Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

The unexamined life is not worth living – Socrates

If that’s how I learn, have I pushed myself to be examined, challenged, and uncomfortable?

Why Do I Care?

I have spent my lifetime to build my diversity competence through my multidisciplinary academic training including mechanical engineering, industrial and product design, industrial and systems engineering, applied statistics, and human factors and ergonomics. Living in Asia, Europe and North America, I have experienced in working with people from many differences include race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, language, ability/disability, socioeconomic status, and geographic region, etc. My life would be unfulfilled without having the opportunity to embrace and learn by my idiosyncrasies being challenged as Socrates says – the unexamined life is not worth living.

How Does It Help my Learning and Teaching?

I believe in “challenge-based coaching” to teach my students effectively. Research shows that there are significantly more learning opportunities when we are challenged instead of agreed on a problem. How do we react when we are challenged – our favorite team has lost a game as an example? We start to ask all kinds of questions – why did they do that; they could have done this/that; etc.? To create such a teaching and learning environment, diversity is one of the most important keys that bring different opinions and ideas to explore many aspects of a problem for a compressive solution. I assign group projects consisting of a mixture of students from various demographic backgrounds, which creates an excellent higher-order learning opportunity to meet my teaching and learning goal. Students understand the importance of embracing themselves with as diverse demographics as possible to explore their lives to the fullest.

How Does It Help in Research and Scholarly Work?

I have realized the importance of diversity since the beginning of my research career as a human factors and ergonomics engineer – the primary focus of my research. The goal of human factors and ergonomics research is to evaluate, redesign and design products, work-tasks, workstation, and jobs to meet the abilities and inabilities of people from all demographics. In addition to ensuring the products, processes, systems, environments, and anything we design, equitable usage by all populations; most of my projects were performed by a multidisciplinary team. One of the requirements of human factors and ergonomics research is to include study subjects from all demographic backgrounds – an excellent opportunity to practice my belief.

How Do I Learn to Embrace Diversity?

My passion for learning diversity goes back to my graduate school. I have completed the “Preparing Future Faculty (PFF)” program during my graduate study, which include a significant amount of training on teaching and learning a wide range of students, including race, gender, ethnicity, etc. Some other notable training during my time at MSU includes, antibullying, implicit bias, civility and respect in the workplace, equitable assessment, and naming the moment, naming our intervention: five lenses for education, democracy, and justice.

How Do I Create the Right Opportunity for Me?

Currently, I am serving in the CSET diversity workgroup. Currently, I am also serving as the faculty advisor to the Bangladeshi student organization and two student organizations in our Manufacturing Engineering Technology Programs. Previously, as the president of Bangladeshi Student Organizations in both graduate schools, I have worked with many international/national organizations, including a wide range of diverse populations. All my research projects during my graduate schools have included a wide range of diverged populations.

How Do I Create the Right Opportunity for Everyone, Including my Students?

How do I create the optimal challenge for each of my students? How do I create that environment where everyone thrives regardless of their demographics? How do I ensure the diversity, equity and inclusion, particularly addressing different learning styles; including, but not limited to, designing courses and curricula for educationally disadvantaged students; developing effective learning and teaching strategies for underrepresented groups?

While I ask these questions to myself, someday, I will find the way to create our ideal diverse universe that examines our lives to the fullest! Until that day, be ready to be examined, challenged, uncomfortable, and happy to live a worthy life!

Best Regards,

Shaheen Ahmed

January 7, 2022