August 23, 2019
EETI is pleased to congratulate Drs. Peter Carnell, Nathaniel Hunsu, and Nicola Sochacka on their recent NSF grant, entitled “A study to examine and foster academic resilience in undergraduate engineering students.” This exploratory study will examine the role that academic resilience, an intrapersonal professional skill, may play in enhancing the performance of students in challenging core engineering courses. Findings from this study have the potential to dramatically enhance student and faculty understandings of the importance of professional skills in learning technical material in engineering and other STEM disciplines. This grant grew from a collaboration within EETI, with encouragement from the School of ECAM (where the courses are taught), and with the help of an “Awards within Reach” grant from the College of Engineering and OVPR.
Dr. Peter Carnell is a Professor of Practice and has been a licensed Professional Engineer for 25 years. He is interested in the role professional skills may play in learning technical material and he seeks to apply engineering education research for students’ immediate benefit.
Dr. Nathaniel Hunsu is an Assistant Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His expertise include quantitative research designs and methodologies, and meta-analysis. His research interests include using learning and motivational theories to explicate meaningful learning engagements in order to enhance students’ academic experience.
Dr. Nicola Sochacka is the Associate Director for Research Initiation in EETI. She has over 10 years of experience in engineering education research with a focus on qualitative methods and is committed to findings ways to bridge the gap between engineering education research and practice.