Department of Engineering Education

Lisa McNair

Lisa McNair

Associate Professor
Assistant Department Head for Graduate Programs
Co-director of Virginia Tech Engineering Communication Center

660 McBryde Hall
(540) 231-1144
(540) 231-6903 Fax

Email

Curriculum Vitae


Education Research Experience

Education

PhD
 Linguistics University of Chicago 2002
M.S. English University of Georgia 1995
B.S.
 English University of Georgia 1983

Research

Title Program Start Date End Date Awarded Amount
CAREER: Reflective Practice for Graduate Engineering Students (PI) NSF-EEC 1/1/2011 12/31/2015 $403,223.00
Using Writing-to-Learn Methods to Improve Conceptual Understanding in Statics (PI) NSF-EEC 8/15/2011 8/14/2013 $282,570.00
NSF ERFI-Biosa: Multifunctional Materials Exhibiting Distributed Actuation, Sensing and Control: Uncovering the Hierarchical Control of Fish for Developing Smarter Materials (Co-PI) NSF-ERFI 9/1/2009 8/31/2013 $1,948,373.00
Building Connections Within the Engineering Education Research Community (PI) NSF-EEC 9/1/2010 8/31/2012 $371,756.00
Building New Engineering Education Theory & Practice for Interdisciplinary Pervasive Computing Design (PI) NSF-EEC 9/1/2009 8/31/2012 $396,180.00
Building Connections Within the Engineering Education Research Community (PI) NSF-EEC 5/1/2008 12/31/2010 $307,468.00
Preparing Engineering Students for the Challenges of Interdisiplinary Design Teams NSF ENG DIVERSITY ACTIVITIES, ENGINEERING EDUCATION 3/1/2007 2/28/2010 $475,475.00
CI-TEAM Implementation Project: Collaborative Research - A National Engineering Dissection Cyber-Collaboratory (Co-PI) NSF CI-TEAM 1/1/2007 12/31/2008 $104,378.00
Building Interdisciplinary Collaboration Skills Through a Green Engineering Capstone Design Experience (Co-PI) NSF CCLI-Phase 1 (Exploratory), S-STEM:SCHLR SCI TECH ENG&MATH 1/1/2007 6/30/2009 $142,715.00
SGER: Facilitating Effective Communication in Interdisciplinary Design Teams NSF GRANT OPP FOR ACAD LIA W/ INDUS, ENGINEERING DESIGN 7/1/2006 12/31/2007 $100,000.00

 

 

Teaching

    • ENGE 5014: Foundations of Engineering Education

    • ENGE 5334: Evaluating Engineering Communication Assignments

    • ENGE 5404: Assessment Techniques in Engineering Education

    • ENGE 5504: Practicum in the Engineering Classroom

    • ENGE 6604: Advanced Engineering Research Methods

Experience

Associate Professor Department of Engineering Education, Virginia Tech 2011 – Present
Assistant Professor Department of Engineering Education, Virginia Tech 2005 – 2011
Associate Director Technical Communications Program, Department of Literature, Communication & Culture, Georgia Tech 2002 – 2005
Brittain Fellow Dept of Literature, Communication & Culture, Georgia Tech 2000 – 2002
Writer/Producer SRA/McGraw-Hill, Atlanta, GA 1998 – 2000
Adjunct Professor English, Reinhardt College, Atlanta, GA 1997 – 1998
Teaching Assistant Department of Linguistics, University of Chicago 1995 – 1996
Publications Coordinator Chicago Humanities Institute 1994 – 1995
Instructor Department of English, University of Georgia 1992 – 1993
Assistant to the Editor Urban Geography, Athens, GA 1991 – 1992
Technical Writer Coca-Cola Company, Atlanta, GA 1989 – 1990
Editor and Graphic Designer IPC, Inc., Atlanta, GA 1987 – 1989

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Recognitions

  • Co-recipient of Frontier's in Education's 2008 Helen Plants Award for Best Special Session, 2008
  • Liaison between Mining Safety and Health Academy (MSHA) and VT Engineering Education department for developing risk communication curriculum.
  • Collaborator with English Department to create bridge between engineering and the humanities in order to increase retention of female engineering students.
  • Curriculum developer and coordinator of international teams (Literature, Culture and Digital Media Program, Blekinge Institute of Technology 2003-present)
  • Co-coordinator of Engineering Leadership Network designed to promote servant leadership at Virginia Tech.

