My pedagogical approach is fundamentally informed by scholarly research, particularly my work on how students conceptualize complex, real-world problems. I am a Principal Investigator on the NSF-funded project, From Silos to Systems: Educating Engineers for Holistic Problem-Solving. This collaborative research, spanning two major Colorado institutions and involving a multi-disciplinary team, directly investigates and challenges the entrenched mindsets in education that separate environmental, social, and technical dimensions of sustainability challenges. Specifically, the project addresses the problematic mindsets of Technical/Social Dualism and Depoliticization, as well as the newly explored Environment/Society Divide. The goal is to move students from compartmentalized thinking toward a Holistic Systems Mindset. This research ensures that my classroom—whether teaching foundational sociology or specialized environmental topics—serves as a laboratory for the most effective, equitable, and forward-thinking teaching methods available.

This work is an inherently interdisciplinary and collaborative effort. It brings together faculty expertise from engineering education, electrical engineering, environmental engineering, mechanical engineering, environmental sociology, and environmental humanities. My role, alongside the team, is centered on developing and testing pedagogical micro-interventions that can be incorporated into a range of courses to enhance holistic systems thinking. Aligned with the Engineering for One Planet (EOP) Framework , the research systematically assesses how students internalize concepts like systems thinking and ethical responsibility across both technical and humanities courses using surveys and interviews. Crucially, the project fosters a multi-disciplinary faculty learning network to ensure that this transformative pedagogy is adopted and sustained by instructors across engineering and social science departments. By embedding these EOP-aligned principles, we are contributing to a broader cultural shift aimed at cultivating engineers who possess both technical expertise and the critical, ethical capacity to tackle interconnected sustainability challenges.