Engineering Ambassadors Network
The Engineering Ambassadors Network is a diverse group of engineering students united under one common goal: to communicate what engineers do to middle and high school students (see film on the right). Composed of undergraduate engineers from more than 25 colleges around the world, the Engineering Ambassadors Network trains these engineering students to give effective outreach presentations in high schools and middle schools (see photo of training workshop on the right). At the heart of this communication training is the assertion-evidence approach. The Engineering Ambassadors Network has been influential in bringing the assertion-evidence approach not only to the 25 colleges of the Network, but to companies, laboratories, and universities that Engineering Ambassador alumni have begun their careers.
Simula Research Laboratory
Simula Research Laboratory has been instrumental in spreading the assertion-evidence approach to graduate students throughout Norway. Simula has done so through sponsoring an annual graduate course with the University of Oslo on communicating research. Twice, Simula has found funding to make this course a national graduate course for Norway (see photo on the right from 2016 course), with graduate students attending not only from the University of Oslo, but also from Bergen, Stavanger, Tromso, and Trondheim. At Simula itself, the assertion-evidence approach is the most common approach used for scientific presentations, hanving been championed there by Are Magnus Bruaset and the late Hans Petter Langtangen.
Cornell University promotes the assertion-evidence model, along with the use of archival notes, through its Engineering Communications Program. In undergraduate courses such as Engineering Communication, Communication for Engineering Managers, Communication for Mechanical Engineering Design, and Computer-Aided Engineering: Applications to Biomedical Process, this presentation method is a cornerstone. Also, groups that are combining engineering and social justice work, such as Engineers Without Borders and AguaClara (see photo on right), use these methods to better teach each other, their organizations, and their clients about their designs and on-site projects. Undergraduates who return from internships and co-ops report high success rates using this method at their companies, and graduate students and post-docs tell us that their conference talks are stronger, better received, and more energized.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
The assertion-evidence method is taught extensively in the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering’s communication courses at the graduate and undergraduate level. The method is taught in more than seven online graduate Masters and capstone certificate programs offered through the Department of Engineering Professional Development. Professional students from these programs have used the method to achieve significant notice in their organizations. These organizations include GE Healthcare, John Deere, Harley Davidson, Ocean Spray, 3M, and Mercury Marine.
Utree, which stands for Undergraduate Research and Teaching Experiences in Engineering, is a group of undergraduate engineering scholars who have strong presentation skills. Supported by the Leonhard Center at Penn State, he mission of this organization is to raise the level of engineering and scientific presentations through classes, workshops, and speaking contests (see photo on right). At the core of this group's teaching is the assertion-evidence approach. Through its undergraduate teaching, the organization teaches the assertion-evidence approach to hundreds of undergraduate engineers each semester at Penn State. Through its graduate student workshops, the organization has helped spread the assertion-evidence approach to Penn State Hershey, Northeastern, the University of Pittsburgh, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Pennsylvania State University
Penn State teaches the assertion-evidence approach in a number of different courses. For instance, each semester, about 300 engineering undergraduates learn the approach in special sections of a speech course--these special section target engineering undergraduates. This course is supported by the Leonhard Center with funds for undergraduate teaching assistants and a speaking contest (see photo on the right). In addition, every mechanical engineering student learns the approach in a required junior-level design course and then applies the approach again in senior design. Moreover, several smaller courses in engineering and science also require the course.