Lab News

September 2024

Karin presented a seminar at the University of Cincinnati Department of Biomedical Engineering titled “Engineering Wellness: A Longitudinal Study of Undergraduate Student Mental Health in Engineering to Inform Curriculum Development”

Karin presented two posters at the 2024 NSF EEC Conference

Karin with her two NSF EEC Conference posters.
Karin with her two NSF EEC Conference posters. The poster on the left is titled: “The Dynamics of Stress and Intention to Remain in Undergraduate Engineering Programs.” The poster on the right is titled: “The Stressors for Doctoral Students Questionnaire: Year 3 of an RFE Project on Understanding Graduate Engineering Student Well-Being and Retention”

With collaborator Dr. Sarah Wilson from the University of Kentucky, Karin facilitated the special session titled “From surviving to thriving: How faculty prioritization of well-being can drive culture change around mental health in engineering” at the 2024 NSF EEC Grantees Conference in Alexandria, VA

August 2024

New grant: Supporting Engineering Faculty Gender Equity by Understanding the Experiences and Career Trajectories of Women in Non-tenure Track Faculty Roles, a collaboration with Prof. Teresa Cardador at UIUC

New grant: Engineering Wellness: Curricular Strategies and Interventions to Promote a Thriving Mindset for Engineering Students

New paper: A Social Network Analysis of Faculty Mentees Funded by the Research Initiation in Engineering Formation (RIEF) Program published in IEEE Transactions on Education

New grant: Collaborative Research: Supporting Student Well-being with a Community of Transformation, a collaborative project with Prof. Sarah Wilson at University of Kentucky

Engineering Wellness course video from UM COE, featuring Karin and Eileen

New grant: Collaborative Research: Understanding STEM Faculty Mental Health and Well-Being: Impacts on Equity in Higher Education, a collaborative project with Prof. Mark Huerta at Virginia Tech and Prof. Julie Martin at University of Georgia

New grant: Collaborative Research: How Undergraduate Engineering Students’ Conceptualizations of Well-Being in Engineering Programs and Careers Develop and Manifest, a collaborative project with Prof. Justin Major and team at Rowan University

July 2024

New paper: Engineering professor perceptions of undergraduate engineering student stress published in the European Journal of Engineering Education

Megan Piper joins the Thrive Lab team!

Faith presented her research on undergraduate engineering student overwhelm at the Summer Undergraduate Research in Engineering (SURE) Showcase.

Faith with her poster at the SURE Showcase
Faith with her poster at the SURE Showcase. Poster title: A mixed-methods study to support undergraduate engineering student well-being
Mentors Joe and Eileen with Faith at SURE Showcase
Mentors Joe and Eileen with Faith at SURE Showcase

Karin presented a talk titled “Thriving in BME: Fostering Belonging and Well-being for Undergraduate Students” as part of the mini symposia Harmonizing BME: Integrating Discipline-Based Biomedical Engineering Research and Biomedical Engineering Education at the IEEE EMBC meeting in Orlando, FL.

Karin presented a workshop with collaborator Dr. May Mansy (University of Florida) titled “Getting Started with Biomedical Engineering Education Research Methods” at the IEEE EMBS Meeting in Orlando, FL.

Karin and May in front of their presentation at IEEE EMBC
Karin and May in front of their presentation at IEEE EMBC

Jun 2024

Our team presented at the ASEE conference in Portland! Congratulations to Deepthi, Dorian, Isabel, Joe, and Eileen for great presentations and a workshop! In total, our team presented: 5 posters, 1 presentation, 1 workshop, 1 special session, 1 panel.

Group at the Rose Garden in Portland during ASEE. Members Deepthi, Evan, Dorian, Eileen, Joe, and Isabel.
Group at the Rose Garden in Portland during ASEE. Members Deepthi, Evan, Dorian, Eileen, Joe, and Isabel.
 Larkin, Mark, and Karin with the team’s ASEE poste
At ASEE: RFE psychological safety team members Larkin, Mark, and Karin with the team’s ASEE poster. Not pictured, but also part of this team are Dorian and Jeanne.

Karin presents a plenary talk at the Rising BME Scholars Regional Conference at the University of Illinois Chicago, titled “Thriving in Academia: Centering Well-being for Productivity, Creativity, and Joy”

Karin presenting at UIC in front of a title slide that reads "Thriving in Academia: Centering Well-being for Productivity, Creativity, and Joy"
Karin presenting at UIC

May 2024

Karin presents research at the Biomedical Engineering Society Education Summit. Title: Supporting Student Mental Health and Well-being in Engineering

Karin presenting at the BME Summit
Karin presenting at the BME Summit

Isabel presents her research at the First Year Program’s Retreat for the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan.

