Joan Tisdale

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Teaching Assistant Professor at University of Colorado Boulder

It is important that engineers are educated to consider sustainability in their work. Thermodynamics is a fundamental course required in several engineering majors that has a natural connection to sustainability topics (e.g., energy and limits on efficiency). This work examined how sustainability was included in university-level engineering thermod...

This research strives to catalyze a more extensive integration of sustainability topics into mechanical engineering (ME) courses. The process through which higher education instructors choose to integrate sustainability topics into their courses was conceptualized using diffusion of innovation theory. The research explored two questions: (1) What f...

Mechanical engineers have an important role in contributing to a more sustainable future. However, the extent that sustainability is currently being integrated into mechanical engineering (ME) curricula is unclear. This research characterized sustainability integration in undergraduate ME courses at 100 universities. Criterion-based selection resul...

Hands-on design courses are commonly offered to first-year engineering students. These courses provide a good opportunity to motivate students who are unsure about majoring in engineering. In addition, the course may help maintain the motivation of students who applied to engineering but were not admitted and are trying to navigate the transfer pro...

There is long-standing data which indicates that many incoming engineering students struggle with math upon entry into college. A very successful approach has been the Wright State model, which teaches math in a highly applied engineering context. This paper describes a course derived from the Wright State model, which has evolved significantly ove...

This work explored different methods of incorporating sustainability into a first-year engineering design (FYED) course. Each term at the University of Colorado there are 6-12 sections of FYED, each taught by different instructors from an array of departments. The general course learning objectives, calendar, and outline are provided for instructor...