Lehigh University Professors Suzanne Edwards and Larry Snyder presented interdisciplinary pedagogical approaches, using examples from their course that cross-lists industrial and systems engineering and women, gender and sexuality studies. They also discussed how combining the two subjects builds students’ skills at interpreting feminist philosophy and Python code benefits the future of interdisciplinary fields.
Larry Snyder is the Harvey E. Wagner Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the deputy provost for faculty affairs. He received his doctorate in industrial engineering and management sciences from Northwestern University. His research interests include applying optimization tools to problems in supply chains and energy systems and, more recently, the relationship between optimization and social justice.
Suzanne M. Edwards is an associate professor of English and women’s, gender and sexuality studies. She received her doctorate in English literature from the University of Chicago, and her research interests include feminist and queer theory, medieval studies and medievalism, and digital humanities. She is the co-director of the Gloria Naylor Archive Project, a multi-institution venture which makes the personal papers of this important 20th-century author more accessible to audiences inside and outside the academy.