Isabel presents her research at the University of Michigan Engineering Education Innovation Days, Beyond Barriers: integrating Disability Support with Digital Accessibility Excellence.

Joe presents research at University of Michigan Biomedical Engineering Symposium. Poster title: The Dynamics of Stress and Intention to Remain in Undergraduate Engineering Programs

Joe Mirabelli standing next to poster with title "The Dynamics of Stress and Intention to Remain in Undergraduate Engineering Programs
Joe with his poster at the UM BME Symposium

Karin presents research seminar at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Delaware. Title: Changing the Narrative from Surviving to Thriving: A Longitudinal Study of Undergraduate Student Mental Health in Engineering

April 2024

Karin presents research seminar at the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Kentucky. Title: Changing the Narrative from Surviving to Thriving: A Longitudinal Study of Undergraduate Student Mental Health in Engineering.

Welcoming Faith Gacheru to the team as an undergrad researcher!

Jensen+Jensen Lab Party and visiting weekend!


Group photo at lab party!
Group photo at lab party!
Group photo including: Nick, Eileen, Isabel, Joe, Jeanne, SJ, Lauren, Dorian, and Noah
Group photo the weekend of the lab party

BME GAAP group (includes Karin) won the Claudia Joan Alexander Trailblazer Award

March 2024

Isabel presented her poster at the Disability Visibility Symposium at the University of Michigan. Poster title: Engineering students with Disabilities and the Accommodations Process

Isabel with her poster at the UM Disability Visibility Symposium
Isabel with her poster at the UM Disability Visibility Symposium

Team attends Depression on College Campuses conference in Ann Arbor, MI

February 2024

Karin presented a seminar at the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as part of the Interdisciplinary Safety Seminar Series

New paper: Determinants of Intra-major Specialization and Career Decisions Among Undergraduate Biomedical Engineering Students published in Biomedical Engineering Education

New paper: An Analysis of Factors Influencing Intra-major Specialization Choice Among Second-year Women Engineering Students published in Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering

New paper: ‘‘Not a Therapist’’: Why Engineering Faculty and Staff Do/n’t Engage in Supporting Student Mental Health and Wellbeing

New NSF funding: EAGER: Artificial Intelligence to Understand Engineering Cultural Norms

Isabel presents at Pac Rim 2024 conference. Paper: Students with invisible disabilities and their use of accommodations in Engineering

January 2024

Karin presented a seminar in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering and Chemical Engineering at the University of California Davis

Karin presented a seminar in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.

Karin with the CMU Scottie
Karin with the CMU Scottie

New Paper: Interest In, and Characterization of, Managerial and Technical Career Paths Among Second-Year Women Engineering Students

October 2023

Karin presented our lab’s work at the Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting in Seattle, WA

Fall lab party!

People include: Isabel, Dorian, Joe, Besty, and Em
Group photo at lab party

September 2023

Karin presented a workshop on supporting student mental health with collaborators Sarah Wilson and Jo Tait at the SEFI conference in Dublin, Ireland

New NSF Funding: Artificial Intelligence Curriculum and K-12 Teacher Agency: Barriers and Opportunities

June 2023

EER graduate student Dorian Bobbett joins the lab. Welcome, Dorian!

New paper: Beyond skills: building research capacity through cognitive apprenticeship and social capital

Team members attended the 2023 ASEE conference in Baltimore, MD. Great workshops and presentations Dorian, Isabel, Deepthi, and Joe!

Deepthi, Karin, Dorian, Isabel, and Joe at the Baltimore Convention Center
Group photo at ASEE 2023

May 2023

Lab party!

New paper: Mid-career transitions into engineering education research via structured mentorship opportunities: Barriers and perceptions

Karin presented our group’s work at the BME Symposium

Blog post: Engineering Students’ Perceptions of Stress and Mental Health in BMC On Society

April 2023

New paper: Undergraduate student perceptions of stress and mental health in engineering culture published in International Journal of STEM Education

March 2023

Karin attended the ASME Mechanical Engineering Education Summit in San Juan, Puerto Rico and presented our group’s work on supporting student mental health

Isabel presented her poster at the Disability Visibility conference

Lab bowling against the SHUTTLE lab!

