Lawrence Technological University professor receives engineering fellowship

Lawrence Technological University engineering Associate Professor Elin Jensen has been named an Engineering Unleashed Fellow for 2023 by the Kern Family Foundation.

Officials from the Kern Family Foundation noted that the designation of Engineering Unleashed Fellow recognizes leadership in undergraduate engineering education. Jensen has evidenced this through her encouragement of an entrepreneurial mindset among engineers and her involvement in foundation activities. 

Professor Jensen is the chair of the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering in the Lawrence Technological University College of Engineering. 

In an article posted on Lawrence Technological University’s website, Lawrence Tech President Tarek M. Sobh talked about the recognition of Jensen, saying, “We’re grateful for our relationship with the Kern Family Foundation and its support for entrepreneurial engineering education at LTU. And we’re proud of Dr. Jensen’s accomplishments that were recognized by this Fellowship.”

Lawrence Tech chief academic officer and provost, Richard Heist weighed in as well, saying, “Professor Jensen’s recognition as an Engineering Unleashed Fellow comes as no surprise to LTU. It is certainly well deserved, in large part, due to her long history of innovative and supportive involvement with our College of Engineering students. She helps set the standard for the quality of education that is a hallmark of our great University.”  

The process to be recognized as a Fellow starts with the participation in various faculty development events hosted by the foundation. At these events, participants work to create programs to apply a mindset of entrepreneurial thought to engineering education. The faculty members then work with peer coaches who consider all of the proposed projects before nominating those they find are the best for Fellowship status. The nominated members and projects are then reviewed by an independent committee composed of past Fellows. Fewer than 10% of workshop participants end up being recognized as fellows. 

The project that Jensen worked on was to create an introductory course in civil engineering that introduces students to the highest priority stakeholders: society and the natural and built environment, while also preparing students for upper level work in that field. During the course, students are tasked with redeveloping a large vacant lot in an inner ring suburb. As the community surrounding the lot has been deemed a high priority for the project, the students must develop a way forward that promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion, while connecting businesses and residents, providing easy access to amenities, creating destinations for gathering, and using low impact development to manage stormwater and more.

During the course, the participating students will develop pitch sessions and poster presentations to community partners, write project impact statements, review survey results, and meet with city planners.

According to Jensen, the goal of the Fellowship is advancing and expanding her project while also sharing the educational strategies she develops through the project with her peers and colleagues in the wider engineering education community.

Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern started the Kern Family Foundation back in 1998 after founding their company Generac Power Systems. The Foundation operates KEEN, or the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network, which is a group of over 50 universities that use Kern methodologies in their coursework for students. Lawrence Technological University is one of the founding member institutions of the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network since it began back in 2004. KEEN also runs a program called Engineering Unleashed, which is a community of more than 5,000 members from nearly 400 higher education institutions that share the mission of creating engineering graduates with an entrepreneurial mindset who have the skills to create economic, personal, and social value for their communities.

So far this year, 30 people from 24 institutions of higher education have been named Engineering Unleashed Fellows. Those who are recognized receive a $10,000 grant to fund their projects, participate in conferences, and conduct further research.

More information about Lawrence Technological University can be found at the school’s website.