Education
PhD in Mechanical Engineering: Engineering Education, MIT, 2025
MS in Mechanical Engineering, MIT, 2021
BS in Mechanical Engineering: Product Design for Emerging Markets, Minor in Music, MIT, 2020
Biography
Sandy is a postdoctoral scholar working with Merredith Portsmore and Milo Koretsky to better understand undergraduate behavior in moments of confusion, ambiguity, and uncertainty, and how students do or do not use AI to navigate these moments. She is excited to join the CEEO and learn more about the many projects and initiatives! Broadly, Sandy’s is interested in student modeling practices and sense-making activities in technical undergraduate engineering courses. She often looks at the ways traditional classroom contexts influence student problem-solving methodologies, and ways task design and facilitation strategies can help students practice authentic engineering.
Sandy has often incorporated teaching into her life. She has worked for the Edgerton Center K-12 Outreach program, taught high school courses though MIT global teaching labs, taught and developed curriculum for MIT Women’s Technology Program, TAed for many semesters, and worked at two secondary schools in the Netherlands through a Fulbright Fellowship. Her teaching practice and research projects have always informed each other, and she hopes to bring those experiences to her future work.
Selected Publications and Presentations
- Huffman, Sandra Walter, et al. "Reflections on the Implementation of Short, Authentic Oral Assessments in a University Manufacturing Course" 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition. 2025.
- Huffman, Sandra Walter, et al. "WIP: Alignment and Misalignment of Instructor Values Between Research and Teaching." 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition. 2025.
- Huffman, Sandra Walter & Hughey, Barbara (2025, June). BOARD # 5 : MAKER: Hands On Learning with a Spiral Marble Machine [Poster presentation]. 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Montreal, Québec, Canada
- Huffman, Sandra Walter. "Homework Problems as Epistemic Agents: Unpacking Students' Problem-Solving Approaches in a Technical Engineering Class." 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition. 2024.
- Auby, Harpreet, et al. “Reflections on a Mentored Group Peer Review Process.” Journal of Engineering Education, In Press, doi: 10.1002/jee.20616.