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The last 20 years has seen rapid expansion of sustainable energy deployment in the European Union (EU) and the United States (U.S.) that is driving the demand for trained professionals. An engineering degree with coursework in sustainable energy systems is a desirable initial qualification. However, engineering students should also appreciate the societal and environmental impacts of the sustainable energy transition. Furthermore, since the sustainable energy transition is a global endeavor, an international perspective is needed. The sustainable energy engineering course described in this paper taught students the scientific and engineering principles underlying the major types of emerging sustainable energy technologies from a chemical engineering perspective. The technical content served as context for comparing renewable energy deployment in the EU country of Austria with the U.S. The broader impacts (societal and environmental) of renewable energy deployment were then illustrated through student presentations. Survey results showed that students gained understanding of the engineering fundamentals underlying these renewable energy systems and challenges of their deployment in Austria and the U.S. Therefore, a unique outcome of this course was that students gained an international perspective on the expansion of sustainable energy systems needed to secure a low-carbon energy future. • New approach for developing and teaching a sustainable energy engineering course. • Topics sequenced through Technology-Resources-Deployment-Broader Impact subtopics. • Renewable energy technologies taught from a chemical engineering perspective. • International perspectives by comparing US and Austria renewable energy deployment. • Broader (societal, environmental) impact discussions through student presentations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial ecology and sustainability education have evolved over time, as this relatively new discipline has emerged and has been refined. Courses engaging with these topics are often found in engineering departments, and feature project or problem‐based learning (PBL) commonly with an industrial partner. This provides students the opportunity to apply the topics that they have learned in class in a real‐world situation, complete with the constraints and uncertainties inherent in practice. Community‐based learning (CBL), a combination of service learning and PBL, allows students to not only apply the material from a sustainability course, but also to do so in service of a community partner. This work presents an analysis of a multi‐year effort in teaching a CBL course on the topic of industrial ecology and sustainability in a North American context. Knowledge probes are utilized to quantify student preparation for the course and confidence in knowledge gained during the course in a longitudinal manner. Meanwhile, evolving student reflection is utilized to assess the impact of how the CBL element of the course influenced student thinking about the role of sustainability and industrial ecology within engineering education. The findings suggest that applying CBL to industrial ecology education has the potential to further enhance student learning experiences, while also providing a valuable service experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to education of future green engineers for achieving sustainable development in green manufacturing industry. It outlines that green engineering is an important industry which aim is to reduce consumption, to save resources, and to achieve sustainable development in manufacturing. Green manufacturing puts forward new requirements for the training future green engineers. The article reveals the principles of educating future green engineers. Specifical attention is paid to the improvement of the teaching system training of future green engineers, strengthening the teaching staff, changing the teaching mode, strengthening teaching practice and practical training for achieving teaching goals. The authors conclude that it is necessary to clarify the goals of training of future green engineers, and to establish reform the teaching content of green engineering course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The human species' adaptive advantage is driven by its ability to build new material structures and artefacts. Engineering is the modern manifestation of this building instinct, and its advent has made the construction and use of technologies the central pattern of human life. In parallel, efficiency, the overarching narrative driving technology and related life practices, has pervaded most occupations as a value, forming a cultural backdrop that implicitly guides decisions and behaviour. We examine the process through which this backdrop has developed, and argue that it emerged through the constant presence and use of built artefacts and structures, which function as manifestations of the engineering value of efficiency. The constant presence and use of built structures leads to the slow percolation of their building values into society, forming a cultural narrative that emphasises efficiency. This narrative then feeds back, to further reinforce efficiency-driven engineering processes. This loop creates a runaway building system that is highly resistant to change, even when faced with the prospect of the species going extinct. Any effort towards sustainability can be successful only when this all-pervading - and hence invisible - building loop is made explicit, and compensated for, through a counter-loop where building manifests sustainable engineering values. As a first step in revealing this structure, we characterise the emergence of the efficiency value as a cultural narrative, and analyse its wide-ranging environmental effects. We then present the design principle of 'Solving for Pattern' (SfP) as an illustrative contrast case. SfP, first articulated by Wendell Berry, focuses on interconnectedness and flourishing of all species as central design principles. We argue that these ecological principles can be extended to engineering, and can thus support the development of a robust operational-level building movement that manifests value systems oriented towards sustainability. To ground this proposal in actual practice, we outline two case studies of technology design that illustrates SfP. We also discuss three cases that illustrate SfP at a larger scale, and examine how these extend existing design approaches such as systems engineering. We conclude with a proposal to include SfP in engineering education curricula, to facilitate a faster cultural shift towards flourishing, which is required given the limited time window available to move to sustainable building practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University in Kerala was founded in the year 2014. The University has introduced many path breaking initiatives for modernizing and upgrading technical education in Kerala. Extensive consultations were held for the preparation of the new