Inclusive Team Training | britelab, Penn State

Problem / Research Question

Can psychological safety in engineering student teams be taught — and does it change the ideas teams generate and select?

Why It Matters

Innovation depends on people voicing risky, half-formed ideas. When team members fear judgment, they self-censor and the most creative options never reach the table. Teaching teams to create safety is a direct investment in better designs — and it shapes whether students from underrepresented communities stay in engineering.

What britelab Is Doing

This five-year NSF-funded project turns britelab's longitudinal research on psychological safety into practical team training. Across studies of more than 500 first-year engineering students in 135 design teams, we linked psychological safety to idea sharing, the selection of creative concepts, and team performance over time. The project now scales those interventions — teaching teams to build safety early — to multiple campuses and universities, with measurable effects on how students collaborate.

Train student teams to build psychological safety early in the design process
Scale the inclusive teaming model to multiple campuses and universities
Improve belonging and retention for students from underrepresented communities
Develop data-driven approaches to team formation
Create replicable frameworks other institutions can adopt

Methods & Technology

Longitudinal studies of 500+ students across 135 design teamsCommunication-pattern and psychological-safety measuresPractical teaming interventions that build safety earlyData-driven team formationMulti-campus scaling and evaluation

Research Team

Funding Agency

NSF ($1.4M grant)

Outcomes / Impact

Psychological safety can be trained, not just hoped for. Teams that feel safe share more ideas and are more likely to select creative concepts — so teaching teams how to create safety is a direct investment in better designs and in keeping diverse talent in engineering.

Collaborate With Us

Sponsors, faculty collaborators, clinicians, and journalists interested in Inclusive Team Training are welcome to reach out.

Contact Dr. Miller

Back to Engineering Design, Creativity & Teams