Duffield Engineering launches $25M education research institute

With funds from a recent, record-setting naming gift from David A. Duffield '62, MBA '64, the Cornell Duffield College of Engineering will establish a $25 million Cornell David A. Duffield Engineering Education Research Institute, positioning the college as a leader in the development, evaluation and implementation of knowledge about how to effectively educate engineers.

"Duffield Engineering is redefining what it means to learn, teach and lead in engineering," said Lynden Archer, the Joseph Silbert Dean of Engineering. "This new institute cements our commitment to innovation, scholarship and excellence in engineering education. It will ensure that new knowledge about how students develop mastery of concepts is generated and broadly disseminated, strengthening our nation's ability to prepare the engineers needed to forge a better future."

Engineering education research (EER) is a rapidly growing field focused on designing effective education systems and learning experiences within engineering. Scholars study how engineers learn, the impacts of educational practices, and how to expand participation in engineering, among other topics.

The Duffield Engineering Education Research Institute will be founded by four Cornell faculty who work in schools across the college. Alexandra Coso Strong, associate professor in the Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Cornell's Systems Engineering program, will lead the institute as its inaugural director. Allison Godwin, the Dr. G. Stephen Irwin '67, '68 Professor in Engineering Education Research in the R.F. Smith School, will serve as the first associate director.

Coso Strong and Godwin are leaders in the field of engineering education, bringing expertise in faculty development research, engineering identity and research methods, and have played integral roles in the rapid ascent of engineering education research within Duffield Engineering.

"The last three years have been an exciting time for engineering education research at Cornell. The collaborations within Duffield Engineering and Cornell more broadly have shown how discipline-based education research can create transformative learning experiences for students," Coso Strong said. "We see this new institute as a home for these and new collaborations, a place for scholars, change leaders and educators to come together and work at the forefront of engineering education."

Alexandra Werth and Jessica Rush Leeker also recently joined Duffield Engineering and will collaborate with Coso Strong and Godwin to launch the institute. Werth, an assistant professor in the Nancy E. and Peter C. Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, brings expertise in innovative course models, assessment and AI-based research methods. Rush Leeker, a professor of practice in the School of Operations Research and Information Engineering, has significant experience in community-engaged engineering learning and informal STEM education. Additional planned faculty searches are expected to broaden and strengthen the college's community of engineering education researchers.

Duffield Engineering's distinctive approach to engineering education embeds researchers within its schools and departments, bringing cross-disciplinary expertise in education and engineering to their work. The new institute will serve as a catalyst to amplify and extend the impact and reach of the research while maintaining the benefits of the college's embedded structure.

In the near term, the institute plans to launch several initiatives, including a grant program, launching in fall 2026, which will provide resources and mentorship for instructors interested in conducting pilot studies, evaluations or research-based assessments within their courses and programs. Each semester, the institute will also host a speaker series and visiting scholar program to bring leading engineering education researchers and teacher-scholars to campus and will continue to build local and global research-practice partnerships that connect scholarship to educational innovation.

Longer term, the institute plans to develop a shared research infrastructure to accelerate the translation of research to educational practice, creating opportunities for new collaborations and discoveries.

"We are excited for this new institute to create a much-needed hub to elevate and connect work happening across our college," Godwin said. "Our intention will be to enable, amplify and coordinate faculty-led research in a way that complements our robust campus ecosystem and ensures that our work is based on scholarly evidence of what works, for whom and why."

In addition to working with their departmental colleagues, the college's engineering education researchers collaborate closely with faculty and staff in Duffield Engineering's Selander Center for Engineering Leadership, Office of Inclusive Excellence, McCormick Teaching Excellence Institute and other offices to conduct research and translate their findings into practice through curriculum innovation, pedagogy and institutional change.

"The EER faculty have brought a tremendous amount of expertise and innovation that has encouraged all of us to be more evidence-based in how we approach teaching and leadership," said Erica Dawson, assistant dean and director of the Selander Center. "In turn, we give their scholarship a real testing ground. This investment will strengthen our whole network of experts working to develop future leaders."

The Duffield Engineering Education Research Institute will build on the college's early investments and successes. For example, in fall 2025, informed by the work of Godwin and Coso Strong, the R.F. Smith School became the first Ivy League department to be awarded a Revolutionizing Engineering Departments grant from the National Science Foundation. The five-year project aims to thoroughly update the school's undergraduate curriculum and reshape its culture in ways that have been shown to encourage student success.

The new institute seeks to create an ecosystem that advances all engineering education through robust research, scholar development programs, innovation and a range of local and global partnerships.

"The creation of this institute is an incredible opportunity for Duffield Engineering and our engineering education research community as a whole," Coso Strong said. "With the generous support of Dave Duffield, we are positioned to extend the impact of our research and strengthen how research translates into the experiences of all engineering learners - at Cornell and beyond."

Reeve Hamilton is assistant dean of marketing and communications for Duffield Engineering.