dr.ir. M. Orozco (Mariana)

Mariana Orozco is a researcher in Educational Sciences for the Department of Philosophy at the University of Twente. This department focuses on the Philosophy of Technology.

She conducted her PhD at the University of Antwerp, in the Faculty of Social Sciences. Her PhD dissertation concerns the Integrative Learning of Theory and Practice. This dissertation, which is embedded in the context of Chemical Processing Technologies, is particularly focused on epistemic beliefs and embraces an epistemological inferentialist perspective on integration. 

Throughout a career as a chemical engineer in various industrial sectors, she became increasingly interested in how professionals (at all hierarchical levels) learn and develop in the workplace both individually and collaboratively. Her research situates in the areas of professional learning and learning in transition (e.g., from higher education to professional life). She has been particularly interested in the micro-level of education and instruction, learning theories and the psychology of learning, reasoning in learning processes, and educational research methodology. She holds a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering (Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, Argentina), a master’s degree in Instructional and Educational Sciences (University of Antwerp, Belgium), and a master's degree in Educational Research (University of Portsmouth, UK). 

Currently, she conducts research on the development of higher-order academic skills in Engineering Education, with particular attention to the Epistemology of Science in Practice.

Current research interests are: (1) cognition and metacognition, (2) learning and teaching in the engineering sciences, (3) philosophy of science for the engineering sciences, and (4) educational research methodology.