About

Shadi Balawi is an Instructional Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. He holds a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Cincinnati, obtained in 2007, along with a Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering from the same university, and both a Master's and Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Jordan University of Science and Technology. His research interests encompass engineering mechanics, honeycomb structures, metallic sandwich panels, manufacturing, theoretical modeling, and experimental static and dynamic testing of discrete materials and structures. He has received several awards, including the Texas A&M University College of Engineering Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award in 2026, the ASEE-Golf Southwest Outstanding Teaching Award in 2024, and the College of Engineering Teaching Impact Award in 2024. Additionally, he was recognized with the inaugural Faculty Excellence Award at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi in 2012 for outstanding service. His scholarly work includes research on the whirl response of cracked rotors and the application of the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) method for analyzing cracked rotors, contributing to the fields of vibration, acoustics, and nonlinear dynamics.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Management
• Sociology
• Medicine
• Medical education
• Psychology
• Knowledge management
• Pedagogy
• Engineering
• Mathematics education

Selected publications

• Solid Mechanics Machine Element Demonstrator

  2026-04-03

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• A Product-Based Intervention to Enhance Engagement in Teaching Nonferrous Metals

  2026-04-03

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The nonferrous metals chapter in materials science courses is frequently characterized by dense, memorization-heavy content that often leads to student disengagement and diminished instructional enthusiasm.This disconnect between learners and the material can hinder appreciation for the critical role nonferrous metals play in engineering applications.To address this challenge, we introduce a targeted instructional intervention that reframes the chapter around a tangible, product-based context.By centering the learning experience on a familiar household item, such as a blender, students are guided to investigate and rationalize the selection of various nonferrous metals used in its components.This approach emphasizes the relationship between material properties and design requirements, including mechanical performance, corrosion resistance, and manufacturability.The intervention incorporates short preparatory videos to introduce foundational concepts, followed by structured inclass worksheets that promote active learning and collaborative analysis.Unlike traditional reverse engineering, this method focuses on the materials dimension of design, encouraging students to consider how material choices evolve with changing functional demands.Supplementary activities include hands-on examination of water jet-cut product samples and online research into material applications in everyday items.Early feedback indicates that this intervention significantly enhances student engagement and conceptual understanding, offering a promising model for revitalizing traditionally challenging content in engineering education.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Enhancing Teamwork Skills in Engineering Education: Iterative Development of Interactive Lecture Modules

  2025-04-29

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Teamwork is a fundamental skill for success in engineering education and professional practice.Engineering projects often demand collaboration across disciplines and expertise, requiring the development of competencies in team dynamics, effective communication, and conflict management.Critical elements of teamwork include understanding team stages, recognizing members' strengths and weaknesses, fostering mutual trust, and managing roles and expectations through tools like team charters.To address the gap in teamwork skill development, the UNdergraduates Improving TEamwork Skills (UNITES) project was launched to integrate vertically aligned lecture modules into the engineering curriculum.The foundational module initially consisted of slide-based content focused on characteristics of successful teams, team dynamics, and expectation management.However, instructor feedback revealed challenges such as unfamiliarity with concepts, lack of student engagement, and excessive time required to cover materials during lectures.The module was improved to increase student engagement, effectiveness, and time management.Icebreaking activities, such as MEEN-Go and Engineering Superhero Persona Building, were introduced to build rapport among team members.Pre-recorded videos replaced slides to reduce the instructional burden of not being a subject matter expert and save time for interactive activities.These changes allowed for the inclusion of a role-playing exercise, where teams collaboratively created a charter for a hypothetical project.Similar iterative revisions are being applied to effective communication and conflict management modules to improve their adaptability and impact.These iterative enhancements illustrate our commitment to refining pedagogical practices and equipping students with essential teamwork skills critical for their academic and professional success.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Teaching Conflict Management for Teamwork

  2025-08-21

  article
  PublisherDOI

• WORKSHOP: Conflict Management for Undergraduate Engineering Students

  2025-04-29

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Enhancing Student Learning Outcomes through Brief Cold Working and Annealing Interventions in Materials and Manufacturing Selection in Design Course

  2025-04-29

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This study examines the impact of a brief (10-15 minute) annealing and cold working classroom intervention on student learning outcomes in the Materials and Manufacturing Selection in Design course.The intervention, designed to fit seamlessly into the course schedule, uses active learning strategies to help students describe the microstructural evolution and the corresponding effects on material properties during cold working, annealing, and phase transformations.Through short demonstrations and problem-solving activities, students observe how these processes influence material characteristics, enhancing both their conceptual understanding and ability to apply this knowledge.Results show that these brief, focused interventions significantly improve student engagement, retention, and learning outcomes in complex technical topics.This work extends prior research in materials science education 1 , demonstrating the effectiveness of short, active learning strategies in reinforcing key learning objectives.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Teaching Effective Communication for Teamwork

