Below is my own research but also links to other resources related to neurodivergence in higher education, the workplace, and beyond.
I create unique custom research designs that uncover differences and provide depth of understanding in ways that traditional quantitative and qualitative approaches cannot. I have experience with traditional qualitative & quantitative methods as well, but I use all the tools in the research tool box, not just one.
I LOVE theory! I use a variety of theories (critical, new materialist & post-human, organizational, historical, student development, etc.) to generate unique conceptual methodologies for research that are creative, culturally responsive, neurodivergent, and inclusive to shift our perspectives, disrupt assumptions, and build empathy to make long lasting change.
Arts-based research (ABR) methods, also called Creative Inquiry, use creativity as a way of coming to know (epistemology). I use drawing, oil painting, photography, and poetic writing in my own arts-based research. Most of the images on my website are my own photographs & original artwork.
I conducted participatory research at the Colorado School of Mines with 3 underrepresented undergraduate engineering students. We used unstructured conversation interviews, diaries, and creative methods like drawing, photography, and poetry to generate data/content. Findings are robust to answer my research question of "How do underrepresented engineering students experience the process of professional socialization into the culture of STEM during their education?" I look forward to sharing & presenting my findings at AERA and ASEE in 2023!
I combine culturally responsive research methods and Thomas Nail's kinetic Philosophy of Movement with arts-based research methods to create my conceptual methodology I call Creative Materialism. Creative Materialism is an embodied, aesthetic, historical, participatory, power-sharing, and process orientated framework that is potent for uncovering what is unseen, hidden, or ignored. This subjective framework provides depth of understanding in ways that broad surveys & questionnaires cannot. Validity & reliability are not applicable in this framework as those are quantitative concepts; instead transparency, usefulness, resonance, & response are used for evaluating the trustworthiness of the findings.
I have done extensive historical and cultural research on the social, economic, and political history of STEM, and particularly engineering, to understand the lack of diversity in STEM today. The historical record reveals the purposeful exclusion of members of specific communities from engineering like women, people of color & Indigenous people. Making STEM more inclusive & equitable for everyone requires understanding how the past affects the present. Much of my research has been visual and creative with examples below.
Professional ethics in US engineering is often thought to be merely following formal professional codes and keeping the pubic safe. But STEM education must define it more broadly to develop professional ready-to-work engineers who are trained in the "non valued-added" areas of diversity & inclusion, CSR, sustainability, and occupational safety before they arrive. Being ethical means requires the skills of self-reflexivity, critical and expansive thinking, curiosity & caring for others, being willing to speak up and push back against inequities & bigotry as an ally, and purposefully including those not traditionally at the table.
Since the end of the Cold War and the ascent of the digital age in the US, education in the fine and performing arts has been devalued and denigrated as luxury, decoration, commodities, and self-indulgence without practical value. Education initiatives like STEAM (STEM with an A for the arts) are attempts to use visual and other creative methods to teach STEM subjects, however STEAM is not well defined or theorized. Art Education Integration argues that art disciplines offer unique ways of thinking, risk taking, learning to accept and incorporate feedback, and iterative problem-solving that requires critiques and expertise, not just adding other modalities to STEM learning.
I was awarded a small science communication grant with a teammate that uses storytelling from mining communities & stakeholders to educate the public and policy makers about what minerals are necessary for a Just Green Energy Transition.
"Flood & Fire in the West" Ethics Across the Curriculum conference 2021 Oil on Canvas
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