In a very special season finale, Dr. Jill Fennell sits down with episode co-host Dr. Mihir Pathak to speak with five Georgia Tech Woodruff School Alumni who were selected to be part of the 2025 class of 40 under 40 honorees . Join Kevin Cone, Dr. Joe Harms, Dr. Robert Herbert, Dr. Akanksha Menon, and Shay Natarajan as they share their insights, career successes, challenges, and advice for current students and new engineers. _ Show Notes and Timestamps: 01:00 Introduction to Episode and Co-Host 0...
Apr 06, 2026•44 min•Season 4Ep. 5
In this episode, Dr. Jill Fennell sits down with Mike Tinskey , Professor of the Practice in Mechanical Engineering and Interim Associate Chair for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Georgia Tech, to talk about best practices for communication across power differences in different engineering contexts. _ Show Notes and Timestamps 01:01 Intro to Topic and Guest 02:55 Defining Power Differences 07:53 Advice for new engineers regarding risk and consequences 09:56 The importance of Audience and Comm...
Mar 23, 2026•42 min•Season 4Ep. 4
In this episode, Dr. Jill Fennell sits down with Dr. Brandon Dixon , Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies at the Woodruff School and Director of the Laboratory of Lymphatic Biology and Bioengineering at Georgia Tech. The two discuss how undergraduate engineers can get involved with lab work and how best to solicit lab directors for opportunities in different labs. _ Show Notes and Timestamps: 01:01 Introduction to Topic and Guest 02:05 Value of lab involvement as an undergraduate 04:20 Advi...
Mar 09, 2026•40 min•Season 4Ep. 3
In this episode, Dr. Jill Fennell sits down with Georgia Tech alum Foster Finley to challenge the myth that technical communication is objective by examining how engineers make strategic, audience-driven choices in real work. Take a look at Foster's book list here . _ Show Notes and Timestamps: 01:00 Introduction to topic and guest 02:18 Why reading is fundamental for engineers 03:33 Why all communication is rhetorical 08:13 Importance of audience understanding 10:35 Project failure and communic...
Feb 23, 2026•44 min•Season 4Ep. 2
In the season 4 premiere, Dr. Jill Fennell sits down with returning guest Dr. Amit S. Jariwala and new guest and fellow instructor Marty Jacobson to discuss the conventions of Design Communication. The episode covers how early-career engineers make communication decisions as they move from "student writing" into professional practice, design teams, and real constraints. _ Show Notes and Timestamps: 01:00 Welcome and Introductions to Guests - Amit Jariwala and Marty Jacobson 01:36 Communication D...
Feb 09, 2026•40 min•Season 4Ep. 1
In the season 3 finale, Dr. Jill Fennell sits down with returning guest Dr. David MacNair and new guest Dr. Caitlin Kelly . The three discuss the importance of 'training the trainer' and ensuring graduate TAs and communication center tutors have the tools they need to give feedback to the students they work with. _ Show Notes and Timestamps: 00:43 Introduction to guests 01:00 Introduction to conversation about training writing reviewers 01:57 How to train the trainer and give constructive feedba...
Nov 03, 2025•52 min•Season 3Ep. 5
In this episode, Dr. Jill Fennell sits down with recent Georgia Tech graduate Keshav Pransukhka to learn more about his experience as an engineering intern and discuss advice for students going into internships for the first time. _ Show Notes and Timestamps 00:43 welcome and introduction 01:15 internship information 04:17 First communication expectations and challenges 06:23 Value of communication training in college 07:41 Communicating with different audiences 10:05 Strategies for dealing with...
Oct 20, 2025•36 min•Season 3Ep. 4
In this episode, Jill Fennell speaks to Russell Ford, Chairman and CEO of StandardAero and Georgia Tech alumnus, about the importance of communication in leadership. Using Mister Ford's Top Ten Rules for Technical Leadership as a framework, the two discuss strategies for effectively communicating and growing in leadership roles as an engineer. _ Show Notes and Timestamps: 00:43 Introductions and Guest introductions 01:21 Communication’s importance in leadership 03:14 Evolving views on communicat...
Oct 06, 2025•44 min•Season 3Ep. 3
In this episode Dr. Jill Fennell has a conversation with Kathryn Woods about the principles of confident communication in high stakes scenarios, sharing important strategies for giving effective presentations and forming positive public speaking habits. Notes and Timestamps: 00:43 - Introduction and Guest 01:14 - Transition from SLP to Coaching Professionals in Public Speaking 02:34 - How personal experience influences teaching 04:31 - Background in SLP and the Science of Communication Confidenc...
Sep 22, 2025•43 min•Season 3Ep. 2
In the season 3 premiere of Communication Mechanics, podcast host Dr. Jill Fennell is joined by Laura Garcia , Director of Undergraduate Career Education at Georgia Tech. Together they discuss navigating different aspects of Career Fairs from a communication standpoint, detailing information to help students before, during, and after their career fair experience. Notes and Timestamps: 00:43 Introduction to Topic and Guest 01:51 How Students should prepare for the career fair 03:44 Details for st...
