house. Learning about the artand the architecture.
The Open House tour was followed by an opening reception and keynote address in Querétaro’s very famous and protected Teatro de la Republica where (at least part of) the country’s constitution was signed. The keynote by Tatiana Bilbao was thought-provoking, with the architect advocating liberation from named or pre-determined programmatic elements, to produce evocative enclosures for inhabitants to mold and adapt. The open reception was at another architectural heritage site, the Museo Regional de Querétaro.
The historic theater where the Constitution of Mexico was signed.packed with architecture teachers and students. Tatiana Bilbao’s presentation…Walking between venues. The opening reception. Making new friends!
The second day started with the Deans’ panel on “tradition and radical innovation” that included Emma, followed by paper sessions. I attended the sessions on “Future + Post-Industrial Cities.” These two sessions were held at the university’s modern campus on the outskirts Querétaro. We travelled there and back by bus.
Campus outside of town. Dean’s panel. An intriguing presentation……I WhatsApped Diana Anda’s slide to Sandra Cruz and Emma, who hurried over to join the session.
After a relaxing lunch break, we enjoyed afternoon paper sessions in a magnificent former cloister now used as the Mueso de Arte de Querétaro. I attended “Spatial Decoding: Beyond Measurement” and “Experiments for Urban Futures.”
Lunch on my own to catch my breath! Afternoon sessions surrounded by magnificent art. Another spectacular conventwith notable stairs and arcades. And presentations!
The entire time, Emma and I were meeting lovely and passionate architecture educators from Mexico, the US, and Canada, as well as graduate students from around the world. We also got to know and admire the host for the next iteration of this ASCA International conference that will be held in Brisbane, Liz Brogden.
The center of Querétaro low rise with greenery and color and plazas galore! And sun! Liz Brogden was ready for sun though!
Liz, Emma, and I were guests of the conference organizers for tapas and drinks Friday night at Hercules, a former textile factory converted into an entertainment venue. We had the pleasure to sit between Michael Monti, the executive director of ACSA, and Luis Francisco Rico-Gutierrez, Dean of Architecture at Iowa State, who brought this conference to his hometown of Querétaro. Luis carefully assembled a conference program with cultural, social, urban, and critical feminist underpinnings.
ACSA Director, Michael Monti, who has a doctorate in philosophy and expertise in Heideggerian phenomenology!
Bravo to these leaders for pulling off such a magnificent event in collaboration with the local organizers, including Roberto Íñiguez Flores, and the DC-based ACSA team!
Programming for the third day ran 9 AM to 10 PM. We attended paper sessions, including Emma’s, at the Centro de las Artes de Querétaro Santa Risa de Viterbo. We started off with “New Imaginaries, Speculations, Machinations” where Emma spoke. Then I attended “Housing, Dwelling and Domesticities.”
After lunch I attended “DESIGNING DISSENT: Feminist Counternarratives in the City.” This critical feminist urbanism panel session was particularly insightful. It was held with one presentation in English and two in Spanish. There were AI-generated English subtitles at the second of these, but for the one without subtitles, I put my Duolingo to work.
Designing Dissent panel
I have been studying Spanish using Duolingo for 254 days now, in preparation for this trip. I understand reasonably well, although I can’t yet speak in Spanish. My elementary knowledge of Italian interferes with my ability to start sentences in Spanish, but I persevere. The helpful slide images helped me deduce more complex meanings.
I also attended “Co-creation with AI.” Then, this third and final day wrapped up with an all-conference panel on contemporary issues in Mexican design at the outdoor amphitheater at the cloistered museum. The title was “ILLUMINATING THE OVERLOOKED: Unconventional Practices for Responsible Futures.”
The AI session included a presentation on utopias. The closing panel with Querétaro native, Luisat the convent’s outdoor amphitheater.
The closing reception was held at the Museo de Arte de Querétaro courtyard. After it, Emma, Liz and I headed for a last supper together that didn’t end until after midnight. We’re learning Spanish ways!
