Speaker

Dr. Anahid Behrouzi, Associate Professor of Architectural Engineering at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly)

Abstract

Engineering programs continue to focus on preparing students for professional practice that extends beyond technical analysis. This includes effective teamwork, clear communication with a range of audiences, and sound professional judgement that considers public health, safety, welfare, and the broader context of engineering decisions. Yet, there are challenges many engineering faculty face with integrating these professional-practice themes in their courses and academic/career advising. Classes often have a highly technical focus of leveraging math, physics, chemistry principles to solve engineering problems and it may seem there is way to include what can appear to be social science concepts in a seamless, meaningful, and timely manner. Moreover, a majority of faculty were not educated in a setting where they were exposed to these topics and so they feel uncomfortable teaching or advising on that which they are not experts. 

The goal of this presentation is to provide examples of how a faculty member has brought these concepts into structural engineering courses as well as in advising student leaders in both field-specific and college-wide student organizations. Classroom examples that will be covered range from a code-based reinforced concrete design course to a graduate-level lecture on nonlinear structural behavior. Advising examples describe how faculty can support students in related efforts including public outreach, providing consistent access to academic and career information,  as well as interdisciplinary workshops. Collectively, these efforts can expand the reach of your engineering program and prepare your students for a future in the engineering profession.

Bio

Anahid Behrouzi is an Associate Professor of Architectural Engineering at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly). Recognizing that students will be the stewards of our built infrastructure, her focus is redefining engineering education to best equip them for that future.

Anahid has mentored student teams in investigating how to enhance technical courses through methods like physical models, experiments, and computer programming activities as well as how to leverage oral and visual storytelling to celebrate accomplishments of engineers with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences and examine the social impact of our engineering decisions.

For these teaching efforts, she was named recipent of the 2019 ASCE ExCEEd New Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award, the 2021 ACI Walter P. Moore Jr. Faculty Achievement Award, and Cal Poly's 2021-22 Distinguished Teaching and the Outstanding Faculty Advisor Awards, among other 2021-22 Distinguished Teaching and the Outstanding Faculty Advisor Awards, among other service recognitions. Anahid has been active in committees within ACI and EERI to support student education and broaden participation in engineering. She has a BS in Civil Engineering and a BA in Spanish Language & Literature from North Carolina State University, and an MS/PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.