Engineering professor aims to improve curriculum

Sheryl Sorby, University of Cincinnati professor of engineering education, recently began her tenure as president of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). Sorby was featured in a profile article in Prism, an ASEE publication. 

Sorby recalled her experience in the late 1970s as a civil engineering undergraduate student in a male-dominated field with almost exclusively male professors. One professor told the few women in his class that they didn’t have what it takes to be engineers and they should instead study nursing. Despite this discouragement, Sorby persevered, and that experience led her to recognize that STEM education has a need to be more inclusive to create a more diverse workforce with a broader base of ideas.

“Lack of diversity often means a lack of creativity,” Sorby told Prism, which can sometimes lead to a negative impact for users, citing examples of airbags that worked well for men but were dangerous to women and children, and minivan liftgates that the average woman couldn’t pull down.

Sorby graduated with her civil engineering degree from Michigan Technological University and went on to earn her master’s in engineering mechanics and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the same university, while becoming a parent to three children.

Her own challenge with grasping spatial awareness in an engineering graphics class as an undergraduate propelled Sorby to develop a course at Michigan Tech through a National Science Foundation grant to help others who struggled with visualizing an object and imagining how it will look when rotated. The course was centered on spatial awareness using computer-aided design. She created software and a workbook that she is still continuously enhancing as a UC professor. 

As ASEE president, Sorby plans to examine the engineering curriculum taught throughout the country and look for ways to better prepare students for engineering careers. 

“If we don’t change what we teach and how we teach it, students will stop coming. Industry will get their diverse workforce without us,” Sorby told Prism. 

Read the article to learn more about Sorby’s career path and her goals to evolve engineering education.

UC Engineering Education Professor Sheryl Sorby started her tenure in June 2020 as president of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE). She recently spoke to ASEE TV in this video.

Featured image at top: Baldwin Hall at UC. Photo/Corrie Mayer/CEAS Marketing.