Individual projects
Katia Hwang worked under the mentorship of Claudia Flynn to establish the new E-IDEA Community Engagement Program. By forming relationships with various departmental student groups in the Faculty of Engineering, she designed four workshops to engage youth in different engineering disciplines. Leveraging her experience running community events, Katia coordinated with the Engineering student groups and the Kahnawá:ke Youth Center to deliver these workshops to high school students during the Fall 2023 semester.
Max Au worked with Renee Pellissier on pedagogical design and resource development for the E-IDEA Teamwork Program. Max conducted an in-depth analysis of student feedback on Teamwork Program workshops and proposed additional material and activities to increase their effectiveness. Based on these recommendations, as well as Max’s own experiences as an engineering student, we updated the workshops to include a stronger EDI focus and improved accessibility for students.
Michelle Zhou was mentored by Dr. Nia Fernandez and worked on ways to improve communication of EDI resources with the Faculty of Engineering community. Drawing from discussions with members of the EDI Advocacy Program, as well as her own experiences as a student and among her peers, Michelle curated an EDI resource guide and developed reflection questions to support self-paced learning. Michelle's work will be used to expand tools that can be accessed by students, staff, and faculty.
Team project
Katia, Max, and Michelle curated a special exhibit, entitled “Our Stories: Voices of Tomorrow’s Design Professionals”, for the inaugural E-IDEA Student Showcase on September 11, 2023. Motivated to raise awareness of student experiences in the Faculty of Engineering, our interns collected anonymous stories about everything from student challenges to successes to reflections on belonging. Students, staff, faculty, alumni, and donors were invited to view the exhibit, share their own reflections, and build connections.
A digital version of the exhibit will be available soon.