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Training Students to Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness in Engineering
Get PDFIn the last decade, topics related to justice (i.e., diversity, social and environmental justice) have been readily adopted by secular institutions. While many faith-based organizations have advocated for Christians to develop renewed focus on issues related to justice, these topics have received some pushback from the broader American Evangelical Church. Often limited by the politics undergirding these topics, Christian higher education institutions have generally been slower to adopt justice topics into the classroom than their secular counterparts.
This paper will first show why God had a heart for justice, especially justice for the most vulnerable populations. Then, using this as a basis, I will explain how engineers should pursue justice in their profession and why it is important to teach these concepts in the engineering classroom. Then, with a literature review of resources on successful implementing justice concepts in engineering curriculum, as well as instances of my own use of case studies in my classes, I will explain how Christian institutions can adopt these concepts in their classrooms and view them from a Christian worldview
A Framework for Engineering Analysis and Worship
Get PDFEngineers work in an objective world, defined by an external reality created by God. As engineers approach problems, they face the difficult challenge of aligning a complicated and unforgiving reality to available analytical engineering and math models. A helpful engineering analysis framework focuses on three models: God’s reality, the engineer’s mental model, and engineering community’s analytical models. The transition between these models structures problem-solving strategy and critical thinking as the engineer restates the problem, plans the analysis, solves the problem, and checks the answer. The framework also engages all three engineering languages (words, sketches, and math) to communicate holistically the nature of the world, the problems in need of a solution, and the solutions engineers develop. The framework drives appropriate worship of God through confidence in an objective reality submitted to His sovereignty, boldness in exercising dominion over creation, pleasure in thinking the thoughts of God after Him, and joy when abstract mathematical constructs coherently describe physical phenomena. The framework parallels the Christian life moving from the objective reality of God to personal forgiveness and salvation, resulting in participation with Christ’s church
Augmenting Entrepreneurially Minded Learning with Christian Thought and Action
Get PDFAs engineering programs attempt to develop engineering graduates who stand out to potential employers, integration of the Entrepreneurial Mindset (EM) is increasingly common. The Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) currently has 63 partner institutions who have committed to curriculum oriented towards developing EM in students and graduates. KEEN defines the entrepreneurial mindset using 3Cs: curiosity, connections, and creating value. This entrepreneurial mindset is then coupled with engineering thought and action, expressed through collaboration and communication, and founded on character.
This framework is useful, but incomplete when viewed in the context of a Christian engineering program. The framework provides a strong idea of what the goals are, and resources have been made freely available to show how to get towards those goals. The challenge is that the why is disconnected from a Christian engineering perspective, lacking particularly in areas of meaning and relation to God’s greater redemptive story. In this paper, we propose augmenting the 3Cs of the KEEN EM framework with a 4th: Christian Thought and Action. This addition should not be considered as a stand-alone or separate outcome and should be integrated with the others to explain and motivate the other 3Cs.
In this paper, we attempt to develop an extended framework for EM in Christian engineering programs. In addition, this extended framework was applied as a guide for the redesign of the Introduction to Engineering course at Anderson University. This redesign had two primary objectives: Integrating activities that stimulate development of an Entrepreneurial Mindset and the 3Cs Integrating faith in and through these activities, developing a connective tissue between the 3Cs and Christian thought and action
We measure the impact of this redesigned course on student perception of their development of the entrepreneurial mindset and their perceived ability to relate the engineering vocation to faith
2024 Christian Engineering Conference Proceedings
Get PDFThe compiled proceedings of the 2024 Christian Engineering Conference held June 26-28, 2024 at George Fox University
A Sense of Wonder
Get PDFA Sense of Wonder is a two-panel comic digitally drawn in Procreate. Drawn in a stylized manner, it depicts a boy staring at these swirling orange lights, which illuminate a dark forest. I used complementary colors to make these lights pop out from the blue background. The second panel focuses on his eyes, as they fill with wonder as he gazes at the wonderful light show being presented to him. I decided to not use any word boxes or readable cues, as I wanted the expression to speak on how he was feeling in this moment of wonder. In my art, I enjoy focusing on the facial expressions of the people I am drawing. Just by one simple facial expression, you can tell how the person is feeling in a moment. A crinkle of a nose, the widening of eyes, the furrowing of brows. These can tell us so much without one word being uttered.
