Ann McKenna Professor of Mechanical Engineering Professor of School of Education and Social Policy: Department of Learing Science by courtesy Northwestern University 2133 Sheridan Road, Ford G-319 Evanston, IL 60208 TEL: 847-491-6761 FAX: 847-491-2603 mckenna@northwestern.edu BS, Mechanical Engineering, Drexel University, 1988 MS, Mechanical Engineering, Drexel University, 1991 PhD, Engineering Education, University of California at Berkeley, 2001

Honors

• ASEE-ERM Apprentice Faculty Grant Award, 2002.
• Best Overall Paper Award, American Society for Engineering Education Conference, Seattle, WA, 1998. Paper selected from approximately 2000 submissions.
• Outstanding Paper Award, IEEE/ASEE Frontiers in Education Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, 1997. Thirteen papers out of 400 submitted were selected for this award.
• National Science Foundation Reforming Education through Science and Design Fellowship, 1998-1999.

Research Interests

Understanding the cognitive and social processes of design teaching and learning; the role of adaptive expertise in engineering education; engineering faculty pedagogy and conceptions of teaching and learning; creativity and innovation in design/education; investigating institutional strategies and practices that contribute to recruiting and retaining female and underrepresented faculty and students in engineering

In the Classroom

Prof. McKenna teaches DSGN 370: Engineering Design Portfolio and Presentation. In DSGN 370 students create a design portfolio that showcases his or her engineering work. Students develop their design portfolios by following a user-centered design process. For example, students perform research on design portfolios, generate ideas for possible portfolio designs, build mock-ups of their ideas, obtain external feedback, revise their portfolio, and complete a finished, professional document, which they present in class and in a public forum. Furthermore, through the reflective process of creating a design portfolio students develop an understanding of their professional community of practice and a sense of their identity within this community. In addition to DSGN 370, Prof. McKenna teaches DSGN 106: Engineering Design and Communication, a required user-centered design course for all engineering students.

Related to both her teaching and research interests, Prof. McKenna is the Director of the Certificate in Engineering Design program in the Segal Design Institute and is co-founder and co-director of the Northwestern Center for Engineering Education Research (NCEER).

Selected Publications

McKenna, Ann F., Yalvac, Bugrahan, and Light Gregory J. (2009) The Role of Collaborative Reflection on Shaping Engineering Faculty Teaching Approaches, Journal of Engineering Education, 98 (1), 17-26

Atman, Cynthia J., Kilgore, Deborah, and McKenna, Ann F. (2008) Characterizing design learning: A mixed-methods study of engineering designers’ use of language, Journal of Engineering Education, 97(3), 309-326

Hirsch, Penny L. and McKenna, Ann F. (2008) Using Reflection to Promote Teamwork Understanding in Engineering Design Education, International Journal of Engineering Education, 24 (2), 377-385

Manuel, Michele V., Olson, Gregory, B. and McKenna, Ann F. (2008) Hierarchical Model for Coaching Technical Design Teams, International Journal of Engineering Education, 24 (2), 260-265

Linsenmeier, R.A., Kanter, D.E., Smith, H.D., Linsenmeier, K.A., and McKenna, A.F. (2008) Evaluation of a Challenge-based Human Metabolism Laboratory for Undergraduates, Journal of Engineering Education, 97(2), 213-222

McKenna, Ann F. (2007) An Investigation of Adaptive Expertise and Transfer of Design Process Knowledge, ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, 129 (7), July 2007, 730-734

McKenna, Ann F. and Yalvac, Bugrahan (2007) Characterizing Engineering Faculty’s Teaching Approaches, Teaching in Higher Education, 12(3), 405-418

McKenna, Ann F. (2006) Implementing Learning Science Research in University Settings:  New Research Opportunities, New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 108, Winter 2006, pp. 109-114

Kolikant, Yifat Ben-David, McKenna, Ann F. & Yalvac, Bugrahan. (2006) The Emergence of a Community of Practice in Engineering Education, New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 108, Winter 2006, 7-16

McKenna, Ann, F., Colgate, J. Edward, Carr, Stephen, & Olson, Gregory, B. (2006) IDEA: Formalizing the Foundation for an Engineering Design Education, International Journal of Engineering Education, 22 (3), 671-678