Justin Hess's Research Group

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Justin Hess's Research Group

Our research group was launched from the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University in 2019. We are a community of learners studying empathy, ethics, design, and teamwork in engineering education.

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Mission Statement

Our mission is to inspire change in engineering culture to become more socially responsive, environmentally friendly, and inclusive, thereby providing opportunities for all engineers to reach their maximum potential and help realize a sustainable world.

Group Members

Group Members

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Justin Hess

Associate Professor

My aim is to inspire change in engineering culture to become more socially responsive, environmentally friendly, and inclusive, thereby providing opportunities for all current and prospective engineers to reach their maximum potential.

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Sowmya Panuganti

Ph.D. Candidate

My goal is to help decrease the accepted culture of toxicity in engineering pedagogy through empathy, DEI, and mental health awareness. I also want to help students truly learn subject materials and be there for them so they do not feel lost in the system.

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Asem Aboelzahab

Ph.D. Candidate

My goal is to support student learning in engineering design through individualized teaching and mentorship, helping students grow and develop their professional expertise and confidence.

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Kennedy Thompson

Ph.D. Student

My goal is to help increase the participation of transgender and nonbinary students in engineering by reducing systemic barriers and educating the engineering education workforce on the unique experiences and strengths of these students.

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Udeme Idem

Ph.D. Student

Udeme is passionate about helping others navigate their academic and career journey.

Group Alumni

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Andrew Gray

May 2026 Alumnus

I want first-year engineering classes to make students feel empowered to change the world on their own and be excited about studying engineering.

Tyler

Tyler Ramsey

May 2024 M.S. BME Alumnus

My goal is to help people make more ethical decisions by informing them of unethical decisions they may make and how they can improve from them.

Athena

Athena Lin

May 2024 Alumna

My vision is to leverage my scholarship, teaching, and serial optimism to inspire engineering students to imagine and realize their roles in shaping prosperous futures for humanity.

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Sanders

May 2024 Alumna

My vision is to prepare budding engineers with the knowledge and skills needed to engage in human-centered engineering design and contribute sustainable, community-conscious solutions.

Aris

Aristides Carrillo Fernandez

December 2023 Alumnus

My vision is to conduct transformative research on engineering students’ empathic communication and teamwork to help create more empathic, inclusive, and supportive engineering cultures.

Drew

Drew Whitehead

December 2022 Alumnus

My vision is to bring humanity back to engineering by helping students feel empowered, recognized, and free to pursue personal goals while understanding the social impacts engineering has on the world.


Some research questions that we address include:

Empathy

In which instructional contexts is empathy commonly introduced in engineering education?


How does participation in a biomedical engineering ethics course promote students’ empathic perspective-taking?

Ethics

What behaviors constitute ethical engineering practice and how do they differ from other normative behaviors?

How are ethics and DEI explicitly related in peer-reviewed literature in engineering education and related fields?


Design

What course experiences influenced how students experienced human-centered design?


To what extent can we develop a contextually valid and reliable measure of empathy in engineering design?



Teamwork

How does empathy manifest with and for teammates in a junior-level biomedical engineering design course?

To what extent do first-year engineering students’ empathic tendencies relate to and predict empathy with/for teammates in a first-year engineering course?


Publications

Publications

Selected Publications

A systematic literature review of US engineering ethics interventions.

Hess, J, L. & Fore, G. A systematic literature review of US engineering ethics interventions. Science and Engineering Ethics, 2018, 24, 2, 551-583

The development of empathic perspective-taking in an engineering ethics course

Hess, J. L., Strobel, J. & Brightman, A. O. The development of empathic perspective-taking in an engineering ethics course. Journal of Engineering Education, 2017, 106, 4, 534-563

Enhancing engineering students’ ethical reasoning: Situating Reflexive Principlism within the SIRA Framework

Hess, J. L., Beever, J., Zoltowski, C. B., Kisselburgh, L. G., & Brightman, A. O. Enhancing engineering students’ ethical reasoning: Situating Reflexive Principlism within the SIRA Framework. Journal of Engineering Education, 2019, 108, 1, 82-102.



Recent Publications

Course Experiences that Promote and Inhibit Human-Centered Design

Sanders, E., Goldstein, M., & Hess, J. L. (2023). Course experiences that promote and inhibit human-centered design. International Journal of Technology and Design Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-023-09834-w

Understanding influences on engineering students’ civic engagement in high school and the first year of college.

Lin, A. & Hess, J. L. (2022). Understanding influences on engineering students’ civic engagement in high school and the first year of college. IEEE Transactions on Education, 65(3), 287-296, https://doi.org/10.1109/TE.2022.3193580

Validating the Civic-Minded Graduate Scale in engineering education using mixed methods

Lin, A. & Hess, J. L. (2022). Validating the Civic-Minded Graduate Scale in engineering education using mixed methods. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 28(1), https://doi.org/10.3998/mjcsl.308