Elizabethtown College Assistant Professor of Engineering and Physics Mark Brinton was recently named a 2024 Engineering Unleashed Fellow by the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN).
“I’m always looking for ways to improve my teaching and motivate students to achieve their best,” Brinton said. “I’m really grateful for this opportunity and the connections to the other fellows that it will provide.”
The Engineering Unleashed Fellow designation recognizes leadership in undergraduate engineering education. This year, 31 individuals from 27 higher education institutions were awarded the fellowship, and each of the fellows will travel to an in-person meeting in October to share their ideas.
As part of the fellowship, Brinton will receive a monetary grant and the ability to advance a specific project.
Brinton was awarded the honor for his project “Building Individual Connections and Value with the Engineering Profession,” which he began in the summer of 2023 at a KEEN workshop at Boston College. His work is focused on helping first-year engineering students relate their Gallup Clifton Strengths to the different engineering career roles they might enjoy.
The grant will allow Brinton to organize and develop assessments and rubrics in Etown’s engineering design course to encourage students to learn from and persist through failure. Brinton’s goal is to structure the course so that instructors can act as “coaches” to provide timely and frequent feedback.
“This specific award will change how all Etown Engineering students experience our design and capstone courses,” Brinton said. “I hope this can lead to future projects and resources that can further enhance the education we provide to our students.”
The grant will also provide funds for Brinton and Elizabethtown College Assistant Professor of Engineering Shannon Clancy to attend the KEEN National Conference in January 2025 and develop a module on divergent thinking in Etown’s engineering design course, which Clancy specializes in. It will also allow Brinton and Clancy to write and submit a paper to present at the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) annual meeting in the summer of 2026.
About the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN)
The Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) is a partnership of more than 55 colleges and universities in America focused on reaching undergraduate engineering students with an entrepreneurial mindset. KEEN offers conferences to exchange best practices, collaborative granted work, faculty mentorship, on-campus programs, and ambassadors to professional societies. Elizabethtown College joined KEEN in January 2023.
