Graduate Student Profiles

The University of Cincinnati’s graduate degrees immerse you into a technical engineering discipline while advancing education through research. A degree in engineering education can lead to a career in academia, industry, or government. Meet the graduate students in the Department of Engineering and Computing Education. 

Alex Van Fossen - 1

Alex Van Fossen, PhD student.

Alex Van Fossen is a higher education professional with 7+ years of experience. After graduating with a Chemical Engineering degree from Michigan State University, she decided to pursue her passion for education serving a variety of admissions roles and pursuing a Master's in Educational Studies. Pursuing a PhD in Engineering Education has allowed Alex to combine her interests in education with her love for engineering students. Her research interests include faculty and staff attitudes towards curriculum changes, specifically modularization of coursework and microcredentialing. She is advised by Dr. Sheryl Sorby and Dr. TJ Murphy. 

Email: vanfosam@ucmail.uc.edu

 
Kathleen Bentley - 1

Kathleen Bentley, PhD student

Kathleen Bentley earned a Chemical Engineering degree from North Carolina State University. She is an accomplished program director and manufacturing engineer with 20+ years of strong performance across business operations and organizational growth. Her corporate experience as a manufacturing engineer and innovation program director is what inspired her interest in researching engineering learning mechanisms in an engineering industry and workforce development context. She is advised by Dr. Sheryl Sorby. 

Email: bentlekn@mail.uc.edu

 
Samieh Askarian Khan - 1

Samieh Askarian Khanamani, PhD student

Samieh Askarian Khanamani holds a bachelor's degree in project management engineering, a master's degree in civil engineering, and has more than 10 years of experience serving as vice principal of a STEM based elementary school. Her interest lies in engineering education, specifically in the area of pre-K-12 and innovative approaches like integrating origami into engineering design to enhance creativity and problem-solving skills among students, especially those from underrepresented groups.

Email: askarish@mail.uc.edu

 
Ibrahim Awartani - 1

Ibrahim Awartani, PhD student

Ibrahim Awartani is an international PhD graduate student from Palestine, born and raised in Qatar, educated in Jordan, and is now here at UC as an Engineering Education major focusing more on higher education. His education background is in mechanical engineering and engineering management, and currently teaches in China over the summer covering those same majors.

He is a mixed methodologist with a research focus on international curricula and grading methodology, accessibility, course climates and department culture, course intervention researches, and systematic reviews. The last of which is to provide objective systematic analysis of the current research landscape. He is advised by Dr. Yoon. 

Email: awartain@mail.uc.edu