New to OSU: An Engineering Education Ph.D. & Me

After hours of hard work by all of the faculty and staff in the Engineering Education Department here at Ohio State University, the Ph.D. in Engineering Education program was approved and put into action officially this Fall.  These changes include new classes, new research areas and topics, new experiences, and – of course – new students! That is where I come in.

I recently completed my biomedical engineering Bachelor’s (2017) and Master’s (2018) degrees, but knew throughout my education that I had a passion for teaching students.  Throughout my engineering schooling I was able to feed that passion through being a teaching assistant for multiple engineering classes doing everything from one-on-one tutoring, to regularly substitute lecturing to a lecture hall of 150 students.  As I thought I was wrapping up my academic career, I was in search for a career.  While searching, I came upon this field of Engineering Education.  It seemed too good to be true at first, the marriage of my two interests and passions in one career? No way. But it’s true.

Not only it is true, but it is happening.  This field of study is a new player in the arenas of both engineering and education research.  And it’s making a rather grand entrance, as I am learning in my courses and research here at Ohio State.  I have gone from knowing very little about this area of research to having an extensive understanding of the development of the field, the stakeholders, and how it is impacting engineering and how engineers are taught all in the first 7 weeks of classes.  I look forward to narrowing my research focus and getting started on my dissertation as I continue to learn!

I have been overwhelmed with the support and attention I have received from the faculty, staff, and colleagues in the EED Department. So much support and encouragement, that I plan to submit an abstract of a paper that I would like to present at the 2019 ASEE conference later this month. As a student who has not even completed an entire semester of study/research in this field, I never imagined I would be this involved in the field so quickly.  I consider myself fortunate to be working alongside such supportive mentors and peers. I am excited to see what we can accomplish as a research group, a department, and in the field of engineering education.

Cassie Wallwey