Bridget Smyser

Bridget Smyser is a Teaching Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Northeastern University. She holds a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering (Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 1998) and a BS in Chemistry from MIT (1993). Her research focuses on engineering education, particularly capstone design courses, lab course design, and student performance analysis.

Key academic contributions include:

• Developing rubrics for assessing information literacy and writing skills
• Investigating skill retention in redesigned lab sequences
• Analyzing team dynamics in capstone projects
• Optimizing hybrid learning models post-pandemic

Notable awards include the 2008 Martin Essigman Outstanding Teaching Award and the 2017 ASEE DEED Best Paper Award. She is affiliated with the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and regularly presents at national conferences. Her lab spaces (021D and 060 FR) support experimental pedagogy and materials research.

Teaching interests emphasize lab courses, writing-intensive instruction, and materials processing. Recent work explores DEI frameworks in engineering education and pandemic-era lab course adaptations.