curriculum for the University with various stake holders including eminent academicians, distinguished industrialists, faculty members from affiliated institutions and representatives of students. A detailed survey of the existing curricula in all the universities in Kerala was conducted prior to the preparation of the curriculum for the Technological University. This paper presents certain novel features introduced by the University at its inception in the curriculum for the undergraduate programmes in engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the sectorial policy of official development assistance (ODA) linked to education through the cosmopolitan engineering of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) that have defined global policies (Barandiarán, 2017), of which cooperation and education constitute two objects of analysis and research. To this end, we review the Spanish case of the ODA-education tandem and how, closely linked to the homogenizing world political orthodoxy that is intentionally expressed by international organizations, ODA at present and in this specific area has been channelled and transmuted into the fourth Sustainable Development Goal (ODS 4), also focused on education. Qualitative techniques are used to analyse documents and content of international organizations and official reports on ODA and SDG 4. The conclusions highlight the initial discourse of the existing link between current Spanish policy on SDG 4 and that of ODA, while elucidating its most immediate future projection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article identifies limitations in traditional approaches to engineering ethics pedagogy, reflected in an overreliance on disaster case studies. Researchers in the field have pointed out that these approaches tend to occlude ethically significant aspects of day-to-day engineering practice and thus reductively individualize and decontextualize ethical decision-making. Some have proposed, as a remedy for these defects, the use of research and theory from Science and Technology Studies (STS) to enrich our understanding of the ways in which technology and engineering practice are intricated in social and institutional contexts. While endorsing this approach, this article also argues that STS scholarship may not sufficiently address the kinds of questions about normativity and agency that are essential to engineering ethics. It proposes making use of the growing body of research in a field called "postphenomenology," an approach that combines STS research with the traditional phenomenological concern with the standpoint of lived-experience. Postphenomenology offers a method of inquiry that combines STS's investigation into social and institutional dimensions of technology with phenomenological reflection on our lived experience of embodied engagement with technical objects and sociotechnical systems, particularly the ways in which these involvements affect our moral perception and agency. The aim in using this approach in engineering ethics is thus to illuminate moral dimensions of everyday professional life of which practitioners may not typically be aware. The article concludes with some concrete curricular interventions for engineering ethics classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The ability to create a context is essential in writing the introduction of a research article (RA). This study explores the experience of engineering Ph.D. students in Australia, for whom English is an Additional Language (EAL), in using a problem-solution-based writing model to develop context-creating skills in writing RA introductions. Research question: What is the experience of engineering Ph.D. students in creating contexts through explicit learning of a problem-solution-based model for writing RA introductions? Literature review: Genre-based teaching is a common approach in the second language classroom. Recently, a genre-based approach for writing the introduction of engineering RAs has been proposed. The descriptive values of the model, PSP-CaRS, have been shown in corpus studies of published engineering RAs. However, its applicability has not been explored pedagogically. Methodology: Twenty-nine Ph.D. students were asked to respond to a questionnaire nine months after learning the model and reflect on their experience using it. The findings were then corroborated with data obtained from interviews, researcher observation, and writing samples. Results: The findings showed that the participants perceived PSP-CaRS to be useful and they continued using it after nine months despite some difficulties encountered in the writing process. Participants’ responses showed that explicit teaching of PSP-CaRS formed the foundation upon which more competent skills to create contexts were developed through practice and integration of subject knowledge. Discussion: Explicit teaching using a model can impart the basics of genre awareness to students. Once students gained an in-depth understanding of the model by working through their difficulties, they developed better genre awareness, and used the model adaptively to visualize and write their RA introductions. Conclusion: The results confirm the usefulness of the proposed model and reveal how a continuing process of learning and practicing using the model helps students develop their skills to create contexts and enhance their genre awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarship of Application. Background: Capstone courses constitute the culminating experience in engineering curricula. A core characteristic is the student team and project-based nature, with many team deliverables. The ensuing difficulty is to fairly assess the individual team member’s contribution toward the team effort. Contribution: The method presented here is based on weekly peer evaluation of the individual team member’s contribution, which subsequently yields a participation factor (PF), in turn scaling the team grade in accordance with the individual student performance. Intended Outcome: This method allows the timely adjustment of the individual student effort to match the group expectations and rewards high-performing students by making higher individual grades than the team average possible, while penalizing underperforming free riders by not benefiting from other student’s performance. Application Design: The method allows students to continuously calibrate their own and their teammate’s expectations and improve their peer score by adjusting their individual efforts. This feedback also requires students to practice professional communication, and in particular giving and receiving critical feedback, and thus is highly aligned with industry needs. Findings: Results evaluated over three iterations of the assessment process indicate a weak positive correlation (0.26) of the peer evaluation with the individual instructor-graded deliverables as well as the individual student grade point average (GPA, 0.23). Further, survey-based data indicate student agreement that the PF is a fair reflection of the individual