Speakers

Title: Professional Roles for Future Engineers, a driver of diversity

Name: Greet Langie - Faculty of Engineering Technology (KU Leuven, Belgium)

Bio: Greet Langie is a professor at the Faculty of Engineering Technology, KU Leuven. She’s a physicist by training and focuses on Engineering Education Research, more specifically on the issues surrounding the transitions from secondary education to higher education and from higher education to professional life. She was the vice dean of education of the Faculty of Engineering Technology at KU Leuven from 2012 until 2020 and is now the vice chair of education of Campus De Nayer (one of the campuses of KU Leuven). She founded the KU Leuven Engineering and Science Education Center (LESEC) in 2009 and was the chair until 2012. She’s active in several international networks: She’s the vice-president of SEFI (European Society for Engineering Education), a member of the SEFI Special Interest Groups ‘Physics’, ‘Capacity building’ and ‘Engineering Education Research’, a consulting expert in the National Talent-Introduction Base for Interdisciplinary Innovation in Engineering Education at Tsinghua University, the co-organizer of the yearly IIDEA-summer course in Tsinghua University, a member of the Advisory Board of BEST (Board of European Students of Technology) and she received the title ‘ING.PAED.IGIP h.c.’ from IGIP. In 2022 she launched the first SEFI summer school for PhD students in Engineering Education Research. The second edition was in London in May in 2024.

Abstract: Engineering graduates have diverse roles within the working field. Unfortunately, students do not have a realistic picture of this. At the Faculty of Engineering Technology (KU Leuven, Belgium), we have therefore developed the PREFER framework and tools to help engineering students shape their professional identity. Currently, we are also exploring the potential benefits of implementing this framework in Secondary Education. We want to get more students, especially girls, excited about engineering by making them aware of the wide variety of career options available to engineers. Promoting diversity in engineering not only benefits society but also enhances industry.

Title: Engineering Education and the Wild World of Generative AI

Name: Diana Andone - Politehnica University of Timisoara

Bio:Dr. Diana Andone is the Director of the Digital and Distance Education of Politehnica University of Timisoara, Romania, responsible for planning and implementing digital education and associate professor in multimedia, interactive and web technologies. EDEN Senior Fellow, IEEE Education Society 2021 Distinguished Chapter Leadership Award winner, IEEE Education Society VicePresident (2024-2025), with extensive research experience and intense publication and more than 30 research and educational international projects, she teaches course modules in universities from UK, France, USA, Finland, Italy, Greece. https://elearning.upt.ro/ro/diana-andone/

Abstract:The transformation brought by Generative AI into engineering education has driven educators to rethink and adjust methods of teaching and learning, as well as to acquire new skills and adapt to an evolving digital ecosystem. In the context of engineering, where practical problem-solving and innovation are paramount, what competencies will be crucial for educators to impart, and for students to develop? How can Generative AI enhance the creativity and critical thinking of both students and educators or to be included into engineering curriculum? How open education and science practices are changed by GAI? Is academic assessment changing because of the incidents of GAI? Several experiments which showcase the integration of the use of GAI into project development and assessment be presented from both educators and students’ perspectives.