Shanna Daly is an Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering as well as a Miller Faculty Scholar and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor. She has a B.E. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Dayton and a Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Purdue University. Her research characterizes front-end design practices across the student to practitioner continuum, uses these findings to develop tools to support design best practices, and studies the impact of front-end design tools on design success. She focuses on divergent and convergent thinking processes, including concept generation and development and problem space exploration, how to foster creativity in engineering work, and processes to understand social and cultural elements of the contexts in which engineering work occurs and integrate them into decision making. Further, her work explores how the content of engineering curricula, including attention to creativity and social aspects of engineering work, impacts students’ sense of belonging in the field and desire to persist in their studies and into engineering careers.
Interested in Dr. Daly’s research? Learn more about the Daly Design and Engineering Education Research Group website.
Dr. Daly can be reached via email at: srdaly@umich.edu