performance, and a neutral perceived overall assessment system effectiveness, with reported primary barriers being the difficulty in assigning fair peer grades and of open, critical discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contribution: Increased understanding of the influence of a project-based multidisciplinary design and innovation course on students’ engineering design thinking, specifically regarding problem framing. Background: Entrepreneurship-related education has been offered to engineering and technology students, but its influence has been discussed mainly in terms of students’ self-efficacy or awareness of entrepreneurship or technological innovation, relying mostly on their self-reported data. Research Questions: 1) How do undergraduate students perceive the relationship between entrepreneurial mindsets and engineering design thinking after a project-based design course that integrates entrepreneurial activities and 2) How differently do they frame a design situation after this course? Methodology: This qualitative case study involved 14 undergraduate students pursuing a minor in design and innovation at a polytechnic institute. For more systematic data collection and analysis, a conceptual framework was developed based on literature about cognitive operations for problem framing and entrepreneurial engineering mindsets. Primary data were collected through semi-structured interviews and pre- and post-activities focused on problem framing. The interview and activity data were analyzed through multiple qualitative analysis approaches based on the conceptual framework. Findings: The analysis of the interview responses reveals the participants’ thoughts on the role of an entrepreneurial mindset in engineering design practice, and the comparison between their pre- and post-problem framing activities shows that they tended to focus more on Customer and Social problem elements and less on Technical and Business problem elements after the course. However, important questions remain to better understand the impact of this change on their design abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Final course grades and professionalism grades were compared to determine statistically significant differences for (1) students with 90% or higher final course grades, (2) students with 80-90% final course grades, (3) students with 70-80% final course grades, (4) students with 0-70% final course grades, and (5) all students with a final course grade. Forty-one engineering technology courses were offered over 16 semesters (fall 2013 through fall 2018) in 100% online, face-to-face, and hybrid formats. Student populations were both undergraduate and graduate (master's) students in engineering technology courses at one Midwestern university. A total of 729 students were involved in the study. Study results indicate that professionalism grades, in terms of attendance and punctuality, were high (median of 93.33-100%) for students earning 80-100% median final course grades. Students earning 70-80% mean final course grades were less motivated to earn high professionalism grades--earning a 75.20% mean. There was little difference between final course grades and professionalism grades for students earning less than a 70% median for a final course grade. The aggregate of all student final course grades (median of 91.35%) in comparison to professionalism grades (median of 98.28%) yielded a significant difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing awareness of the potential biases and problematic impacts of digital technologies is driving a renewed focus on social responsibility and ethical considerations within the fields of engineering and the computer and data sciences. Similarly, a renewed sense of complicity in our socio-technical environments has encouraged scholars from a range of design, humanities, and social science disciplines to engage more directly in public-facing work, often through prototyping, exhibitions, and hands-on educational activities. This special issue on hybrid pedagogies contributes to this developing and ongoing conversation in a resolutely interdisciplinary way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the core problems with engineering ethics education is perceptual. Although ethics is meant to be a central component of today's engineering curriculum, it is often perceived as a marginal requirement that must be fulfilled. In addition, there is a mismatch between faculty and student perceptions of ethics. While faculty aim to communicate the nuances and complexity of engineering ethics, students perceive ethics as laws, rules, and codes that must be memorized. This paper provides some historical context to better understand these perceptual differences, and suggests that curriculum constraints are important contributing factors. Drawing on the growing scholarship of student engagement approaches to pedagogy, the paper explores how students can be empowered to effect change in the broader engineering curriculum through engineering ethics. The paper describes a student engagement approach to pedagogy that includes students as active participants in curriculum design—a role that enables them to critically reflect about why ethics is a requirement. Including students in the process of curriculum design leads students to reframe ethics as an integrative tool with the capacity to bring together different engineering departments and build bridges to non-engineering fields. This paper argues that students can and should play an active and important role in relocating ethics from the periphery to the core of the engineering curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, the number of graduate students from high schools increase year by year, which gradually increases the employment pressure. How to raise the employment rate for so huge college students is a hot spot concerned with the colleges and universities, even all of the society. For this reason, this paper is guided by mass entrepreneurship and innovation, through development physical simulation experimental device of oil-field flooding, to train students science research and practice innovation, stimulate and construct students Independent entrepreneurial ability in experiment. This series of experiments have the advantages and characteristics as follows: they are based on engineering education idea, experiments are real and intuitive. We pay much attention to the relate theory with practice which can increase professionalism, to integrated and diverse system design which can improve analytical ability, to free allocation of system resources which can increase the research and development consciousness. This series of innovative experiments can show the industrial background, improve students' interest in learning. These comprehensive designed experiments give chance for students to participate in it, professional knowledge fusion which can make students experience the link between the courses, innovation experiment connotation which can enhance students construct innovation concept of