Publications

McNair, L.D., Newswander, C., Boden, D., and Borrego, M. (2011). “Faculty and Student Interdisciplinary Identities in Self-Managed Teams.” Journal of Engineering Education, 100(2).

McNair, L.D. and Paretti, M.C. (2010). “Activity Theory, Speech Acts, and the 'Doctrine of Infelicity': Connecting Language and Technology in Globally Networked Learning Environments.” Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 24(3), 323-357.

Crede, E.D., Borrego, M. and McNair, L.D. (2010). “Application of Community of Practice Theory to thePpreparation of Engineering Graduate Students for Faculty Careers.” Advances in Engineering Education.

Paretti, M., Richter, D.M., and McNair, L.D. (2010). “Sustaining Interdisciplinary Projects in Green Engineering: Teaching to Support Distributed Work.” International Journal of Engineering Education, 26(2).

Williams, C. B., McNair, L.D., Crede, E.D, Paretti, M. and Terpenny, J.P. (2010). “Designing Hands-On Teaming Activities for Courses with Large Enrollments.” International Journal of Engineering Education, 26(2), 408-417.

McNair, L.D., Paretti, M. and Davitt, M. (2010). “Towards a Pedagogy of Relational Space and Trust: Analyzing Distributed Collaboration Using Discourse and Speech Act Analysis.” IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 53(3), 233-248.

Paretti, M., McNair, L.D., Belanger, K. and George, D. (2009). “Reformist Possibilities? Exploring Cross-Campus Writing Partnerships.” WPA: Writing Program Administration, 33(1-2), 74-113. (No lead author; all authors contributed equally).

Borrego, M., Newswander, L., McNair, L.D., McGinnis, S, and Paretti, M. (2009). “Using Concept Maps to Assess Interdisciplinary Integration of Green Engineering Knowledge.” Advances in Engineering Education, 2(1), 1-26.

McNair, L. D., Paretti, M., and Kakar, A. (2008). “Case Study of Prior Knowledge: Expectations and Identity Constructions in Interdisciplinary, Cross-cultural Virtual Collaboration.” International Journal of Engineering Education.

Paretti, M., and McNair, L.D. (2008). Communicating in Global Virtual Teams, Handbook of Research on Virtual Workplaces and the New Nature of Business Practices, edited by Zemliansky, P., and St. Amant, K. Hershey, PA: Idea Group.

Paretti, M. and McNair, L.D., editors (2008). IEEE Transactions in Professional Communication: Special Issue on Engineering Communication.

McNair, L.D., Paretti, M., and Kakar, A. (2008). “Case Study of Prior Knowledge: Expectations and Identity Construction in Interdisciplinary, Cross-Cultural Virtual Collaboration.” International Journal of Engineering Education, 24(2), 386-399.

Paretti, M., McNair, L.D., and Holloway-Attaway, L. (2007). “Teaching Technical Communication in an Era of Distributed Work: A Case Study of Collaboration between U.S. and Swedish Students.” Technical Communication Quarterly,16(3), 327-352.

Gordon, J., McNair, L.D., and Hoey, J. (2007). “Team Members are Stakeholders: Successful Collaboration in Writing Assessment.” Assessment to Foster Effective Writing and Deeper Thinking, editor Terri L. Flateby. Herndon, VA: Stylus Publishing..

Borrego, M., McNair, L.D., and Newswander, L. (2007). “Special Session: Applying Theories of Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Research and Teaching Practice.” Workshop presented at Frontiers in Education (FIE) conference, Milwaukee, WI, Oct 10-13.

Lo, Jenny, Alley, M., McNair, L.D., and Edmister, W. (2007). “Promoting Undergraduate Research by Creating a Research Option in a Technical Communication course.” Proceedings of the 2007 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Honolulu, HI, June 24-27. 

Paretti, M. and McNair, L.D. (2007). “Teaching to Transfer: Establishing a Rhetorical Foundation for Communication Practices Through an Engineering – First-Year Composition Partnership.” Proceedings of the 2007 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Honolulu, HI, June 24-27.

