College of Engineering Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering Dr. Devina Jaiswal, has been named an Engineering Unleashed 2020 Fellow by The Kern Foundation. This honor recognizes faculty for their contribution to engineering education, and specifically entrepreneurial engineering.
"Dr. Jaiswal is truly an ambassador of excellence for Western New England University," said Program Director for the Kern Family Foundation Douglas Melton. "She is distinguished both through a fellows project and through interactions with the greater Engineering Unleashed community."
Engineering Unleashed is a community of 3,100 faculty members from 160 institutions of higher education, powered by KEEN, a 50-partner collaborative that shares a mission to graduate engineers with an entrepreneurial mindset who are equipped to create personal, economic, and societal value through a lifetime of meaningful work. Dr. Jaiswal is one of 29 individuals from 24 institutions of higher education across the United States to receive this distinction.
"The work ongoing in the Engineering Unleashed community is a real game changer in higher education," says Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the University’s KEEN program Dr. Mike Rust. "Across the country (and right here on our campus at Western New England University) we're re-thinking what it means to be an engineer and how we prepare engineering students for their future careers. Dr. Jaiswal has already developed some impactful modules for the Engineering Unleashed community, and I am really excited to see what she comes up with next as a result of this fellowship."
Through their home institutions, fellows are awarded a $10,000 grant that can be used to advance their project/module, pay for part of their salary, develop a new product/module, participate in conferences, support undergraduate student assistants, etc.
The nomination and naming process began with Jaiswal’s initiative to participate in one of the many Engineering Unleashed Faculty Development workshops. These workshops are designed and delivered by a collaborative group of subject matter experts who serve as faculty members at more than 25 institutions. They attract faculty participants from across the country, focusing on the development and application of an entrepreneurial mindset whether in teaching and learning, research, industry, or leadership.
Jaiswal's research, Quit Smoking: An engineering physiology and biomedical perspective, centers on creating an active learning environment in the class while inculcating entrepreneurial mindset for undergraduate students. In this work, students connect physiology with products that help in quitting smoking while creating value for the end users by suggesting innovative engineering solutions. Students engage in interactive activities that significantly enhance technical as well as entrepreneurial skillsets.
"My vision is to expand Entrepreneurial Mindset (EM) beyond one course and institution," says Jaiswal. "I have already created and implemented EM modules for different courses. As my next step, I will implement the 'Quit Smoking' module at University of Connecticut to study different populations of students. I am confident that undergraduates from other institutions would benefit from this module as much as students in my course did."
"Being named an Engineering Unleashed fellow shows Dr. Jaiswal's passion for learning, teaching and practicing the Entrepreneurial Mindset not only here at Western New England University but by studying its impact at larger institutions like the University of Connecticut. Dr. Jaiswal is a true leader and innovator in engineering education," says Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Western New England University Dr. Rob Gettens.
To learn more visit Western New England University’s College of Engineering Biomedical Engineering (BME) department.
