Social Innovation as Accountable Disciplinary Knowledge in Undergraduate Engineering

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session One
  In Roundtable Session: Race and Gender in Professions Education (Table 6)

Abstract

Nearly half of Americans think that engineers "invent products that harm people and society” (National Academy of Engineering, 2018, p. 90). This negative perception of engineering drives students away from the profession, particularly women and underrepresented minorities. An intentional focus at the undergraduate level on social innovation, or efforts to ameliorate the suffering of marginalized groups in society (Berry, 2018), could attract more students to engineering, and potentially improve the public’s perception of engineers. To that end, we report on a three-year effort to establish social innovation as a core professional competency among a small group of undergraduate engineers who are passionate about social justice issues.

Authors

• Tiffany-Rose Sikorski, The George Washington University
  Presenting Author

• Ekundayo Shittu, The George Washington University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Erica Wortham, The George Washington University
  Non-Presenting Author