Keywords: Healthcare Applications, Constructivist Pedagogy, Diversity
IDEAL
Increasing Diversity in Engineering education And Labor force
through Healthcare Applications
Grisselle Centeno PhD
Industrial and Management Systems Engineering
NSF-funded
Grant #1245170
2
Why?
Facts
• Only 18.9% of women earn
engineering BS degrees and
almost 40% of them do not
pursue an engineering career. In
contrast, over 80% of BS
degrees in health professions
are earned by women.
• The Bureau of Labor Statistics
projected that during 2012–2022
healthcare, healthcare support,
construction, and personal care
fields are expected to account for
almost one-third of all new jobs.
Objectives
1. To develop constructivist
learning materials, e.g. casebased and project-based,
through interactions with
partners residing mainly in
healthcare environments.
2. Create awareness of
opportunites in the healthcareengineering field.
3. Encourage students,
particularly women, to
complete their engineering
degree and join the workforce
in the healthcare sector.
When?
Fall 2014
• Initiated interactions
with Healthcare
industrial partners
including Tampa
General Hospital, VHA,
VA, HCA and USF
College of Medicine.
• Case Study design and
implementation for
established courses in
Prob & Stats and
Facilities Design
Spring 2015
• New Course in
Healthcare Systems
Engineering
• Students from 3 Depts
including IE, ME and
Biomedical
• IDEAL Seminar Series
• 6 guest speakers
Fall 2016
•IDEAL Workshop
• 5 panelists, all
engineering Alumni
working in Healthcare
organizations
• 3 hrs.- interactive event
• By invitation
…
Where?
Case Study
New Course
on HSE
Seminar
Series and
Workshops
USF (completed)
USF – Open to:
USF – Invited:
• Industrial
Engineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil and Environmental
Engineering
• Electrical Engineering
• Industrial Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Computer Science
• All Engineering and
Computer Science
majors
USF (in progress)
• All Engineering
major
Dissemination to
other FL institutions
and out-of-state via
website
What?
Theory of change
“For women to participate to their full potential across all science and engineering
fields, they must see a career path that allows them to reach their full intellectual
potential. Much remains to be done to achieve that goal.” [NAE 2007] -- This project
is based on the proposition that if students (especially women) could envision
themselves applying engineering knowledge to healthcare-related problems (as their
career path), they will be more motivated not only to complete their degrees but to
join the engineering workforce.
What has worked really well?
• Seminar Series has attracted over 300 students in attendance; promoted
interactions between students, faculty and practitioners; and estimulated candid
conversations among all participants.
• Real world projects has allowed students to gain confidence and expand network.
• Workshop provided students with strategies to help them overcome any potential
challenges and struggles while in school or in their future careers.
Prognosis?
• Collaborating with external evaluators
• Assessment analysis for each developed in-class
Measuring
and out-of-class intervention.
Impact
Scale up
• Dissemination to external audiences in upcoming
professional conferences.
• Expanding material for integration in other courses
• Administrative support to formalize adoption
• Insufficient results to prove long-term impact
Challenges • Inexperience on how to institutionalize activities