Rate My Professor Allison Godwin

Allison Godwin is the Dr. G. Stephen Irwin ’67, ’68 Professor of Engineering Education Research and an associate professor in the R.F. Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell University, joining the faculty in 2023 as the institution's first engineering education hire. She also holds the position of Associate Director of the Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility since 2024. Previously, Godwin served as Associate Professor of Engineering Education and Chemical Engineering at Purdue University from 2020 to 2022, following her role as Assistant Professor of Engineering Education from 2014 to 2020. She earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 2011 and a Ph.D. in Engineering and Science Education in 2014, both from Clemson University. Her research centers on transforming engineering culture to foster inclusivity across K-12, higher education, and industry by examining how diverse individuals develop engineering identities and how factors like gender, race, and ethnicity influence recruitment, persistence, and career trajectories. Godwin employs mixed-methods research, including large-scale quantitative studies and qualitative approaches such as surveys, interventions, interviews, and focus groups, to identify general trends and nuanced lived experiences.

Godwin has developed and tested pedagogies in introductory chemical engineering courses that reduced failure rates and boosted motivation, directly enhancing student retention and success at Purdue University. She investigates low-cost interventions to close equity gaps in early engineering courses and supports emerging scholars in engineering education methods, publications, and grant applications. Her contributions have earned the 2023 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Award for Excellence in Engineering Education Research, the 2022 American Educational Research Association Outstanding Research Publication Award, the 2021 Chemical Engineering Education William H. Corcoran Award, and the 2016 National Science Foundation CAREER Award focused on latent diversity in engineering identity. Key publications include “Identity, critical agency, and engineering majors: An affective model for predicting engineering as a career choice” (Journal of Engineering Education, 2016), “The development of a measure of engineering identity” (ASEE Annual Conference, 2016), and “Identity-based motivation: Connections between first-year students’ engineering role identities and future time perspectives” (Journal of Engineering Education, 2020). Godwin has chaired the American Society for Engineering Education Educational Research and Methods Division (2021-2023), served as Past Chair (2023-2025), and acts as Associate Editor for Chemical Engineering Education (2020-present) and the Journal of Engineering Education (2023-present).