Director
Associate Professor Dr. Shanna Daly is an Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering. She has a B.E. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Dayton and Ph.D. degrees in Engineering Education and Chemistry from Purdue University. Her research focuses on design innovations through divergent and convergent thinking as well as through deep needs and community assessments using design ethnography. Specifically, her work includes investigations of concept generation and development practices of novices through practitioners, intersections of diverse disciplines and experiences of individuals and teams that yield innovative thinking, the role of creativity in engineering and how to foster it, exploring problem spaces to identify real needs and innovation opportunities, and developing flexibility to design both radically and incrementally.
Shanna Daly
Lab Members
Erika Mosyjowski
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Erika is a postdoctoral research fellow working on two projects related to 1) characterizing (de)emphasized and (de)valued practices in engineering education and professional contexts and how these align with engineers’ personal values and 2) understanding the adoption and impacts of a toolkit aimed at providing students with the skills to identify and address socially engaged aspects of engineering work. She earned a B.A. in sociology and psychology from Case Western Reserve University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Michigan. Her research interests include cultural beliefs about what engineers do and who they are, students’ career thinking and trajectories, and ways to effectively facilitate more diverse, inclusive, and equitable engineering environments.
Kelley Dugan
Graduate Student Research Assistant
Kelley E. Dugan is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan. Her current research focuses on exploration of design process models, assessment of socially engaged engineering skills, and assessments of systems thinking skills. Her research interests include complex problem solving, front-end design practices, and design behavior for sustainability. She has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University. Prior to starting graduate school, she worked in the consumer appliance industry for two years. Kelley is also a Graduate Facilitator with the Center for Socially Engaged Design and a Graduate Academic Liaison with the Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning.
Laura Murphy
Graduate Student Research Assistant
Laura is a Ph.D. student in Design Science. She studies inclusive design, a people-focused perspective on design which accounts for the greatest amount of variation among people. She first explored the impact of inclusive and empathetic design processes through her work in disability design spaces. She also has experience in product design, manufacturing, and supply chain development across industries. She’s most interested in impacting how practitioners carry out design decisions so that the design outcomes help create a more inclusive world.
Nick Moses
Graduate Student Research Assistant
Nick is a Ph.D. pre-candidate in Design Science and holds a dual M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Anthropology from Oregon State University. His research interests include design in cross-cultural and international settings, the integration of interdisciplinary tools into design and engineering education. He also works with several organizations to design and manufacture improved institutional cookstoves in low- and middle-income countries.
Shannon Clancy
Graduate Student Research Assistant
Shannon is a Ph.D. candidate in Mechanical Engineering and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. She has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Her current research focuses on divergent thinking and creativity in engineering along with tools to support diverse pedagogical perspectives and student values. Her research interests include creativity, idea and concept generation, contexts in front-end design practices, and sense of belonging, perspectives, and experiences of individuals in engineering. In addition to research, Shannon works as a Graduate Facilitator and Lab Manager at the Center for Socially Engaged Design.
Undergraduate Researchers
Alumni
Leah Paborsky
