"Sustainability" as an integrative lens for engineering education: Initial reflections on four approaches taken at rensselaer

ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings

Volumn , Issue , 2009, Pages

  Nieusma, Dean ^a  

^a RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 85029120853     PISSN: None     EISSN: 21535965     Source Type: Conference Proceeding    
DOI: None     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (21)

1. Vezzoli, C, and Manzini, E., Design for Environmental Sustainability, London: Springer, 2008. P. 13.
2. Sharma, M. P., and Peters, R. W., "A Study of Integration of Sustainability in Engineering Curricula at U.S. Colleges and Universities," in Proceedings of the 2008 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition.
3. Bosscher, P. J., Russell, J. S., and Stouffer, W. B., "The Sustainable Classroom: Teaching Sustainability to Tomorrow's Engineers," in Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition.
4. Orndoff, C, "A Student Overview in Practical Sustainability," in Proceedings of the 2008 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition.
5. Grimberg, S. J., Langen, T. A., Compeau, L. D., and Powers, S. E., "A Theme-Based Seminar on Environmental Sustainability Improves Participant Satisfaction in an Undergraduate Summer Research Program," Proceedings of the 2008 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition.
6. Theis, R., Watkins, P., and Beck, M. A., "Pathways to Learning: Orchestrating the Role of Sustainability," in Engineering Education," in Proceedings of the 2008 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition.
7. Vanderburg, W. H., "On the Measurement and Integration of Sustainability in Engineering Education," in Journal of Engineering Education, 1999 (April), pp. 231-235.
8. Gaughran, W., Burke, S., and Quinn, S., "Environmental Sustainability in Undergraduate Engineering Education," in Proceedings of the 2007 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition.
9. Nair, I., "Life Cycle Analysis and Green Design: A Context for Teaching Design, Environment, and Ethics," in Journal of Engineering Education, 1998 (October), pp. 489-495.
10. Hollar, K. A., and Sukumaran, B., "Teaching Students Sustainability: An Interdisciplinary Design Project for Sophomore Engineering Students," in Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Zone 1 Conference.
11. Catalano, G., Baillie, C, Riley, D., and Nieusma, D. "Engineering, Peace, Justice, and the Earth: Developing Course Modules," in Proceedings of the 2008 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition.
12. Sreenath, S. N., Mesarovic, M. D., and Vali, A. M., "Education on Globalization and Sustainability for Engineers," in Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition.
13. Zhang, Q., Zimmerman, J., Mihelcic, J., and Vanasupa, L., "Civil and Environmental Engineering Education (CEEE) Transformational Change: Tools and Strategies for Sustainability Integration and Assessment in Engineering Education," in Proceedings of the 2008 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition.
14. Chen, K., Vanasupa, L, London, B., Savage, R., "Infusing the Materials Engineering Curriculum with Sustainability Principles" in Proceedings of the 2006 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition.
15. Robinson, M., and Sutterer, K., "Integrating Sustainability into Civil Engineering Curricula," in Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition.
16. Beckman, E., Besterfield-Sacre, M., Kovalcik, G., Needy, K., Ries, R., Schaefer, L, and Shuman, L., "Combining Graduate Studies, Research, and International Experiences in Sustainability," in Proceedings of the 2006 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition.
17. ABET's criterion h for engineering program explicitly refers to the environmental context: "the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context."
18. Lynch, D., Kelly, W., Jha, M., and Harichandran, R., "Implementing Sustainability in the Engineering Curriculum: Realizing the AS CE Body of Knowledge," in Proceedings of the 2007 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition.
19. Hadgraft, R., and Goricanec, J., "Engineering Sustainability?!" in Proceedings of the 2007 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition.
20. IDEA also provides adjusted scores, which are intended to account for "extraneous factors" not controllable by the instructor. The adjusted score for the course was 4.1. For more detailed information on the IDEA student ratings system, see http://www.theideacenter.org/.
21. Again, ABET's criterion h requires attention to the environment as well as other facets of "broad education," and many engineering curriculum reformers use criterion h effectively in support of their efforts. However, criterion h is both extremely broad and sufficiently vague to allow even modest educational efforts to satisfy it. Furthermore, the environmental context competes for attention among other expansive domains, including the global context, the economic context, and the societal context.