Closing reception with friendsDino, Liz, and Emma — I can’t wait to see them all again!
As a side note, I always try to stay central and conserve my budgets when I select hotels regardless of who is paying. This was no exception and I picked a cheap and cheery courtyard hotel in the city’s historic core. It is nestled among the cultural heritage conference venues. Thankfully Emma is the best of sports and appreciated the authenticity as it was, as you’ll recall, cheap and cheery. It is surrounded by nice eateries which we enjoyed.
Courtyard of Kuku Ruku with cool decor butno window, for two nights. Got windows to the sidewalk for the last two nights! ❤️Oops—was a delicious breakfast but I got our bus’s departure time wrong!
Thanks a million to everyone who contributed to the organization of this conference — including Luis, Roberto, and ACSA’s Michael, Michelle, Eric, and Danielle — and to the local students, architects, teachers, and residents who came out in force. Their enthusiasm and collective effort made our visit to Querétaro extraordinary special.
Emma and I look forward to seeing all our new ASCA colleagues — Sharon, Dino, Liz, Luis, Mariam, Diana, Ifioma, Faye, Tania, Jori, Erandi, and many others — at the ACSA International meeting in Brisbane in 2026!
My colleague Diana Martin wanted to attend this year’s American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) conference in Portland, so I submitted a proposal to organize a panel on our forthcoming Routledge International Handbook of Engineering Ethics Education. The panel got accepted but Diana couldn’t travel—thus I made the trip alone.
Traveling solo forced me out of my shell (I don’t chat much with strangers when traveling).
Another benefit was that, since Diana had insisted on flying via Seattle, I saw the Pacific Northwest scenery for the first time.
Oregon marketing is catchy!
I scheduled myself a day upon arrival, before the conference started, to adjust to the time zone (but it took much more than a day). I’d booked a “shoebox” room at a hip hotel in a shabby-but-central neighborhood and I had the great fortune of arriving after all the shoeboxes were occupied.
I got upgraded to a spacious and luxurious room at the Hoxton in Chinatown! Although I wouldn’t recommend the Hoxton’s location for a woman traveling solo due to the night scene on the surrounding streets, I kept my wits about me and used high levels of caution, and I cane through unscathed. I took an Uber after my division’s evening social the last night because the sun was setting, making it too late to risk walking alone.
Dramatic scenery off the tip of my Alaska Air wing. Saturday-Sunday market in Portland. City hall. Dramatic plaza with (breakfast!) food trucks. Lovely parks……with canopies of trees and twinkling lights. Visited Portland’s art museum……for sneakers……and French modernists. Cezanne!
With the extra day, I got to explore the city a bit before ASEE kicked off.
My hotel, right at the gate to Chinatown. What a luxurious room!The hip lobby……with books galore……a ground floor bar……but teensy, weensy breakfast. The plant was a nice touch. Plenty of space to work!Design touches in the corridors……and elevators……as well as in the room. Nice little touches from Aongus, too!The restaurant on the roof has a fabulous view……even though I missed the nights the hotel’s speakeasy was open. A view toward Mt. Hood.Some tasty food.
I bit the bullet and paid $16 to enter the Chinese Garden, after the $25 to visit the modern art. Expensive! But very interesting!
I also wandered the streets in the Pearl District.
I found my way to the city’s hilltop park, with its Holocaust monument and Rose Garden. My calendar alerts pulled me back to reality. Before I could enter the Japanese Garden, I had to scurry to the conference center by bus.
The best part of every ASEE, to me, is the Division Mixer, followed by Taste of the Town, on opening night. It’s the best time to find everyone in one place.
With friends from SEFI Summer School, Xiaoqi Feng and Hanna Aarnio, and Michael Loui, former chief editor of JEE.With Nicole Pitterson, my co-editor for a forthcoming special issue of IEEE Transactions on Education.A colleague I met at REES in India in January. A lecture by Cindy Atman. Colleagues I met at ASEE last year (Lazlo), EERN in Belfast (Bridget), REES in Hubli and Summer School in Windsor (Sid and Zach).Ashish, who I first met at REES in Cape Town win a major award!