Jensen Group team
Jensen Group team
Jensen group with the SHUTTLE group
Jensen group with the SHUTTLE group

Isabel and Karin attended the Depression on College Campuses Conference in Ann Arbor, MI. Isabel presented about integrating wellness education into first-year engineering design!

Isabel presenting her poster at DoCC
Isabel presenting her poster at DoCC
Isabel, Karin, and Sarah Wilson at the DoCC conference
Isabel, Karin, and Sarah Wilson at the DoCC conference

Our collaborator Dr. Sarah Wilson and graduate student Matt from the University of Kentucky visited the lab and we celebrated with a pizza party!

Group includes: Joe, Matthew, Karin, Sarah, Eileen, Deepthi, Isabel, and Karin's two dogs Gauss and Gibbs
Lab group photo with Sarah Wilson

January 2023

New article: LabMate: Development and Implementation of a Novel Livestreaming Platform for Hybrid or Remote Laboratory Course Delivery

November 2022

Lab Dinner

Includes: Eileen, Isabel, Deepthi, Joe, Karin
Group photo at lab dinner

October 2022

Karin presented our group’s work at the Purdue University seminar

Sara presented at the BMES annual meeting in San Antonio, TX

Lab Party!

Includes: Joe, Isabel, Jeanne, Karin, Julie, Eileen, Deepthi, and Evan
Lab group photo

The Jensen Lab hosted a lab opening party with the Paul Jensen lab in our new lab space in LBME!

September 2022

Karin presented our group’s work at the Michigan EER seminar

Jennifer Cromley, Joe, and Karin presented in Covid Research webinar lightning talk

Karin presented our group’s work at the EEC Grantees’ Conference

August 2022

New NSF Funding: An exploration of how mentoring influences doctoral student psychological safety and the impact on work-related outcomes, a collaboration with Mark Huerta at Virginia Tech

The Jensen Lab has moved to the University of Michigan!

July 2022

Karin presented workshops on supporting student mental health at the AIChE Summer School in Golden, CO with collaborator Dr. Sarah Wilson

June 2022

Congratulations to Eileen for receiving the Biomedical Engineering Division Student Award at ASEE!

Our team attended the ASEE conference. Congratulations on great presentations and workshops by Joe, Eileen, Isabel, Deepthi, Sara, and Evan!

Abhishek and Eileen featured in IGB article about their recent paper

May 2022

Congratulations graduates Evan Ko (BS in BIOE) and Isabel Miller (MS in BIOE)!

Congratulations to Isabel Miller for being recognized with the BIOE Teaching Excellence Fellowship!

April 2022

Congratulations to Eileen Johnson on her Rackham Fellowship award!

Congratulations to Isabel Miller for her NSF GRFP award!

March 2022

New paper: Development and Implementation of a Remote Enzyme Kinetics Laboratory Exercise

Karin presents seminar at UNH Department of Mechanical Engineering

January 2022

New paper: Development and Implementation of a Biometrics Device Design Project in an Introductory BME Course to Support Student Wellness

November 2021

Eileen presents her work developing ways to engage remote students in lab courses at the AE3 Lightning Symposium

October 2021

Karin presents at the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI)

September 2021

Karin presents “Adapting a Cell and Tissue Engineering Lab Course to an Online Format” to the Grainger College of Engineering Lab and Design Instructor Community of Practice

Undergraduate researcher Varshini Murugesh joins the lab. Welcome, Varshini!

August 2021

Karin presents at the Campus Instructional Facility Symposium about using active learning classrooms in BIOE360

Danowitz, Jensen, Miller, and Wilson present “Promoting Mental Health and Wellness in Undergraduate Students” in the zyBooks fall webinar series

July 2021

Golecki and Jensen awarded NSF RIEF grant

New paper: Laboratory Exercise to Measure Plasmid Copy Number by qPCR

Our team presented at the ASEE virtual conference this week. Congrats to Joe, Andrea, Evan, Sara, Eileen, Abhishek, Mona, Thomas, and Isabel on great papers and presentations!

EER PERT team paper recognized as Best Paper in the New Engineering Educators Division at ASEE

Isabel awarded the Biomedical Engineering Division Student travel award at ASEE. Congrats, Isabel!

Eileen awarded the Bioengineering Teaching Excellence Fellowship. Congrats, Eileen!

June 2021

Karin recognized as a University Distinguished Teacher-Scholar

New guest editorial: The Time is Now to Build a Culture of Wellness in Engineering published in Studies in Engineering Education

Research associate Eileen Johnson joins the lab. Welcome, Eileen!

