Opoku, Winifred

Winifred Opoku

Photo of Winifred Opoku
Graduate Research Associate, Engineering Education
Graduate Research Associate, Materials Science and Engineering
PhD Student, Engineering Education
Hitchcock Hall2070 Neil Ave Columbus, OH 43210-1226

Biography

Winifred Opoku is a doctoral student in the Department of Engineering Education, College of Engineering (CoE). She worked in the energy industry as a mechanical design engineer and a corporate trainer before returning to the Academy pursue her PhD. She has a wealth of teaching and training experience in various settings: first-year engineering classrooms, academic mentorship programs, K-12 events, nonprofits, and in corporate spaces.

As a rising engineering education scholar, she aims to use her research to provide tools to design more inclusive and supportive learning spaces for students from diverse backgrounds. Winnie’s teaching mission incorporates four principles:

(I) Visibility: Students learn better when they feel seen and heard in learning spaces.

(II) Proactivity: Students learn more effectively when they are engaged in their own learning process and are motivated to learn the material.

(III) Community Support: Students can make better learning connections when they learn in a guided peer-to-peer environment.

(IV) Building Blocks: Students learn better when they have the foundational knowledge of a subject and understand real-world applications of the learning material.

“I am committed to supporting instruction and student-learning to enable students to feel seen, heard, to build motivation, and to increase their conceptual understanding.”

Latest project:

Led in the curation and production of a podcast, The STEER Podcast, featuring graduate students in engineering education, with a mission to transform engineering education by focusing on the needs of stakeholders. Listen here.

Research Groups & Affiliations:

- Beliefs in Engineering Research Group

- Ohio Manufacturing Institute

- International Institute for Engineering Education Assessment

Service:

- CIRTL - OSU Advisory Board Member (Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning)

- AWARES Mentor (Aspiration for Women’s Advancement and Retention in Engineering and Sciences)

- GradSWE (Society of Women Engineers)


Instruction:

- Fundamentals of Engineering (ENGR 1181, 1182) - AU21, SP22