Diana Chen, PhD

Associate Professor, Integrated Engineering

• PhD, Clemson University
  
• MS, Clemson University
  
• BS, Harvey Mudd College
  

Diana A. Chen, PhD, is one of the founding faculty members of Integrated Engineering at the University of San Diego. She earned her BS in Engineering from Harvey Mudd College, and MS and PhD in Civil Engineering from Clemson University. In collaboration with colleagues, Dr. Chen is designing a new engineering curriculum to educate changemakers who understand that engineering is an inherently socio-technical activity. Her passion is studying and encouraging culture change in engineering curricula and spaces to shift engineering to be a field more inclusive of diversity in all forms. She is the principal investigator of the National Science Foundation grant "Co-constructing Faculty Critical Consciousness", which is a faculty development program that examines the exclusionary aspects within engineering culture and how to combat systemic barriers that contribute to racial inequity. Her scholarly interests include engineering education that contextualizes engineering sciences and design, exploring engineering boundaries for inclusive pedagogy, and sustainability and bio-inspired design in the built environment.

Scholarly Work

• With Joel Mejia, Gordon Hoople, and R. Downey, "Board 361: Reframing Racial Equity Year 2: Examining Script of Whiteness," Engineering Education, 2024.
• With Gibbons, M. , "Bio-inspired Sutures: Simulating the role of suture placement in the mechanical response of interlocking structures," Biomimetics, 2023.
• With Hoople, G. D., Leydens, J. A., and Rottmann, C., "Entry Points, Barriers and Institutional Support for Social Justice in Engineering Curricula" in International Handbook of Engineering Education. London, UK: Routledge Publishing, 2023, pp. 359-379.
• With Hoople, G. D., Mejia, J. A., and Lord, S. M., "Examining Scripts of Whiteness in Engineering Education." American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference (NSF Grantees Division), Baltimore, MD, 2023.
• With Forbes, M., Lord, S. M., Hoople, G. D., and Mejia, J. A. , "The “Who” in Engineering: Illuminating Engineering Students’ Sociotechnical Thinking," International Journal of Engineering Pedagogy, 2023.
• With Hoople, G. D., Mejia, J. A., and Lord, S. M., "Using Collaborative Autoethnography to Investigate Engineering Journeys." Frontiers in Education Conference, , 2023.
• With Gibbons, M., "Bio-inspired Sutures: Characterizing Suture Parameters in Simulated Bending," Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, 2022.
• With Forbes, M., Lord. S. M., Hoople, G. D., and Mejia, J. A., "What is Engineering and Who are Engineers? Student Reflections from a Sustainability-Focused Energy Course," Sustainability Special Issue: Engineering Education for a Sustainable Energy Future, 2022.
• With Gelles, L., Mejia, J. A., Lord, S., and Hoople, G. D., "Is it All About Efficiency? Exploring Students’ Conceptualizations of Sustainability in an Introductory Energy Course," Sustainability Special Issue: Engineering Education for a Sustainable Energy Future, 2021.
• With Hoople, G. D., Lord, S. M., Gelles, L., *Bilow, F., and Mejia, J. A., "An Integrated Approach to Energy Education Using Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies," Sustainability Special Issue: Engineering Education for a Sustainable Energy Future, 2020.

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Office Hours

• COMP 492
• GENG 383