In my piece, I wanted to depict that feeling someone feels when they look at something so beautiful. Something that makes their eyes widen in wonder. Something that makes them think, “Wow!” Something that makes them want to praise the Creator of the Universe for making something so beautiful that our minds can’t fathom. Whenever I look at God’s creation, whether it\u27s flowers, sunsets, sunny days, mountains, etc, I\u27m just in awe of the beauty I see before me. My eyes widen in wonder like the boy is here, and I think to myself, “God is good!” This magical forest I have created is a more fantastical representation of the world around me. The boy represents me and my reaction whenever I stop and take a moment to just look. Like the magic light show, God’s creation and every little thing in it gives me a sense of wonder
Sanctification
Get PDFThis piece, titled Sanctification, is intended to be a visual representation of its namesake: the process of sanctification done by God—through the will of the Father, the sacrifice of the Son, and the effect of the Holy Spirit. Sanctification is composed only of wood and fake blood, and was crafted through various woodcarving techniques, including chiseling, whittling, grinding, and dremeling. It depicts a large chunk of rot, which represents the corrupt, depraved nature of humanity upon which God enacts the process of sanctification. From this rot, however, a beautiful Asiatic Lily is being carved. The lily itself has blood coming out from where it is being carved out, which is meant to symbolize the pain that is inherent to sanctification, while at the same time serving to represent Christ’s blood, shed for us in order that we could be sanctified. The whole piece is meant to convey a sense of redemption through the contrast between the rotten and the beautiful; the unclean and the clean. This redemption is not without its cost, though, in both our suffering and in Jesus’ suffering on the cross.
My intention through this piece is to acknowledge the suffering one must go through to become what God desires them to be, while still displaying the beauty that comes through it and outweighs the suffering that led to it. As it says in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us,” and in James 1:2-4, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Nuclear Isolation Reduces Nonspecific Binding by anti-H3K27Ac Antibody in CO-IP Studies
Get PDFHistone acetylation is critical for gene expression in eukaryotes. Acetylated lysines on histone tails are bound by bromodomain containing proteins which recruit chromatin remodeling proteins, site-specific transcription factors and other transcriptional apparatus. Our lab is particularly interested in the interactions between histone H3 acetylated at lysine 27 (H3K27ac) and any proteins that might be binding to it. In our previous work, we immunoprecipitated (using CO-IP) whole Tetrahymena extract with an anti-H3K27ac antibody and used an antibody binding column to isolate proteins which bound to this column and presumably bound to H3K27ac. Mass spectroscopy analysis of our CO-IP sample detected 763 proteins, many of which were not nuclear. We hypothesized that nonspecific binding of proteins to the antibody was to blame and determined to produce a nuclear extract in order to reduce nonspecific binding. We used a novel protocol produced by ChatGPT to partly purify nuclei from Tetrahymena using a short detergent extraction. These nuclei were then fully extracted and subjected to CO-IP. We subjected our sample to SDS-PAGE, which showed a great reduction in the number of proteins staining when compared to our whole cell extract sample. However, we still obtained multiple bands on our western blot, suggesting that non-specific binding of our antibody to proteins other than histone H3 may be occurring. Further research may involve changing the blocking conditions on our Western blot or finding a more specific antibody
Petrology of the Coconino Sandstone at Andrus Point, Grand Canyon, Arizona
Get PDFThe Coconino sandstone and its equivalents are primarily found in the Colorado Plateau province of the United States. Outcrops are observed throughout this region, including the Grand Canyon. Samples were collected from Andrus Point, Grand Canyon as part of the Whitmore FAST project in 2008, and were used to create twenty thin sections for petrographic analysis. This area is of particular interest because it lies along the northern edge of the known outcrop of the Coconino. The focus of this study is to analyze these thin sections and gain insight into the Coconino’s depositional environment and its interactions with adjacent formations