The main reason I made the trip was to meet with the authors of the ethics handbook. The conference organizers provided a very snall room in a satellite building, so the audience really had to work to locate us. But some found the way, as did our authors. About 20 (of our 105 authors) attended this 2024 ASEE conference and 15 served in our panel. It was truly delightful to meet them all—many for my first time!
I know their work though—and I have read, and copy edited, every one of their chapters. Such exceptional work they contributed!
Here’s who presented chapter number (section number and chapter topic included:
Kari Zacharias, 3(1) individual and collective
Jeff Brown, 5(1) professional organizations and codes
Shannon Chance, 6(1) environment
Julianna Gesun, 10(2) psychological foundations
Susan Lord, 16(3) electrical and electronic engineering
Dayoung Kim, 17(3) chemical engineering
Stephanie Lunn, 18(3) software engineering
Madeline Polmear, 19(4) lit review of teaching methods
Aditya Johri, 20(4) case studies
Adetoun Yeaman with Bill Oakes, 23(4) service and humanitarian
Sarah Hitt, 24(4) arts-based
Adetoun Yeaman, 27(5) attitudes and character
Sarah Junaid, 30(5)
Rockwell Clancy, 31(5) behavior and culture
Sarah Junaid with Madeline Polmear, 33(6) contextual mapping
Madeline Polmear, 34(6) licensure
Jillian Seniuk Cicek, with Robyn Mae Paul and Donna Riley, 35(6) feminist critical analysis
Our ethics handbook panel……was highly informative.And here are all our panelists!
I attended sessions of the Ethics and Architectural Engineering divisions. I also took a walking tour with Architecture colleagues to study the bridges of Portland.
Steel Bridge has a vertical lift. We got to see a test lift of this vertical lift bridge. Here it’s coming back down into place. Here’s the walking group. A view across the river. Portland’s famous sign.
Overall, I enjoyed ASEE this year more than I had expected. It was a bit smaller than last year’s conference (when over 5000 people attended) and the smaller size was welcome. I also knew many of the PhD students who attended — far more than shown in the pics (Eugene, Luis, Siqing, Em)…. I either got carried away in the moment and neglected to take photographs, or some selfies I thought I took disappeared. (Or, maybe, my selfie thumb let me down!)
Until next time, the memories will have to do.
Here’s to a successful meet up! Maybe I’ll see you, too, next year at ASEE in Montreal?
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.
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.
I was asked to recap my work in the engineering education research (EER) space in the past year.
The biggest projects I’ve been undertaking are editing the forthcoming Routledge International Handbook of Engineering Ethics Education and a special issue of IEEE Transactions on Education. I serve as a Deputy Editor of the European Journal of Engineering Education and am designing a curriculum in Architectural Engineering for NewGiza University in Egypt. I recently co-authored a paper on comparing thesis and final year project pedagogies that was published in EJEE and I’m doing research about women studying engineering with Sandra Cruz and others, and on BIM education with Barry McAuley.
Today, I am working on writing a report because I’m serving as an external examiner for a research center in South Africa. I’m also grading portfolios submitted by research students in the BIM BSc course I chair. I already prepared a report to send to the teachers who will be delivering one of the two modules I have designed for next semester at NewGiza University, who I will meet with tomorrow. I started my morning with a little fun on Duolingo, where I am learning Spanish.
If there’s time, I’ll review a chapter for the International Handbook of Engineering Ethics Education. I’ll share a snapshot of a recent meeting of the handbook editors. This is a most amazing group of collaborators and I am so fortunate to work with them.
The chapters in the theme I’m managing (accreditation of engineering ethics education) are fascinating and I can’t wait to see them published in 2024!
A typical editorial meeting of the Handbook team. Contemplating thoughtfully as always.
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!
Ireland by Chance 