Seminar Series
“Making Biomedical Engineering More Neuroinclusive”
Zoe Reidinger, PhD
Associate Teaching Professor
WPI Biomedical Engineering
Monday, February 24, 2025
GP1002
12:00pm – 12:50pm
Abstract: Traditional lecture-style classrooms are built with one kind of student in mind: a healthy, quiet, attentive, calm, neurotypical one. However, we know success in so many biomedical engineering applications does not require, or always benefit from, the engineer having all those features. So why do we keep running our classrooms with this mindset? My focus on neuro-inclusive pedagogy aims to create welcoming classroom environments for neurodivergent students, particularly in lab and project-based settings. In my talk, I will help you understand what neurodiversity is, the importance of accessible classrooms, and how to make your classroom more inclusive, all while protecting your time.
Biography: Zoe Reidinger graduated with a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from WPI. My areas of interest and enthusiasm lie in biomaterial fabrication and tissue engineering. Bringing this enthusiasm to the classroom is easy with WPI’s focus on undergraduate education and project-based learning. My goal as an instructor is to lead students to higher levels of thinking and understanding by slowly increasing the depth of the course to engage in more complex learning behaviors. It is my earnest belief that integrating students into open-ended projects, student mentorship, and self-directed work, where they obtain increasing amounts of responsibility for their progress and learning fosters independence, responsibility, and a passion for their work.
For a zoom link please contact Kate Harrison at kharrison@wpi.edu