Amir Saeidi Receives UC Dialogue Fellowship to Teach Constructive Disagreement in Engineering
Amir Saeidi, assistant professor of teaching in materials science and engineering at the University of California, Davis, is one of five UC Davis faculty and staff who have been named 2026-27 UC Dialogue Fellows for projects they will lead to advance the teaching and practice of dialogue across differences.
This is the first year for the fellowship, and 18 faculty and staff from six UC campuses have been named to the inaugural cohort of fellows, each receiving a $5,000 grant.
“Through 18 innovative projects spanning disciplines from science and medicine to the arts, classics and communication, fellows will develop and expand curricular resources while building a systemwide community of practice dedicated to strengthening dialogue as a foundation for learning, civic engagement and democratic participation,” the UC Office of the President said in its announcement.
Saeidi’s project, “Engineering Dialogue Under Disagreement,” gives engineering students a real-world failure case to investigate in teams.
After learning how to communicate constructively during technical disagreement, teams will examine technical evidence and physical specimens, research possible failure mechanisms and develop competing explanations for why the failure occurred.
The teams will then participate in a structured technical hearing, presenting and defending their analyses before the instructor and, where possible, invited experts.
The goal is not simply to win an argument. Students must accurately explain the opposing team’s position, respond to counterevidence, identify uncertainties in their own analysis and state what additional evidence or testing could change their conclusion. The project assesses both students’ technical reasoning and their ability to engage professionally and productively with disagreement.
It will be led by Saeidi, whose teaching extends beyond technical knowledge to prepare students for professional practice. In particular, he helps students develop clear communication skills and learn to navigate disagreement constructively.
He emphasizes that conflict in teamwork is not inherently negative or something to avoid; when approached thoughtfully, it can reveal different perspectives, strengthen working relationships and improve the quality of both the process and the final work.
