UC professor elected president of American Society of Engineering Education

The bridge analogy serves as a reminder to the field of engineering to think beyond the mechanics, measurements and math. Sorby, who earned her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, picks on her own field.

“Civil engineers typically look at a bridge and consider loads, wind, materials and costs. A bridge is so much more than that. One thousand years ago, a new bridge meant that people on different sides of a river got to know each other and exchange ideas.

“It could also mean armies can use it for war. All of this just shows that a project is so much more than those calculations. We should consider all of those societal things. To do so, we need more and different people in the engineering field,” she added.

There are many technological and engineering examples today, from social media to energy generation, that have unintended consequences, making her point quite relatable.

Including more and different people in engineering is another passion of Sorby’s. ASEE started up diversity initiatives that are now in process and working. She wants to make sure those projects keep rolling, while adding more entry points for the so-called pipeline.

“The world's problems are complex. The only way we are going to solve them is to have diverse talent and experiences at the table,” she said.

Her current research includes investigations into spatial visualization skills which we all use to imagine what a complex shape would look like once rotated or to read a map. There are statistical gender differences in this ability that can be traced back to the toys children play with.

Put simply, if girls are given and play with Legos, it can help them in design classes later on – another example of an entry point to engineering.

Sorby will serve for one year as the president-elect, starting in July, then one year as the president, followed by a year as the past-president. This gives her three years of influence and one year at the helm.

Sorby earned her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, her master’s in engineering mechanics and her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and engineering, all from Michigan Technological University.

She is as a professor of engineering education at UC, where she helps first-year engineering students prepare for their careers – adding more and more entry points to the pipeline.