In celebration of McMaster Engineering’s 60th Anniversary, the Faculty has awarded four engineering education research projects with the Educating the Engineer of 2025 (EtE-25) funding awards, valued at a total of $80,000.
The award supports initiatives that provide undergraduate and graduate students with the skills to succeed in 21st century leadership roles in industry, government, and academia while ensuring strong technical expertise.
The leads on the winning projects are; Tom Doyle, Associate Professor of the School of Biomedical Engineering and Electrical & Computer Engineering; Elizabeth Hassan, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering; Silvie Tanu Halim, Lecturer, W Booth School of Engineering Practice and Technology and Kim Jones, Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering.
“New forms of teaching, learning, and assessment are needed to support engineering education in an interactive world,” says André Phillion, Associate Materials Science and Engineering Professor and Associate Chair who spearheaded the creation of the award. “The funded projects will support our faculty in designing 21st century learning environments and will assist our students in gaining the skills to succeed in 2025 and beyond.”
“Innovation in engineering education is a priority for McMaster Engineering,” says Ishwar K. Puri, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering. “The winning projects will help our students become leaders and citizen scholars, inspiring the world’s next big ideas.”
A representative from each of the EtE-25 teams will be presenting their projects at the Faculty’s Big Ideas Pitch Night on October 4th in a format inspired by the Three Minute Thesis.
Here are the four winning teams and their projects:
| Project Title: First Year Engineering Design Integrated Cornerstone Team: Tom Doyle, Associate Professor of the School of Biomedical Engineering and Electrical & Computer Engineering andColin McDonald, Director, Engineering 1 Description: Cornerstone gives first year students a final year capstone project experience. Throughout the duration of the project, students will be tested on their ability to perform functional concepts, proficiency, technical leadership and communications skills. The research team will also study engineering design in relation to establishing a sense of community. |
| Project Title: Expanding Experiential Opportunities Team: Elizabeth Hassan, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering; Kathryn Grandfield, Assistant Professor, Materials Science and Engineering; Kim Jones, Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering; and Lydell Wiebe, Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering Description: This project will assess the best practices for supporting high levels of student participation in extracurricular teams and establish the feasibility of starting a new team in a historically underrepresented technical area such as biomedical engineering. The team will survey the primary technical interests of these students and the logistical factors affecting student participation in teams. |
| Project: Incorporating Inclusivity in the Engineering Experience Team: Kim Jones, Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering and Chair, Ontario Network of Women in Engineering (ONWiE) Description: To ensure all students have an equal and inclusive experience during their education, this project aims to understand how one’s identity affects teamwork; to implement inclusivity within micro-credential led leadership courses; and create a course on inclusivity in the engineering workplace. |
| Project: Flipped-Classroom Finite Element Analysis Lab Team: Silvie Tanu Halim, Lecturer, W Booth School of Engineering Practice and Technology; Peidong Wu, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering & Michael Justason, Program Chair, Civil Engineering Infrastructure Technology, W Booth School of Engineering Practice and Technology Description: This project will supplement existing finite element course material with instructional videos. The goal is to improve and develop marketable skills for Engineering and Technology students in Finite Element Modeling and Analysis. |
