Eight SEAS faculty receive JEDI awards

By Marcene Robinson

“These micro-grants celebrate SEAS' commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, highlighting JEDI's relevance in both our teaching and research endeavors. It's an honor to be able to support faculty whose work is changing lives, changing disciplines, and changing the world.” says Kristen R. Moore, SEAS associate dean for equity and inclusion, and associate professor in the Department of Engineering Education. 

The grants—which are available to faculty, staff, postdoctoral researchers and graduate students—support investigators in integrating equity and inclusion concepts, principles or frameworks into existing research, as well as enacting recruitment plans to diversify their research labs.

The program also provides financial support up to $10,000, mentorship, and access to workshops and materials to help address project initiatives.

The 2023-24 recipients include:

Austin Angulo, assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering; "Re-Connecting Communities: Designing Roads for Vulnerable Road User Safety.”

Eunsil Lee, assistant professor in the Department of Engineering Education; “Understanding Contributing Factors to Sense of Belonging for Engineering Graduate Students at University at Buffalo.”

The grants provide faculty with $5,000 in funding, mentorship, and access to workshops and materials to develop and assess courses and lectures that integrate inclusive pedagogies and social impact into lessons.

The program builds on the school’s concerted effort to ensure engineering and computer science students are prepared to enter a diverse workforce and build inclusive and equitable responses to engineering and computing problems.

The JEDI and EJAC awards aim to support researchers whose scholarship, teaching and service connect with the school’s values and commitment to justice, equity, diversity and inclusion.

The 2023-24 recipients include:

Amy Baird, assistant professor of practice, and Lauren Kuryloski, assistant professor of teaching, both in the Department of Engineering Education; “Accessibility In Engineering and Computing: Creating a Public Library of Student Work.”

Irina Benedyk, assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering; and Presentacion Rivera Reyes, assistant professor of teaching in the Department of Engineering Education; “Designing Weekly Group Assignments and Course Project to Explore Social Impacts of Transportation Projects.”

Doga Yucalan, assistant professor of teaching in the Department of Engineering Education; “Math-Physics Benchmarking Project.”

Jing Wang, professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering; “DEI Case Studies in BE201 Introduction to Biomedical Engineering.”