Paretti, M., McNair, L.D., and Alley, M. (2006). “Integrated Engineering Communications Programs: (Dis)Locating the Boundaries.” Paper presented at the Writing Across the Curriculum Conference (WAC), Clemson, SC, May 17-20.

McNair, L.D. (2005). Mill Villagers and Farmers: Economics and Dialect Shift in a Small Southern Town. Special issue of the Publications of the American Dialect Society, Duke, NC: Duke Univ Press.

RECENT CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

Martin, T., *Kim, K., *Forsyth, J., McNair, L., Coupey, E., and Dorsa, E. (2011).  "An Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Design Course for Wearable and Pervasive Computing Products." ISWC 2011: The Fifteenth International Symposium of Wearable Computers, San Francisco, CA. June 12-15, 2011. To be published n-line via IEEE XPlore Digital Library (approval pending).

Coupey, E., Dorsa, E., Kemnitzer, R., McNair, L. and Martin, T. (2010). "A Case Study of an Interdisciplinary Design Course for Pervasive Computing." PerEd 2010: The Third Workshop on Pervasive Computing Education. Copenhagen, Denmark. September 26-29, 2010. To be published at: http://sunsite.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/Publications/CEUR-WS/.

*Kim, K. and McNair, L.D. (2010). "Self-managed Teaming and Team Effectiveness in Interdisciplinary Capstone Design." ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference. Arlington, VA. October 28-30, 2010.

McNair, L.D. and Borrego, M. (2010). "Graduate Students Designing Graduate Assessment: e-Portfolio Design as Problem-Based Learning." ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference. Arlington, VA. October 28-30, 2010. Available at http://fie-conference.org/fie2010/papers/1569.pdf.

McNair, L., *Boden, D., and Borrego, M. (2010). “Leave Your Discipline at the Door: A Discourse Analysis of Interdisciplinary Collaboration Among Academics. Enhancing Communication in Cross-Disciplinary Research." Coeur d’Alene, ID. September 30-October 2, 2010.

*Kim, K. and McNair, L.D. (2010). "Situativity Approaches for Improving Interdisciplinary Team Processes." American Society for Engineering Education Southeast Section Conference. Blacksburg, VA, April 18-20, 2010.

*Venters, C. and McNair, L.D. (2010). "Learning Statics: A Cognitive Approach." American Society for Engineering Education Southeast Section Conference. Blacksburg, VA, April 18-20, 2010.

McNair, L.D. and Borrego, M. (2009). "Comparing Academic Staff and Student Perspectives of an Interdisciplinary Design Course." Australasian Association for Engineering Education Conference. Adelaide, Australia. December 6-9, 2009.

*Kim, K. and McNair, L.D. (2009). "Work in Progress: Flexible Learning Environments to Improve Interdisciplinary Creativity and Team Interactions." ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference. San Antonio, TX. October 18-21.

*Richer, D.M., Paretti, M.C. and McNair, L.D. (2009). "Work in Progress: Disciplinary Egocentrism as a Barrier to Interdisciplinary Design." ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference. San Antonio, TX. October 18-21.

McNair, L.D., *Newswander, C., Coupey, E., Dorsa, E., Martin, T., and Paretti, M.C. (2009). "Self-Organizing Units in an Interdisciplinary Course for Pervasive Computing Design." American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition. Austin, TX, June 14-17.

*Richter, D.M., Paretti, M.C., McNair, L.D. and Borrego, M. (2009). "Assessing Student Perspectives of Interdisciplinary Collaboration." American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, Austin, TX, June 14-17.

Paretti, M.C., *Richter, D.M.  and McNair, L.D. (2009). "Sustaining Interdisciplinary Projects in Green Engineering: Teaching to Support Distributed Work." Mudd Design Workshop VII. Claremont, CA, May 28-30. (Paper later accepted for publication in International Journal of Engineering Education; see citation above.)

Williams, C.B., McNair, L.D., *Crede, E.D., Paretti, M.C. and Terpenny, J.P. (2009). "Designing Hands-On Teaming Activities for Courses with Large Enrollments." Mudd Design Workshop VII. Claremont, CA, May 28-30. (Paper later accepted for publication in International Journal of Engineering Education; see citation above.)

*Denotes Graduate Students

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