Sep 08, 2025•43 min•Season 3Ep. 1
In the Season 2 Finale, Jill sits down with Dr. Alena Alamgir, Director of Technical Communication for Materials Science at Georgia Tech. The two discuss preparing documentation and application materials for the highly competitive National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, or NSF GRFP. Show Notes and Timestamps: 00:54 Intro and Welcome 01:33 The Basics: What is NSF GRFP? 04:07 How many years does the Fellowship fund? 04:59 Restraints on who can apply 05:59 Documentation an...
Apr 07, 2025•44 min•Season 2Ep. 5
In this episode, host Dr. Jill Fennell sits down with Mark Ligler, Vice President of Factory Automation Systems in Georgia and member of the Woodruff School Advisory board , to talk about the importance of communicating safety in engineering. Notes and Timestamps: 00:54 Introductions and guest introductions 01: 33 Importance of safety to future engineers 04:32 Helping others communicate safety needs 08:04 Poor safety communication leading to issues 11:15 Building a safety culture 13:55 Effective...
Mar 24, 2025•43 min•Season 2Ep. 4
In this episode, host Dr. Jill Fennell sits down with Dr. David Torello , Director of the Clark Scholars Program and the College of Engineering's Dean's Scholars Program in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. The two discuss code commenting, an oft overlooked communication genre in Engineering, and consider best practices and use cases for creating effective code comments. Show Notes and Timestamps: 00:54 - Introducing guest 02:02 - Code Commenting as Communication 03:...
Mar 10, 2025•51 min•Season 2Ep. 3
In this episode, host Jill Fennell talks to Dr. David Smith , lecturer in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, and Scott Elliot , manager of the Machine Shop at the Montgomery Machining Mall about the importance of creating technical drawings that communicate information effectively between engineers and machinists. Show Notes and Timestamps: 00:54 - Welcome and Introductions 02:56 - Thinking about technical drawing as communication 05:40 - what engineers need to know about the role of...
Feb 24, 2025•42 min•Season 2Ep. 2
In the first episode of Season Two of Communication Mechanics, Dr. Jill Fennell is joined by Dr. Andy Frazee , Director of Writing and Communication in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Tech. Lending his expertise in the first year writing sequence of English 1101 and 1102, he offers strategies and connections between required communications courses and technical courses for early career engineering students. Show Notes and Timestamps: Introduction to Topic and Guest:...
Feb 10, 2025•45 min•Season 2Ep. 1
In Part 2 of the final episode of Season 1 of the podcast, Dr. Jill Fennell speaks to three members of the team that won in the category of Best Mechanical Engineering Project at the Spring 2024 Capstone Engineering Expo, the Mechkiwis . Seniors Isabelle Gustafson, Miguel Daly, and Sana Hafeez share the experience they and their fellow teammates - Claudia Vitale, Lena Moller, and Maxwell Gart - had creating communication materials for their project and designing a successful expo presentation. S...
Nov 11, 2024•31 min
In Part 1 of the final episode of Season 1 of the podcast, Dr. Jill Fennell speaks to three members of the team that won in the category of Best Mechanical Engineering Project at the Spring 2024 Capstone Engineering Expo, the Mechkiwis . Seniors Isabelle Gustafson, Miguel Daly, and Sana Hafeez share the experience they and their fellow teammates - Claudia Vitale, Lena Moller, and Maxwell Gart - had creating communication materials for their project and designing a successful expo presentation. P...
Nov 04, 2024•46 min•Season 1Ep. 5
In this episode Dr. Jill Fennell speaks with Dr. David MacNair , Director of Laboratory Development at Georgia Tech, about technical reports and the importance of moving beyond chronological narratives in engineering communication. Show Notes and Timestamps: Introduction to topic and guest 00:54 Technical Reports and their role in Engineering 04:28 Communication challenges for novice report writers 05:48 Significance of organization in avoiding pitfalls 07:07 Importance of organization in relati...
Oct 21, 2024•43 min•Ep. 4
In this episode Dr. Jill Fennell sits down with Dr. David Anderson , Principal Engineer at Exponent, to talk about the importance of understanding audience in Engineering Communications. Show Notes and Timestamps Episode Introduction 00:56 Why engineers should prioritize audience 2:02 How did you realize the importance of understanding audience 03:20 Audience influence on design decisions 05:22 Audience needs - anticipating and addressing 12:32 How can new engineers learn about different workpla...
Oct 07, 2024•38 min•Season 1Ep. 3
In this episode, Dr. Jill Fennell has a conversation about applying to graduate school with Dr. Andrei Fedorov , Associate Chair for Graduate Studies at the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. Show Notes and Timestamps: Introduction and Guest Introduction 00:54 Purpose of graduate school application documents 02:03 CRISP acronym for a successful grad school applications 05:42 C -Creative 06:08 R - Research 06:41 I - Integrity 08:25 S - Specific 09:09 P - Powerful 10:47 Doc...
Sep 23, 2024•39 min•Season 1Ep. 2
In this inaugural episode, podcast host Dr. Jill Fennell sits down with Dr. Amit S. Jariwala , Director of Design and Innovation at the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering to discuss the Goals and Tenets of the Webb Communication Program. Show Notes and Timestamps: Introduction, meeting the host and guest: 00:00 Webb Communication Program Goals: 03:45 Program History and Purpose: 06:32 Program structure and scaffolding: 08:28 Program Core Tenets 11:58 Implicit Task 1: Balancing Cognitive L...
Sep 08, 2024•56 min•Season 1Ep. 1
