Dr. Catherine Berdanier

I am an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Penn State University.  My academic pedigree is highly interdisciplinheadshotary, holding Bachelor’s degrees in Chemistry and Spanish from the University of South Dakota, a Master’s in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Purdue University, and a Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Purdue.  In addition to being a tenure-track faculty member, I also am the Director of the Online Master’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering program, tasked with growing the program and guiding curricular design to be grounded in engineering education best practices.   My research is unique, studying the ways in which engineers learn the knowledge, skills, and attributes required to solve cutting edge and cross-disciplinary problems.  Most of my research focuses at the graduate level, specifically in graduate level engineering education, specializing in persistence and attrition of graduate-level engineering students, and engineering writing and communication.   My most recent interests include using eyetracking techniques to measure cognitive workload and expertise in engineering graduate students, and using natural language processing tools to automate the analysis of qualitative and textual data.

If you have questions or are interested in working with me on any of my projects, don’t hesitate to reach out to me!