Award-winning engineering lecturer Dr. LeAnn Dourte joins Kayla and Sally to discuss active learning in engineering classrooms. LeAnn is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, and has pioneered their biomechanics curriculum - students build robo-arms to move PlayDough? Yes please! She shares her tips for setting classroom expectations in undergraduate vs. graduate courses, and doing academic research about engineering education! We also discuss LeAnn's experiences as a new mom in a dual-career family, and her Better Talk Next Time moment - spoiler alert: don't bully your professors to get better grades...

This episode is a collaboration between Double Shelix and the University of Pennsylvania Department of Bioengineering! Thanks to UPenn BioE for funding this episode, and we are honored to share LeAnn's awesome work with you all! If there's someone else at UPenn BioE (or elsewhere!) that you think we should feature, give us a shout! Thanks for listening!!
Resources:
UPenn BioE Blog (featuring their famed This Week in BioE segments!): https://beblog.seas.upenn.edu/
Research findings from LeAnn's SAIL studies: goo.gl/vjPtAJ
LeAnn's biomechatronics students make robotic arms: goo.gl/rZYPPT
Penn Bioengineering on Twitter @pennbioeng
UPenn Center for Teaching and Learning: https://www.ctl.upenn.edu/
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Who should we interview next? Let us know - [email protected]

We're back for Season 2, and this episode is inspired by what our listeners want to hear! Kayla and Sally are huge fans of listener-recommended science crush, the late MIT Prof. Millie Dresselhaus: Queen of Carbon Science, tireless advocate for women in STEM, and winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Science in Engineering. A recent GE commercial asks, "What if we treated female scientists like they were stars? What if Millie Dresselhaus was as famous as any celebrity?" Kayla and Sally are 100% behind this mission, and plot meet-cutes with the sci-lebrities in their lives. Also, in the first-ever listener-submitted Better Talk Next Time stories, listeners tackle biased perceptions of women in engineering, how to deal when your significant other believes damaging STEM stereotypes, and other *fun* themes. Don't worry, listeners - you do belong in science!
Please rate us on the Apple Podcast app/iTunes store! Stay tuned to the end of the episode for overly detailed step-by-step instructions (methods section) about how to do this.
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Email us [email protected] - Have you had a sci-lebrity encounter? An experience you hope to Better Talk Next Time? Any sug*guest*ions? We love our listeners, so reach out and say hi!
Millie's GE Commercial #goals -