AE Seminar

Developing Judgment for Addressing 
“Wicked Problems” in Engineering

ft. 

Aaron Johnson

Assistant Professor | Aerospace Engineering Department | University of Michigan

Thursday, September 11
11 a.m. - 12 p.m. 
Guggenheim 442

About the Seminar: 
Aerospace engineers constantly face “wicked problems,” which are ill-defined and complex sociotechnical problems with undefined and often-shifting constraints and requirements. However, the well-defined, closed-ended, and decontextualized problems prevalent in undergraduate aerospace education do not allow students to develop the complete set of practices needed to address these problems. To be prepared for wicked problems, aerospace students need to be given opportunities to develop their judgment, where they apply their knowledge and personal values to make decisions. This seminar will cover my qualitative design-based education research that integrates fundamental research of student thinking and evidence-based development of educational interventions to address judgment when developing and using mathematical models (called engineering modeling judgment) and when choosing a career that aligns with their own ethics and values. The talk will conclude with implications for aerospace education and future research directions toward a conceptual framework of humanity-centered aerospace engineering.

About the Speaker: 
Aaron W. Johnson is an Assistant Professor in the Aerospace Engineering Department and a Core Faculty member of the Engineering Education Research Program at the University of Michigan. His lab’s NSF-funded design-based research focuses on how to re-contextualize engineering science engineering courses to better reflect and prepare students for the reality of ill-defined, sociotechnical engineering practice. Their current projects include studying and designing classroom interventions around macroethical issues in aerospace engineering and the productive beginnings of engineering judgment as students create and use mathematical models. Aaron holds a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Michigan and a Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to re-joining Michigan, he was an instructor in Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. Outside of work, Aaron enjoys reading, collecting LEGO NASA sets, biking, camping, and playing disc golf.