Authors
Allison Hutchison, Engineering Communications Program, Cornell Duffield College of Engineering, Cornell University, United States of America; Traci Nathans-Kelly, Engineering Communications Program, Cornell Duffield College of Engineering, Cornell University, United States of America; Suzanne Lane, Engineering Communications Program, Cornell Duffield College of Engineering, Cornell University, United States of America; Cameron Mozafari, Engineering Communications Program, Cornell Duffield College of Engineering, Cornell University, United States of America; Rick Evans, Engineering Communications Program, Cornell Duffield College of Engineering, Cornell University, United States of America; Hua Wang, Engineering Communications Program, Cornell Duffield College of Engineering, Cornell University, United States of America
Synopsis
This chapter outlines the two interlocking frameworks developed within the Engineering Communications Program (ECP) at Cornell Duffield Engineering that guide curriculum, flexible module structure, and authentic integration of communication for engineering purposes: 1) core communicative competencies, and 2) curricular agility. ECP provides the majority of undergraduate engineering communication offerings and supports the accreditation across various degrees in Cornell Duffield Engineering. ECP authentically integrates communication into engineering curricula with sensitivity to disciplinary contexts. To achieve this integration, ECP introduces students to foundational concepts that define communication as contextual, socially situated, purposefully designed, and central to cultivating an engineering identity. Many modules are also partnered with engineering staff, allowing students to engage with not only the technical concepts but also the genres and rhetorical situations characteristic of particular engineering fields. In addition, ECP teaches conventions, genre analysis, problem solving, and working in teams — all of which are much-requested professional competencies. Modules draw on engineering and technology industries, such as approaches to project management and best practices, thus underscoring communication as a professional necessity rather than an auxiliary skill. To empirically ground the efficacy of our framework, ECP provides evidence from longitudinal survey data that shows students develop communicative self-efficacy as a result of engaging in authentic and integrated work. We present this framework as a pedagogical model that situates communication within engineering practice, offering guidance for programmes seeking to prepare students for the communicative demands of professional environments.
Author Biographies
Allison Hutchison, Engineering Communications Program, Cornell Duffield College of Engineering, Cornell University, United States of America
Hutchison, Allison (0000-0003-2432-0802) is the Associate Director of the Engineering Communications Program and Associate Teaching Professor in the Cornell Duffield College of Engineering in Ithaca, USA. She is invested in studying the effects of authentic communication instruction in the engineering curriculum as well as training engineering communication consultants.
Traci Nathans-Kelly, Engineering Communications Program, Cornell Duffield College of Engineering, Cornell University, United States of America
Nathans-Kelly, Traci (0000-0003-4478-521X) is Director of the Engineering Communications Program at Cornell Duffield College of Engineering, Ithaca, USA. Her work focuses on engineering communication best practices, including writing, presenting, and pedagogical/program innovation. She co-authored the book Slide Rules: Design, Build, and Archive Presentations in the Engineering and Technical Fields.
Suzanne Lane, Engineering Communications Program, Cornell Duffield College of Engineering, Cornell University, United States of America
Lane, Suzanne (0000-0002-2350-8101) teaches engineering communication as an Associate Teaching Professor at Cornell Duffield College of Engineering in Ithaca, USA. Her research focuses on applying rhetorical theories of genre, argumentation, and discourse to understanding how engineering communication practices, especially research genres, change over time. She also develops innovative tools and strategies for teaching engineering communication.
Cameron Mozafari, Engineering Communications Program, Cornell Duffield College of Engineering, Cornell University, United States of America
Mozafari, Cameron (0009-0008-4601-6733) is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Engineering Communications Programme at Cornell Duffield College of Engineering in Ithaca, USA. He works at the intersections of rhetoric, cognitive linguistics, and writing. His current research examines communication and learning in engineering education, drawing on rhetoric and the language sciences, including cognitive and corpus linguistics and emotion science.
Rick Evans, Engineering Communications Program, Cornell Duffield College of Engineering, Cornell University, United States of America
Evans, Rick (0000-0001-6937-1721) is a sociolinguist and Director Emeritus of ECP, at Cornell Duffield College of Engineering in Ithaca, USA, serving on the steering committee of The Forum for the Philosophy of Engineering and Technology. He is also primary investigator in the NSF-funded project “We are Thriving: Challenging negative discourse through the voices of women in project teams.”
Hua Wang, Engineering Communications Program, Cornell Duffield College of Engineering, Cornell University, United States of America
Wang, Hua (0000-0003-1687-6050) is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Engineering Communications Programme at Cornell Duffield College of Engineering in Ithaca, USA. who teaches engineering communication courses. Her research focuses on technical and professional communication, the rhetoric of health and medicine, cross- and intercultural communication, and engineering communication pedagogy.
Published
August 26, 2026
Copyright (c) 2026 Gillian Saunders-Smits, Lynn Van den Broeck, Thies Johannsen
How to Cite
Hutchison, A., Nathans-Kelly, T., Lane, S., Mozafari, C., Evans, R., & Wang, H. (2026). Authentically Integrating Communication in the Undergraduate Engineering Curriculum within Cornell Duffield College of Engineering. In
SEFI Handbook on Teaching Transferable Competencies and Skills in Engineering (pp. 781-802). TU Delft OPEN Books.
https://doi.org/10.59490/mt.266.95
