Ezra Systems Seminar: Alexandra Coso Strong (Cornell CBE/Systems Engineering)
Location
Frank H. T. Rhodes Hall 253
Description
Also available via Zoom
Individual Actions towards Change in Complex Systems: A Case Study in Engineering Education
As scholars and practitioners, we pursue opportunities to affect change in the complex systems we inhabit and interact with each day. In our pursuit, we take intentional and strategic actions towards goals that matter to us, which could look like redesigning processes within our organizations, implementing an innovation to increase efficiency and productivity, or in the context of education, establishing an instructional culture that is inclusive and transformative for students. For those of us seeking to affect change in engineering education, a long-standing complex system, we may watch others around us and try to understand how they overcame barriers, what choices they made, or what resources they used - all so we can hopefully achieve success in our own pursuits. Often, however, the processes of others are not easy to distinguish or the idea that success in one context could translate to another may appear improbable.
The focus of this talk will be to make visible the individual actions individuals take in pursuit of impact in engineering education, along with the characteristics of the complex system affecting which actions are taken or not taken. In particular, we will examine the complex system from the perspectives and experiences of faculty from diverse institutional contexts and backgrounds. Leveraging theories of professional agency and the concept of available moves, which captures all the options we, as individuals, may consider in a given situation, we will discuss the limitations and constraints on faculty actions that emerged within two research studies. Throughout the talk, we will also reflect on our own experiences pursuing impact, the actions we have taken, and the factors affecting our past and future choices.
Bio:
Alexandra Coso Strong works and teaches at the intersection of engineering education, faculty development, and complex systems design. She joined Cornell University in 2024 after co-founding the School of Universal Computing, Construction and Engineering Education at Florida International University. As an assistant professor at FIU, she co-developed two degree programs, a Ph.D. in engineering and computing education and a B.S. in interdisciplinary engineering. In addition, she held appointments in the STEM Transformation Institute, the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, and the Department of Teaching and Learning. Strong completed her doctorate in aerospace engineering at Georgia Tech in 2014, conducting research to improve students’ abilities to think more broadly about complex systems design and to take into account stakeholder-related considerations within their design projects. Prior to attending Georgia Tech, Strong received a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from MIT (2007) and a master’s degree in systems engineering from the University of Virginia (2010). Grounded in the growing complexity of ongoing global challenges, Strong’s research focuses on identifying and developing approaches to (a) sustainable change with the systems we inhabit and interact with and (b) how we, as educators, can prepare the next generation of engineers and change agents to develop solutions to these challenges.