Engineering Education Transformations Institute

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Engineering Education Transformations Institute

EETI in the College of Engineering is a home for initiatives in the area of Engineering Education.

05/14/2026

At our end of the year gathering we recognized students and faculty for their service to EETI.

The inaugural recipient of our Outstanding Ph.D. Student award was present to Animesh Paul who is advised by Dr. Racheida Lewis.

Drs. James Huff and John Morelock were recognized with our “Teamwork Makes the Dream Work” award for their leadership as Interim Co-Directors of EETI in the absence of Dr. Martin.

Congratulations to our amazing EETI community members!

05/13/2026

Congratulations to Similoluwa Ige for successfully defending her Masters thesis!

Simi is advised by Dr. Sarah-Jane Bork with committee support from Drs. Julie P. Martin and James Huff.

04/21/2026

Our final seminar speaker of the semester is Dr. Karin Jensen!

Karin Jensen, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering and the Graduate Chair of the Engineering Education Research Program at the University of Michigan. Her research interests include mental health and wellness, engineering career pathways, and faculty engagement in engineering education research. Her work was recognized with a PECASE award in 2025 and an NSF CAREER award in 2019. Jensen is an associate editor for the Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering and Biomedical Engineering Education. She earned a bachelor’s degree in biological engineering from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the University of Virginia.

04/16/2026

CORRECTION: Seminar today will be in room 1217!

Hope to see you there!

04/13/2026

Our next seminar speaker of the semester is Dr. Shane Brown!

Dr. Brown is a Professor of Engineering Education in the School of Civil and Construction Engineering at Oregon State University. He has been in academia since 2005 when he completed his PhD in civil engineering from Oregon State University. He first worked at Washington State University and then moved to Oregon State University in 2013. He has taught a wide variety of courses, including fluid mechanics, statics, mechanics of materials and civil engineering capstone design. He has done research in a variety of areas over the course of his career, including teacher change, teaching practices, student engagement, social capital, engineers and engineering students understanding of engineering concepts, engineering identity and motivation related to design engagement. He is the recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, the Journal of Engineering Education Wickenden Award, the ERM and civil division of ASEE best paper awards, and multiple other regional teaching, research and advising awards. In his free time he likes to golf, hike and build things out of wood.

04/10/2026

Congratulations to Drs. Huff, Lewis, and Morelock, for their awards at UGA College of Engineering 2026 celebrating excellence ceremony!

04/07/2026

Our next seminar speaker of the semester is Dr. Rachel Figard!

Dr. Figard is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Education at the University of Georgia. Her research focuses on sociocultural norms in engineering, accessibility, and the ways educational environments shape student experiences and participation, with particular interest in creative, nontraditional approaches to research analysis and dissemination. Dr. Figard holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from North Carolina State University, an M.S. in User Experience from Arizona State University (ASU), and a Ph.D. in Engineering Education from ASU. At ASU, she was a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

04/01/2026

Our next seminar speaker of the semester is Dr. Trevion Henderson!

Trevion Henderson is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and STEM Education at Tufts University, where he also serves as a faculty fellow for the Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO), as well as a Steering Committee Member for the Institute for Research on Learning and Instructions. Henderson’s research broadly focused on teaching and learning in engineering education, including three foci: (a) teamwork pedagogies in engineering education, (b) sociotechnical engineering design pedagogies, and (c) racialized and gendered interpersonal dynamics in engineering learning environments.

03/20/2026

Our next seminar speaker of the semester is Dr. Michael E. Cotterell!

Dr. Cotterell received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from UGA in May 2011 and December 2017, respectively. He is currently a Senior Lecturer of Computer Science and an Undergraduate Coordinator in the UGA School of Computing (SoC).

In Fall 2012, after his first year in graduate school, Dr. Cotterell returned from a summer internship at the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) to discover that he was asked to teach his first CS class at UGA as part of his graduate teaching assistantship — he accepted the offer, and the first class he taught was Software Development (CSCI 1302). In 2015, he transitioned to a full-time Instructor (part-time graduate student) and won the department’s Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award in 2016 after only one year of full-time teaching. In Fall 2017, the same semester when he defended his doctoral dissertation, Dr. Cotterell was rehired at the rank of Lecturer. He was later promoted to the rank of Senior Lecturer in 2021.

Dr. Cotterell has received the SoC’s Teaching Excellence in Computer Science Award multiple times (Spring 2018, Spring 2020, and Spring 2024). He was also selected as a 2018–2019 UGA Faculty Online Learning Fellow, a 2018–2019 UGA Faculty Writing Fellow, and a 2019-2020 UGA Teaching Academy Fellow. In Fall 2023, Dr. Cotterell was formally inducted as a member into the UGA Teaching Academy.
Dr. Cotterell is the Director of the Computer Science Undergraduate Assistant (CSUA) Experiential Learning Program and the UGAHacks Hackers Experiential Learning Program. He also chairs the School of Computing’s Undergraduate Program & Curriculum Committee (since 2021), and he is a member of UGA’s University Council.

02/03/2026

Our next seminar speaker of the semester is Dr. Alysha Helmrich!

Dr. Alysha Helmrich (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the College of Engineering at the University of Georgia. She labels herself as an ‘urban systems engineer’ with a BS and MS in Environmental and Ecological Engineering from Purdue University and a PhD in Civil, Environmental, and Sustainable Engineering from Arizona State University. Her research is focused on urban resilience and navigating periods of stability and instability. She has expertise in infrastructure systems, systems-thinking (specifically, complexity and social-ecological-technological systems (SETS) perspectives), decision-making, and participatory workshops. Alysha is the lead coordinator and a co-host of the Resilient Futures Podcast, a podcast that aims to increase awareness of, and to catalyze action on, resilience. She enjoys traveling and hiking in her spare time.

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597 DW Brooks Drive
Athens, GA
30602

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http://eeti.uga.edu/

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