Iowa State University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering received the American Society of Mechanical Engineers MEDHEC Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion award at the ASME Mechanical Engineering Education Summit.
This award honors department-wide efforts to cultivate a working and learning environment where all students, faculty and staff can thrive.
“This recognition is particularly special because it speaks to the importance of a welcoming environment where students from a wide spectrum of experiences and backgrounds can develop their technical and leadership skills in a department where they are valued as individuals and future engineers,” says Caroline Hayes, John and Nancy Hayes Department Chair of Mechanical Engineering.
In recognition of the innovative activities and programs ME conducts to expand the pipeline of engineering students and enhance the department’s culture of excellence and belonging, the ASME award honors two impactful collaborations.
The Department of Mechanical Engineering is in its third year running the Iowa State University chapter of the Engineering Ambassador’s Network (EAN), a student group with a two-fold mission: increasing STEM awareness in K-12 students and building strong undergraduate student leaders.
In those three years, the Iowa State EAN Chapter has partnered with Youth and Shelter Services (YSS)’s Teen Club in Collins-Maxwell and now in Colo-Nesco school districts to build gaga ball pits. Additionally, they worked this year with the Collins-Maxwell group to install both a food pantry box and art gallery box in both towns.
In fall 2022 and 2023, Iowa State’s Department of Mechanical Engineering also hosted the Midwest EAN regional workshop. The meetings connected students from EAN programs in surrounding states, allowing them to share best practices and train in leadership and assertion evidence presentation skills.
The Department of Mechanical Engineering has also supported Iowa State’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB), a student group, in collaborations with the EWB chapter of KNUST University in Kumasi, Ghana.
Implementation of joint projects in the rural village of Ullo in northern Ghana range from constructing a medical clinic to drilling wells to installing water storage tanks at the Ullo High School, so students spend less time carrying water from distant wells and have more time for studying.
Hayes was part of a group of Iowa State administrators who traveled to Ghana in 2023. Applications from the senior class of engineers at KNUST in spring 2023 will mean a contingent of graduate students from Ghana will be joining the Department of Mechanical Engineering in fall 2024.
“We are incredibly proud of partnerships that foster collaboration and introduce students to Cyclone Engineering,” says Hayes. “We must always expand the ways we recruit future students, so we can supply enough high-quality engineers to meet industry needs.”