Mona and Abhishek’s JMBE paper featured in IGB news

New paper in JMBE special issue: Remote Laboratory Exercise to Develop Micropipetting Skills

May 2021

Golecki and Jensen receive PITA grant

Celebrating Evan and Tom’s Knights of St. Patrick awards

New paper: Engineering stress culture: Relationships among mental health, engineering identity, and sense of inclusion

April 2021

Karin recognized as a Honorary Knight for the Grainger College of Engineering

New paper: A Scoping Literature Review of Engineering Thriving to Redefine Student Success

Karin presents at the Society for Biomaterials virtual meeting panel

New project on inclusive language funded by the IDEA institute and led by Prof. Tiffani Williams

Karin named Laura Hahn Faculty Fellow

March 2021

New NSF Funding: Understanding STEM Doctoral Student Anxiety

Danowitz, Jensen, Wilson, Miller, and Wright present a workshop on promoting mental health and wellness as part of ASEE CDEI Focus Fridays

January 2021

Undergraduate researcher Aidan Rogers joins the Jensen Lab. Welcome, Aidan!

December 2020

Jensen, Direito, Polmear, Hattingh, and Klassen publish a guest editorial in Journal of Engineering Education

Isabel’s paper on mindfulness in an online engineering course is published in the Advances in Engineering Education special issue

November 2020

Danowitz, Jensen, Wilson, Miller, and Wright present a workshop on promoting mental health and wellness at AIChE conference

October 2020

Ben and Faisal’s work on virtual lab practicals for BIOE202 is featured by the U of I News Bureau

Jensen group members present three posters at the virtual BMES meeting

Jensen, Cross, Martin, Mirabelli, and Barlow present the workshop “Pathways into Engineering Education Research” at the Frontiers in Education meeting

September 2020

Undergraduate researcher Hannah Chiou joins the Jensen Lab. Welcome, Hannah!

August 2020

Jensen awarded Amy L. Devine award

Ben and Faisal’s paper on virtual cell culture practicals published in Biomedical Engineering Education

Jensen and Martin receive new NSF grant to support the RIEF program

Undergraduate researcher Mona Jawad joins the Jensen Lab. Welcome, Mona!

Undergraduate researcher Thomas Romanchek joins the Jensen Lab. Welcome, Thomas!

Undergraduate researcher Sara Vohra joins the Jensen Lab. Welcome, Sara!

Undergraduate researcher Abhishek Bhattacharjee joins the Jensen Lab. Welcome, Abhishek!

Benson, Lichtenstein, Jensen, and Bates awarded NSF EAGER grant

July 2020

Jensen, Goldstein, Golecki, and Helmke presented “Promoting Student Wellness in the Online Classroom” as part of the ASEE CDEI summer workshop series

June 2020

Our group presented at the virtual ASEE conference. Congratulations on great papers and sessions, Joe, Andrea, and Evan!

May 2020

ASEE-SEFI Joint Statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Jensen and Golecki awarded Faculty Retreat Grant to expand biometric student design project in intro bioengineering course

Undergraduate researcher Isabel Miller joins the Jensen Lab. Welcome, Isabel!

Jensen awarded ASEE Biomedical Engineering Teaching award

April 2020

Ben and Faisal’s work to create virtual labs featured in BIOE news

January 2020

Joe Mirabelli earns NAGAP research grant. Congrats, Joe!

December 2019

Jensen receives CAREER Award to address undergrad mental health

October 2019

New paper: Laboratory Exercise to Measure Restriction Enzyme Kinetics

Kelly and Karin at the inaugural RIEF Community event
Tanya, Jenny, and Karin at the EEC meeting in DC
Yanfen, Karin, and Jenny at BMES 2019 in Philadelphia

July 2019

New NSF grant to study how UG female engineering students specialize in their majors, a collaboration with Prof. Teresa Cardador

WYSE Discover Bioengineering Camp at UIUC

Fluorescent bacteria art by WYSE Discover Bioengineering campers

Karin visits UMass Lowell for her seminar “Engineering Education at Scale: Labs, active learning, and culture”

June 2019

Karin and Yanfen at ASEE 2019 in Tampa
Early morning outside the ASEE conference center getting ready for a run with ASEE Active!
Thriving in Engineering Workshop at ASEE 2019

March 2019

New NSF grant to study mentorship of engineering faculty in engineering education research

October 2018

Karin and Caroline at BMES 2018 in Atlanta

New England Biolabs’ donation enhances undergrad learning

September 2018

The new Everitt Lab

University of Illinois Urbana Champaign