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FACTS & FIGURES
Simmons Receives ASCE’s Editor’s Choice from a Third Journal
by Reba Liddy
Denise R. Simmons, Ph.D., a civil engineering associate professor in the Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment (ESSIE), recently had a manuscript featured as the Editor’s Choice in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Journal of Civil Engineering Education. Dr. Simmons also received the Editor’s Choice in the ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management in 2018 and the ASEC Journal of Management in Engineering in 2017.
Since 2017, nearly 20% of Dr. Simmons’ papers in these three journals have received the editor’s choice award.
“After 28 years of reviewing the performance of faculty at all ranks, I have seen no more than four individuals whose frequency of distinguished paper awards exceed that of Dr. Simmons’. This is a great accomplishment,” said Kirk Hatfield, Ph.D., the director and professor in ESSIE.
This recent paper, Connecting Engineering Students’ Perceptions of Professional Competencies and Their Leadership Development, collected quantitative and qualitative data from students to explore whether there was a correlation between the rating of professional competencies that enable leadership and the leadership development process. From the study, she found that students who place greater emphasis on leadership and professional competencies are in the more advanced stages in their leadership identity development.
“I am honored to have had my work selected as Editor’s Choice in each of these three peer-reviewed ASCE journals. Contributing to the knowledge of scholars in civil engineering research and education is a prime motivator for me,” Dr. Simmons said.
Dr. Simmons has nearly 15 years of experience in academia. Her groundbreaking research focuses on workforce development in construction engineering and leadership in engineering education. In 2014, she received a National Science Foundation CAREER award for her research in engineering education.
2020-21 Awards
Elliot P. Douglas
American Society for Engineering Education Fellow
Scott Powell
UF Superior Accomplishment Award (Division III)
Lily Elefteriadou
American Road & Transportation Builders Association’s S.S. Steinberg Award
Timothy Townsend
Air & Waste Management Association’s Richard I. Stessel Waste Management Award
Douglas Inducted as an ASEE Fellow
by Diane Choate
Since its inception, the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) has inducted 430 of its members as Fellows of the organization, including six members who have served as faculty of the University of Florida (UF).
In 2021, Elliot P. Douglas, professor and undergraduate coordinator in the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences within ESSIE, and affiliate professor in the Department of Engineering Education, will join this august body of engineering educators. The classification of Fellow is one of prestigious professional distinction and is conferred by the Board of Directors upon an ASEE member with outstanding and extraordinary qualifications, and experience in engineering or engineering technology education or an allied field, and with exemplary ASEE contributions.
“ASEE has been an important community to me,” Dr. Douglas said. “Early in my career it was a place where I received tremendous support and encouragement. Later I felt it was important to give back to that community and pay it forward to others. Being named an ASEE Fellow alongside the engineering educators I have looked up to is a highlight of my career.”
After gaining a B.S. in Materials Science & Engineering and a B.S. in Engineering (Materials) and Humanities (Music) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. in Polymer Science & Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Dr. Douglas worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory before taking a position in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at UF in 1996. After serving as associate chair of MSE (2010-12), he became the Dean’s Fellow for Engineering Education (2012-15). From June 2015 until December 2017, he served as the program director for Engineering Education at the National Science Foundation, before returning to UF to join ESSIE.
Dr. Douglas’s current research interests follow two major threads in engineering education. He uses critical approaches to question issues of power and privilege related to engineering practice. He is investigating cultures of inclusion in the engineering workplace and ethics of community engagement by engineers. This thread includes an investigation of the experiences of Black engineers in the workplace and work to incorporate social justice into engineering ethics education.
His second research field considers cognitive aspects of engineering learning, particularly problem solving and critical thinking. Dr. Douglas’s current work is focused on understanding ambiguity in engineering problem-solving in order to better prepare students for open-ended workplace problems. He also conducts work on qualitative methodologies in engineering education research.
Dr. Douglas has been active in the Educational and Research Methods Division of the ASEE, acting as chair from 2013-2015. He also served as associate editor (2011-2013) and deputy editor (2013-2015) of the Journal of Engineering Education.
Tenure and Promotions
JING (ERIC) DU
RECEIVED TENURE IN CIVIL & COASTAL ENGINEERING
