Most Recent Publication

Zhu, Q., & Sun, Y. (in press). Toward a self-cultivation approach to engineering education: A Confucian perspective. In A. Buch & S. H. Christensen (Eds.), Bildung for engineering education and practice: A new agenda. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
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This chapter serves as an initial endeavor to investigate the potential utility of the idea of self-cultivation in constructing an alternative approach to prevalent approaches in engineering education, which predominantly concentrate on the development of employable skills for individual engineers. To achieve this goal, this chapter first conceptualizes a challenge central to dominant approaches to engineering education which is the lack of the self-dimension. It then provides a brieft introduction to the Confucian theory of self-cultivation by comparing it with the Western concept of Bildung. Finally, this chapter discusses the implications of this self-cultivation theory for engineering education practice and research. It explores how teaching, learning, and assessment in engineering education can be defined and implemented differently. This chapter is expected to be of particular interest to engineering educators, administrators, and policymakers who are unsatisfied with dominant approaches to engineering education that focus on the attainment of measurable technical knowledge and skills.​

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Who We Are

LANCSET (Laboratory and Network for the Cultural Studies of Engineering and Technology) is an interdisciplinary research group at Virginia Tech. ​

Based at Virginia Tech, LANCSET is an open and inclusive laboratory and community of scholars dedicated to exploring technology and engineering through culturally responsive lenses. We explore the role of cultures in shaping the professional formation of socially responsible and globally competent engineers, as well as the ethical development and deployment of critical and emerging technologies such as AI, robotics, and quantum computing. In our research, we examine various levels of cultural concepts, including individual cultural traits, classroom learning environments, professional and discipline-based norms, institutional and organizational cultures, sociocultural metaphors, and cross-cultural and global contexts. We frequently draw on less prominent Western intellectual resources (e.g., pragmatism) and non-Western philosophical traditions (e.g., Confucianism) in our theory-building and empirical inquiry. We employ philosophical and conceptual approaches, as well as interpretive and experimental methods, in our research.

If you are interested in exploring potential collaboration opportunities, please visit the Contact Us page to leave a message or send us an email. We thank you for your interest in our work and look forward to collaborating with you!​