Sound Ideas Honors Students Engineer Grand Challenge Solutions
Students in a Fall 2024 Honors seminar transformed global engineering challenges into creative storytelling through a semester-long podcast project exploring the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges for Engineering. Led by Civil Engineering Lecturer Farhang Forghanparast, the course invited students from diverse majors to explore themes of sustainability, health, security, and the joy of living. Working in small teams, students researched, scripted, and recorded a three-episode podcast series that examined one of the challenges in depth, blending technical knowledge with communication and creativity. Forghanparast, who brought prior podcasting experience to the class, encouraged students to use the medium to think differently about problem- solving. The format, he said, allowed them to approach complex topics from multiple angles and create something uniquely their own. The resulting podcasts reflected a range of approaches — from interviews and games to storytelling and analysis — and exceeded expectations in both creativity and quality.
“We all had different strengths that we brought to the project and I enjoyed hearing what everyone For students, the interdisciplinary collaboration was equally meaningful. Health Sciences major Griffin Dunn connected engineering concepts to medicine, while Civil Engineering major Lillian Harrell said working with students from other fields offered new perspectives and strengthened their teamwork.
knew about a topic, whether it was from their academic
background or just their life...it’s fun for me to see and value what other people bring to the table.” Lillian Harrell
Listen to the podcast series
HON 2270 students posing with Civil Engineering Lecturer Farhang Forghanparast (back row, third from left).
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