  2024

  • Computer Science
  • Medical education
  • Computer Science

  Abstract This is a Work in Progress paper. Although engineering curricula focus primarily on technical knowledge and skills, soft skills such as teamwork are essential for practicing engineers. Engineers are often expected to collaborate in large teams consisting of individuals with varying expertise. In addition to technical contributions, engineers must be capable of effective communication and conflict management to succeed. Unfortunately, engineering graduates can be ill-prepared to work as effective team members due to poor teamwork experiences in their undergraduate education. While educators hope that students can learn from poor experiences, the reality is that students may not be learning what they need to perform well on a team in the future. Students need guidance on what makes an effective team. At a University, a group of mechanical engineering faculty are developing three training modules aimed at helping students develop effective teamwork skills in their sophomore, junior, and senior years. Each module focuses on a different aspect of teamwork and is taught during one class lecture. The first module introduces the stages of team development and setting expectations using a team charter in a sophomore-level course. In a junior-level course, the second module focuses on effective communication and awareness of different working styles. The third module will cover conflict resolution in a senior-level course. In this paper, we will present the second module, which was fully implemented for the first time in Fall 2023. This effective communication module was conducted in a workshop-style format. The students completed an individual activity and then needed to combine their efforts into a shared team solution. The activity provided a quick example of how they typically work as a team and communicate with little time. We then shared a video with several examples of failures and misconceptions that can result from ineffective communication. Cross-cultural communication was highlighted because team members may make assumptions based on culture, background, or current circumstances. Finally, students completed a working styles assessment to bring awareness of different working styles. They reflected on how communication and interactions may differ between these working styles and how they can adapt to different situations. Students were then asked to connect their new understandings to the initial activity reflecting on their own style and that of their teammates. The paper will share more detailed information about the training workshop. The post-training reflection module shows promising results, with students identifying how to be better team members, realizing that they can be more open-minded, and recognizing the importance of establishing trust within a team. The students are currently working on a class project and will complete a team experience survey. We will share initial results comparing this semester's survey results to a baseline group that did not receive the teamwork training. These results will guide our improvement of the second module and the development of the third module. Keywords: teams, team dynamics, teamwork training, working styles, communication

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Vertical Integration of Teamwork Skills from Sophomore to Senior and Beyond!

  2024 · 1 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Medical education
  • Psychology

  Abstract Teamwork skills are essential to success in professional settings. Keeping this in mind, engineering courses offer projects that require students to participate in teams. Although many students have prior experience in teamwork that may be under a different context, most do not receive sufficient formal guidance on effective team building. We observed that some student teams become dysfunctional due to inconsistent team expectations, ineffective communication, and an inability to manage conflicts. Recent student surveys also pointed out an unmet need to empower them with these teamwork skills. We believe that students will best learn these teamwork skills in the context of their own team projects. Our proposed approach here will enable students to build students interpretation of teamwork by learning in classroom lectures/activities and working with others. Throughout this process, students should learn to be resilient team members capable of understanding their unique and shared roles in a team. To implement the proposed approach, we are developing three learning modules covering three essential teamwork aspects: team formation, effective communication, and conflict management. We plan to teach one module per year in sophomore, junior, and senior year courses that require team projects. We will introduce the modules before the students start their team projects so that they can immediately apply what they learn. With each year focusing on a different aspect of teaming, students can continue developing and improving their skills throughout their undergraduate coursework. We introduced the first module in the Spring of 2022. Currently, we are developing the second module and will implement it in Spring 2023. During their sophomore year, we introduced students to team formation, stages of team dynamics, characteristics of successful teams, and the development of team charters. The following year, they will study how teams are composed of individuals with different experiences, perspectives, and working styles. With this knowledge, students will learn to communicate and collaborate effectively as a team. During the final year, we will familiarize them with the nature of conflicts and their management methods. We will conduct each module in a workshop format with roleplay activities, in-class topic discussions, and relevant assignments. Students will then apply their knowledge to build and run effective teams and reinforce good practices during their course projects. After teaching the modules, we will administer mid- and post-project surveys to capture the outcomes and student feedback. We will then compare the survey data to a baseline group who did not receive training to provide insight into students' improved teamwork abilities. Developing this critical professional skill set will help prepare students for leadership positions and successful careers after their graduation. Acknowledgment: This work is supported by National Science Foundation Grant EEC-2022275.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Leveraging Cost-Effective Custom Tensile Testing Apparatus for Improved Understanding of Stress and Strain Principles

