Faculty

Maura Borrego

Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering
Professor, STEM Education

maura.borrego@austin.utexas.edu

I am a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and STEM Education and Director of the Center for Engineering Education and at the University of Texas at Austin. My formal training is in materials science and engineering, M.S. and Ph.D. from Stanford University and B.S. from University of Wisconsin-Madison. Since completing my Ph. D, I’ve focused on engineering education and STEM education research. I started my faculty career in the Engineering Education Department at Virginia Tech, and over the years I’ve served in a variety of leadership roles in the field including Deputy Editor for Journal of Engineering Education, a Program Director at the National Science Foundation, on the board of the American Society for Engineering Education, and as an associate dean and director of interdisciplinary graduate programs. I am a Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education and a Senior Associate Editor for Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering. I may be best known for my prior research on engineers learning to do educational research and interdisciplinary graduate education. At this point in my career, I’m committed to researching diversity and inclusion broadly defined by the dimensions represented by the students I advise, including race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, and ability. I advise students in the STEM Education and Mechanical Engineering graduate programs, as well as engineering undergraduates interested in educational research.

If you have questions about these graduate programs or are interested in working with me on educational research, please contact me!


Audrey Boklage

Research Associate, Instructional Designer
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering

audrey.boklage@austin.utexas.edu

I am a research associate in the Center for Engineering Education and Director of Curriculum for Texas Inventionworks at the University of Texas at Austin.  I earned my undergraduate, masters and Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin with a focus on Curriculum and Instruction in STEM Education.  My training also includes a post-doctoral research fellowship at Arizona State University studying Engineering Education.  Prior to my academic career I was a high school science teacher for seven years in Texas.  My current research includes the identification and incorporation of best practices to support inclusive environments in STEM education. I recently received a CAREER grant to explore theory and pedagogy in university makerspaces.


Gabriella Coloyan Fleming

Research Associate
Center for Equity in Engineering

gabriella.fleming@austin.utexas.edu

I am a research associate in the Center for Engineering Education as well as the Center for Equity in Engineering within the Cockrell School of Engineering. I earned my B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 2012 and my M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from UT Austin in 2014 and 2018, respectively, and my dissertation focused on characterizing the thermal properties of nanomaterials. Between my PhD and postdoc, I worked as a Program Manager at the University of Michigan’s Center for Engineering Diversity & Outreach, managing the NextProf suite of workshops and supporting graduate student and faculty diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. I completed my postdoc fellowship through the NASCENT ERC, where I was jointly advised by Prof. Deji Akinwande. My research interests include DEI issues in graduate education, faculty hiring, and the pathway to an academic career.