Ann F. McKenna Director of Education Improvement, McCormick School of Engineering & Applied Sciences Research Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Research Associate Professor (co-terminus), Learning Sciences, Learning Sciences Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center Room G319 Sheridan Road, south of Technological Institute Evanston, IL 60208-0001 Phone: (847) 491-6761 Fax: (847) 491-2603

Ann McKenna is the Director of Education Improvement in the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University. She holds a joint appointment as Research Associate Professor in the School of Education and Social Policy and Research Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and is a Faculty Fellow in the Institute for Design Engineering and Applications (IDEA). She also serves as Co-Director of the Northwestern Center for Engineering Education Research (NCEER). Her research focuses on the role of adaptive expertise in engineering education, design teaching and learning, and teaching approaches of engineering faculty.

Year		Degree		Institution
2001		PhD, Science and Mathematics Education		University of California, Berkeley
1991		MS, Mechanical Engineering		Drexel University, Philadelphia
1988		BS, Mechanical Engineering		Drexel University, Philadelphia

McKenna, Ann, F. (July, 2007). An Investigation of Adaptive Expertise and Transfer of Design Process Knowledge. Journal of Mechanical Design.

McKenna, Ann, F. & Yalva, Bugrahan (2007). Characterizing Engineering Faculty’s Teaching Approaches. Teaching in Higher Education, 12(3): 405-418.

McKenna, Ann, F. (2006). Implementing Learning Science Research in University Settings: New Research Opportunities. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 108: 109-114.

Kolikant, Yifat Ben-David, McKenna, Ann F. & Yalvac, Bugrahan (2006). The Emergence of a Community of Practice in Engineering Education. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 108: 7-16.

McKenna, Ann F., Colgate, J. Edward, Carr, Stephen, & Olson, Gregory, B. (2006). IDEA: Formalizing the Foundation for an Engineering Design Education. International Journal of Engineering Education, vol. 22, 3.

McKenna, A. & Agogino, A. (2004). Supporting mechanical reasoning with a representationally-rich learning environment. Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 93, No. 2: 97-104.

McMartin, F., McKenna, A. & Youseffi, K. (2000). Scenario assignments as assessment tools for undergraduate engineering education. IEEE Transactions on Education, Vol. 43, No. 2: 111–119.

Northwestern Center for Engineering Education Research (NCEER)

Learning through design and complex problem solving; design and implementation of innovative learning environments; adaptive expertise; engineering faculty pedagogy and conceptions of teaching and learning; assessment of engineering design competency.