Elizabethtown College Associate Professor of Engineering and Physics Tomás Estrada and Assistant Professor of Psychology Elizabeth Dalton recently published interdisciplinary research in the Advances in Engineering Education (AEE) journal regarding the importance of mental health practices for engineering students.

Assistant Professor of Psychology Elizabeth Dalton

“As a psychologist and researcher, I have always been interested in how stress affects people mentally and physically,” Dalton said. “Mindfulness allows us to change the way we relate to stress, by facilitating our ability to be present-focused and nonjudgmental.”

Estrada and Dalton’s research, “Implementation and Feasibility of a Group Mindfulness Intervention for Undergraduate Engineering Students” focused on the practice of mindfulness, specifically for undergraduate engineering students. The study centered around group-based mindfulness interventions, where 48 students implemented meditation and calming techniques over four weekly sessions, led by Estrada and Dalton.

“With many of our students being involved in sports and other extracurriculars, our students face many challenges in staying focused on one thing at a time, with attention and purpose, as well as managing their stress,” Estrada said. “Mindfulness practice helps students develop these capacities.”

While the practice of mindfulness has been proven to have positive impacts on college students, research is limited regarding the mental well-being of engineering students.

The study showed that many participating students found the group mindfulness sessions to be helpful. Overall, the research suggested that this method of mental wellness can prove beneficial for the mental health of undergraduate engineering students.

Associate Professor of Engineering and Physics Tomás Estrada

“Our students are full human beings, and we as faculty/researchers are too,” Estrada said. “As a teacher-scholar, it’s essential for me to address that, not by focusing just on technical systems, but on working on this type of holistic research that ultimately impacts students, as full human beings, in a positive way.”

For both Estrada and Dalton, acknowledging the importance of the interdisciplinary study was integral to their research, employing their combined expertise of engineering education and psychology.

“Interdisciplinary research is vital because it creates opportunities for thinking about problems through different lenses,” Dalton said.