  2024-10-13

  article1st authorCorresponding

  We propose an innovative approach using affordable and easy-to-assemble test kits to enhance hands-on learning experiences in materials and manufacturing education. The paper addresses the common challenge faced by mechanical engineering departments in obtaining expensive lab equipment. By developing significantly cheaper yet effective test kits, our aim is to provide students with practical experience in experimental methodology, assembly, and problem-solving with the equipment. Our solution showcases the design of safe, easy-to-assemble, and reliable test kits that could be used in multiple experiments. These kits are orders of magnitude cheaper than standard equipment, costing only two to three hundred dollars compared to tens of thousands. While they may lack extra high accuracy, they still excel in achieving desired student learning outcomes. These kits rely on easy-to-make, open-source codes, and/or inexpensive off-the-shelf components. We developed and tested two kits through two design iterations: a personal universal testing machine and a personal foundry. Each kit allows students to run 2–3 experiments, providing them with the opportunity to experience assembly and full system integration for force, energy, mass, and information flows. Student surveys were conducted to understand their self-reported response to the effectiveness of these kits in achieving learning goals. More than 60% of students consistently reported that the kit gave them command over experimental methodology, assembly of pieces, resolution of issues with the test equipment, and conducting experiments with just a manual. While initially challenging for some students, overcoming these hurdles improved their understanding of experimental methodology and tension testing equipment design. This contrasts with conventional lab experiments where students often follow set protocols without needing to understand equipment workings. The hands-on nature of the kits not only increased student engagement but also fostered a sense of ownership and investment in the learning process. Some students expressed a desire to test their own designed items, indicating deeper engagement and interest. Overall, the findings suggest that the test kits offer a unique set of learning opportunities by providing students with an unguided build, study, and report challenge.

  PublisherDOI

• Mini-Lab Activities to Stimulate Students’ Conceptual Learning

  2024-02-07

  articleOpen access

  Courses and labs commonly reinforce learning through activities that explore applications, but it remains vital to promote deeper conceptual understanding. Also, with increasing class sizes, it has become more difficult to monitor the conceptual understanding of individual students. To address these issues, we have developed a framework for implementing short and individualized activities that focus on bridging the gap in conceptual understanding of a key topic. The framework involves administering a demonstration in a fun and exciting way while connecting independent concepts first introduced in the classroom. Specifically, we designed a demonstration for a mechanics and materials lab to aid in understanding a material's behavior during loading and failure and how temperature can affect a material's response. The demonstration requires students to think critically and draw connections in the interplay among mechanical loading, material behavior, and failure behavior, as opposed to simply assuming that failure behavior is always correlated with the material type itself. The demonstration consists of two mini activities: in the first activity students break chalk and observe failure surfaces expected for a brittle material and in the second activity a polymer is cooled with liquid nitrogen, a torsional load is applied until failure, and the failure surface is compared to that of chalk. Students' understanding gained from this demonstration can easily be applied to other topics involving failure behavior in the course. These types of short demonstrations could be used in any lab or even as a quick way to grasp concepts during classroom lectures. Students were split into a study group (n=155) who attended the activity and a control group (n=162) who did not attend. Three assessments were conducted: an initial impression survey, a quiz on the concepts targeted, and a final extensive feedback survey. Surveys show that students had an overwhelmingly positive attitude toward the activity with perceived improvements in their learning. The study group's performance in the quiz was found to be statistically significantly better using a one-tailed t-test with a significance level of =0.05, t(315) =3.428, p<.001. A second demonstration using the established framework was added in the second run of the study and focused on the connection between the intrinsic coefficient of thermal expansion and the interatomic energy potentials of a pair of bonded materials. The preliminary results of the second run show comparable results for students' initial impressions. The results demonstrate that the framework developed for implementing short, low-cost, and engaging demonstrations had a positive impact on student's performance and learning.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Carlos Corleto

  Texas A&M University

  18 shared

• Matt Pharr

  Texas A&M University

  17 shared

• Jonathan M. Weaver-Rosen

  Mitchell Institute

  15 shared

• Joanna Tsenn

  West Texas A&M University

  14 shared

• Mohammad W. Mohiuddin

  Texas A&M University

  14 shared

• Ravi Thyagarajan

  9 shared

• G. W. Hitt

  8 shared

• Kinda Khalaf

  Khalifa University of Science and Technology

  8 shared

Education

• PhD, Aerospace Engineering

  University of Cincinnati

  2007

• M.Sc., Aerospace Engineering

  University of Cincinnati

  1999

• MSc, Mechanical Engineering

  Jordan University of Science and Technology

  1997

• BSc, Mechanical

  Jordan University of Science and Technology

  1994

Awards & honors

• Texas A&M University College of Engineering, Association of…
• ASEE-Golf Southwest Outstanding Teaching Award - 2024
• College of Engineering Teaching Impact Award - 2024
• Mechanical Engineering IAC Outstanding Faculty Contribution…
• Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE inaugural Faculty Excelle…