Mindy Zarske

  • IDE Faculty Director
  • Lattice Program Faculty Director
  • Teaching Professor
  • IDE
Address

DLC 176, Dr. Zarske's office is located along the bridge between the ITLL and DLC (second office from the north end).

Mindy Zarske is a Teaching Professor with the Integrated Design Engineering program. With over two decades of teaching experience, Dr. Zarske leads engineering design across a range of courses, including First-Year Engineering Projects (GEEN 1400), Engineering Projects for the Community (GEEN 2400), Invention and Innovation (GEEN 3400), Circuits for Engineers (GEEN 3010), and Teaching Design (GEEN 4400/ENED 5400). She was awarded the Sullivan-Carlson Innovation in Education Award in 2019 and the John and Mercedes Peebles Innovation in Education Award in 2020 from CU's College of Engineering & Applied Science.

Holding a PhD in environmental engineering and engineering education from CU Boulder, Dr. Zarske's primary research covers the transformative power of hands-on engineering design. She explores how design experiences shape student identities, particularly among women, first-generation college students, and other underrepresented groups. Her work seeks to enhance pathways and retention rates to and through K-12 and undergraduate engineering, teacher education, and curriculum development, emphasizing project-based service-learning and client-based engineering design to foster student learning, intrateam dynamics, and perseverance. 

Dr. Zarske is a collaborator with the CU Teach STEM teacher preparation program and CU Teach Engineering program to develop pathways for students to attain a secondary school STEM teacher license concurrently with a BS degree in engineering, math or science, as well as the nationally-recognized TeachEngineering Digital Library repository of vetted K-12 engineering curricula. She has served in leadership roles within the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), specifically in the Commission on P-12 Engineering Education and the Pre-College Engineering Education Division.

Dr. Zarske is committed to expanding and supporting diverse and inclusive access to engineering education and engineering design for every student, at every stage of education. She believes that allowing students the flexibility and freedom to engage fully in their education through working on team-based projects and with real clients helps them develop valuable technical and professional skills that stretches them outside their comfort zone and impacts their personal growth and future careers. Her vision for the future includes continuous innovation in teaching methodologies and further research into effective strategies for community engagement and problem-solving in engineering education.