Transformational Storytelling
Co-edited by Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) faculty Margaret Bailey, Ph.D., P.E., Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Laura Shackelford, Ph.D., Professor of English, Women in Mechanical Engineering: Energy and the Environment combines cutting-edge research and first-person narratives. This edited collection gathers new visions, transformational work, and address pressing challenges in the areas of energy and the environment in Mechanical Engineering. The book highlights the contributions of diverse women engineers who are at the forefront of these changes and addressing them daily, while also navigating research and professional domains that are historically gendered. Individual chapters explore renewable energy, batteries and energy storage, indirect energy conversion, power generation and distribution, sustainability, engineering and public policy, acoustics, climate change, combustion and emissions, externality analysis, and thermodynamic education.
Exploring scholarly research, professional trajectories, disciplinary shifts, proven methods, personal insights and attitudes, or a combination of these, the book's chapters tell an important story about the field of Mechanical Engineering in the areas of energy and the environment, as seen from the perspective of remarkable contemporary women engineers (with degrees in ME and other engineering disciplines – civil, chemical, nuclear, electrical, environmental, material science, systems, etc.) and from within academe, industry, government, etc. The collection of essays illustrates how greater attention to the “non-technical elements of mechanical engineering,” as Margaret Bailey describes them, can inform the profession and the practices of mechanical engineering for the better, opening onto new methods, better research, and more diverse approaches and aims.
As the leader of several university-level equity and inclusion efforts at RIT, Bailey identifies crucial next steps “In Pursuit of an Inclusive Learning Environment in Engineering.” These include reimagining “engineering learning environments”, illustrating what happens when “we focus our energies on creating solutions more systemically, growing diversity of thought on our teams, paying attention to the non-technical aspects of engineering, and deliberately teaching students and young engineers supportive habits of mind and skills from the start.” The volume also contextualizes the present field of women and their technical scholarship in relation to three inspiring and influential predecessors in “Energetic Trailblazers: Kate Gleason, Edith Clarke, and Mária Telkes,” an introductory historical chapter by the Women in Engineering series editor, Jill Tietjen, P.E. (Society of Women Engineers Fellow and Past-President) and Margaret Bailey. (read more about this book and the entire series at https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-91546-9
