Cole Joslyn

Cole Joslyn wants to make a global impact. His mission is to humanize engineering education and create well-rounded, multidimensional engineers.

He continues these efforts in a new role as an assistant professor of engineering programs and engineering education and systems design in The Polytechnic School, part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. 

Prior to joining the faculty at ASU, Joslyn was an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Northern Arizona University. He brings additional experience as an industrial and manufacturing engineer, a high school math teacher and ministry work.

Joslyn is particularly interested in enhancing how Hispanic Serving Institutions, or HSIs, like ASU serve their communities and promote a sense of belonging among students.

“My research takes on a holistic approach, providing resources to cultivate an identity-affirming culture in engineering education as a way to enhance ‘servingness’ at HSIs and beyond,” Joslyn says.

His research interests include integrating holistic, socioculturally responsive practices and cultural assets and values of Hispanic, Latin American, Mexican, Mexican-American, Puerto Rican and Cuban communities into educational success strategies.

He earned a 2024 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award for his efforts to promote inclusive excellence for historically minorized and marginalized groups in engineering education. Joslyn’s work, supported by the NSF, aims to understand and address conflicts Hispanic, Latinx, Indigenous and other students face and integrate their cultural values into education for a more supportive and inclusive environment.

His first courses in The Polytechnic School are EGR 217 Engineering Mechanics Fundamentals, an undergraduate course that explores the theory and principles of statics and dynamics, and EGR 671 Applications of Qualitative Methods in Engineering Education Research, an in-depth graduate course about generating and handling research data.  

Joslyn also plans to continue his work started at NAU to develop a peer-mentoring program to better serve Latinx students in a wider effort to increase retention and representation in university and professional engineering spaces. 

“Broadening participation efforts have resulted in an increased share of engineering bachelor’s degrees awarded to women (24%) and Hispanic/Latine (14%) students over the years,” Joslyn says. “Nevertheless, women (16%) and Hispanic/Latine (9%) students are still unacceptably underrepresented in the college-educated engineering workforce.”

As he prepares to work with students in his classes and research projects, Joslyn welcomes everyone to engage with him.

“Come as your authentic self,” Joslyn says.

Meet the newest faculty members of the Fulton Schools of Engineering here.

Written by Monique Clement