Avneet Hira

Assistant Professor, Sabet Family Dean鈥檚 Faculty Fellow

Photo of Avneet Hira

Avneet Hira

Ph.D.

Contact

245 Beacon Street, Room 519

Telephone: 617-552-2786

Email: avneet.hira@bc.edu

Education

  • B.E., Punjab Engineering College
  • M.S., Purdue University
  • Ph.D., Purdue University

Research Interests

Engineering education, Educational technologies, Engineering epistemology , Design education, Educational Makerspaces

Lab Website

Profile

Avneet Hira is an Assistant Professor and Sabet Family Dean鈥檚 Faculty Fellow in the Department of Engineering with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Teaching, Curriculum and Society at 艾可直播 College. She is also an affiliate 艾可直播member of the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society. Her research is in the field of engineering education with a focus on educational technologies and humanistic design. She specializes in community-based participatory design methods and working in informal educational environments with youth and families, for which she was awarded an NSF CAREER award in 2023. Her work is funded by the NSF Directorates of STEM Education and Engineering as well as local and national private foundations. She is also afounding 艾可直播member of the Human-Centered Engineering B.S. program at 艾可直播 College, which emphasizes social responsibility and student formation in engineering in the context of a liberal arts education. Prior to 艾可直播 College, she worked as a Research Scientist at MIT on the XQ superschool project, bringing project-based learning to high schools across the country, and as the educational content program manager at MathWorks. She holds a PhD in Engineering Education and an MS in Aerospace Engineering from Purdue University.

Selected Funded Projects

  • 2023 National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER. CAREER: Engineering in Youth-led Technology-rich Settings: Promoting Belonging and Preventing Harm $594,440
  • 2025 National Science Foundation (NSF) NSF Research Initiation in Engineering Formation (RIEF). Research Initiation: Human-Centered AI Algorithm Design for Engineering Students' Professional Formation $200,000 (PI: Bryan Ranger, Co-PI: Avneet Hira)
  • 2024 National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST). Collaborative Research: Developing and Testing Innovations: Early childhood maker literacies: Fostering computational thinking among Navajo youth and educators. BC: $566,643 (PI: Avneet Hira, Co-PI: Marina Bers) Total award: $1,240,345 (including Utah Staet PI: Kristin Searle)
  • 2024 National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experience for Teachers in Engineering and Computer Science (RET)) Site: Researching Cellular Agriculture: Bridging engineering and plant science to cultivate future engineering teachers $599,568 (PI: Avneet Hira, Co-PIs: Glenn Gaudette, Ali Salifu, Luke Perreault, Helen Zhang, & Mike Barnett)
  • 2024 National Science Foundation (NSF) Discovery Research PreK-12 (DRK-12). Building Teacher Capacity for Teaching Across Science Disciplines Using "Smart" Greenhouses. BC: $1,589,209 (PI: Mike Barnett, Co-PIs: Avneet Hira, Helen Zhang, & Jacqueline DeLisi) Total award: $2,977,449
  • 2024 Cummings Foundation grant to Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation for The Charles River Collaboratory $150,000 (Co-leads: Bob Perry, Mike Barnett, Avneet Hira & Helen Zhang)
  • 2024 Constellation鈥檚 E2 Energy to Educate grant. Engaging Youth and their Families in Learning About Alternative Energies through Food Justice $25,000 (PI: Mike Barnett, Co-PIs: Helen Zhang & Avneet Hira)
  • 2023 National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST). Developing and Testing Innovations: Restorative Gardening: Growing youth empowerment through learning & teaching about artificially intelligent community sustainable urban gardens $1,299,256 (PI: Mike Barnett, Co-PIs: Lacee Satcher, Avneet Hira, Helen Zhang, & Maureen Kenny)
  • 2021 National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST). Building a Youth-Led Learning Community through Automating Hydroponic Systems $1,414,733 (PI: Mike Barnett, Co-PIs: Helen Zhang, Maureen Kenny, Jacqueline DeLisi, Claudia Rinaldi, & Avneet Hira)

Selected Publications

  • Cheng, Y., Xiao, X., Jackson, D., Shah, S., Abdus-Sabur, F., Hira, A., Zhang, H.,& Barnett, M. (2025). Competent but Anxious Smart Greenhouse Makers: Findings from a Physical Computing Project. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 1-19.
  • Hira, A., Woods, P., & Anderson, E. (2025). What has persisted and what has not: A longitudinal study of changes in teachers鈥� experiences of Project-Based Teaching and Learning through the COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Engineering Education. 41(2), 280.
  • Woods, P., Anderson, E., & Hira, A (2024). Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 on the Grammar of Schools in Project-Based Learning Contexts. Journal of Educational Change.
  • Hira, A., Gemski, J., & Henriques, J. (2024). Assistive Technology and Human-Centered Engineering Design: Partnership between a school that serves students with extensive support needs and a human-centered engineering program. International Journal for Engineering Education. 40(6), 1370.
  • Beheshti, M., Shah, S. A., Zhang, H., Barnett, M., & Hira, A. (2024). Affordances of Technology for Sustainability-Oriented K鈥�12 Informal Engineering Education. Sustainability, 16(16), 6719.
  • Stuopis, I., & Hira, A. (2024). Hands-On for Whom?. Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER), 14(1), 3.
  • Beheshti, M., Kang, E., Yan, S., Louime. E., Hancock, C., & Hira, A. (2024). Augmented Reality in A Sustainable Engineering Design Context: Understanding Students鈥� Collaboration and Negotiation Practices. Sustainability, 16(1), 379.
  • Hira, A., Bhattacharya, S., Gaudette, G. & Govindasamy, S., (2022). Designing a design-driven human-centered engineering program. International Journal of Engineering Education, 38(6), 1815-1823.
  • Holly, Jr, J., Hira, A., Maxey, K, & Beebe, C. (2022) Who gets to engineer? In T. Fowler (Eds.), Countering the mythology of inclusion and wellness in schooling (pp 67 鈥� 92) DIO Press, New York.
  • Hira, A., & Hynes, M. (2021). How do designers and engineers practice design while Making? A narrative inquiry of designers who Make. Information and Learning Sciences, 122(11/12), 749-773.
  • Hira, A. & Anderson, E. (2021). Motivating Online Learning through Project-Based Learning During the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic. IAFOR Journal of Education, 9(2), 93-110.
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