product. This research and teaching of the physical simulation experimental device play important role in training higher engineering education talents with knowledge, ability and quality. At the same time, they can strengthen college graduates independent entrepreneurship consciousness, and have practical purpose and social value in realizing the ultimate aim of increasing employment rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is relatively easy to train architects and engineers to operate BPS tools and to produce results, but there is considerable evidence to show that it is quite difficult to produce accurate results, even for experienced users. I believe that BPS suffers from a credibility gap and that its full potential will only be realized once we adequately prepare users to effectively apply tools with full knowledge of their applicability, modelling limitations, and default methods and data, and provide them the skill set to scrutinize their results. An experiential approach for teaching the fundamentals of BPS through a learning spiral composed of four modes of learning has been devised. The approach and the learning outcomes that have been achieved through each of the learning modes are demonstrated in this article through examples extracted from the teaching of a semester-long post-graduate course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the technology education classroom, engineering design has been targeted as key to improving learning, enhancing interest in STEM careers, and positively impacting students. The purpose of this research review was to determine whether the research evidence bears these claims. Four scholarly journals that focus on technology and engineering education research were reviewed resulting in the identification of 25 empirical research studies from the past decade. Across all of the studies, data had been collected from a total of 6,397 technology and engineering education students to analyze: (a) how students design, (b) student learning outcomes, and (c) student interests and perceptions. Just over half of the studies used qualitative methods to explore how small samples of students engage in engineering design. Although the overall research evidence of the impact of engineering design on technology and engineering students is sparse, there are some important descriptive findings relating to how engineering design can impact student learning and how students allocate their time and access information while designing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineers have a significant role in the sustainable development and management of resources. This responsibility encompasses the three generally accepted dimensions of sustainability -- environment, economic and social - and applies to engineering projects throughout their life cycle. Sustainable engineering practice is supported by professional engineering associations, such as Engineers Australia, which includes the promotion of sustainability as a principle of its Code of Ethics. It has also been given impetus by the recent Paris Agreement on climate change. However, while there has been considerable progress in this field, there is much work required to achieve a truly sustainable future. While the industry has a major role in promoting and encouraging sustainable practices in engineering projects, educators also have a significant role in this process, through developing and fostering the knowledge and skills of sustainability in engineers. At the undergraduate level, this task is normally undertaken through courses that teach the principles of sustainable engineering practice. A major challenge for educators, however, is the ongoing development of the knowledge and skills of sustainable engineering taught in such courses. While postgraduate courses can achieve this objective, the majority of practicing engineers are unlikely to be able to undertake the detailed formal study. Meeting this gap between sustainable engineering knowledge and its implementation, therefore, presents challenges to educators. Possible options proposed include an ongoing commitment by government and society to sustainability in engineering projects, ongoing implementation of innovative sustainable engineering practices, and lifelong learning in sustainable engineering practices by professional engineers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently there has been an increased societal awareness of the environmental impacts of industrial activities. Many universities have included courses in sustainable engineering and industrial ecology in their engineering/technology curriculum to better prepare tomorrow's engineering professional. A unifying thread that runs through such courses is a "life cycle" - based holistic approach to product, process, and infrastructure design. Application of appropriate pedagogy is key to active student engagement in the learning process and to the application of concepts to the solution of technical problems. This paper describes a hybrid problem-project based pedagogical approach to teaching sustainable engineering and industrial ecology. Problem-based learning was used to promote self-directed student learning of key course concepts in which teams of students solved problems in product or process design. These problems typically were related to the lecture topic that was to be covered for the day. Project-based learning was used as a central organizing principle for the course and to enable students to apply the principles of life cycle assessment (LCA) of environmental impacts of a product. The project, which was assigned early in the semester and due at the end, drove all of the learning activities for the semester. Based on the assessment of student learning in 2015 and 2016, the pedagogical strategies adopted are promoting the comprehension and application of sustainable engineering and industrial ecology toward the development of environmentally sound products and processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- This paper aims to describe experience gained with a required six-credit year-long course, the Capstone Interdisciplinary Team Project, a key component of the Master of Science (MS) in Sustainability degree at the City College of New York. A common feature of sustainability problems is their interdisciplinary nature. Solutions to sustainability problems often require professionals with different training and backgrounds to work as a team. A sustainability curriculum should provide students with the skills needed to competently participate in an interdisciplinary team. Design/methodology/approach -- Instructors drawn from different departments and divisions of the college developed a pool of sustainability-focused Capstone projects and acted as mentors to teams of students with diverse undergraduate backgrounds. Students attended workshops designed to provide training in teamwork, research and report preparation. An independent evaluator designed an evaluation protocol to assess the course's impact both while it was implemented and after the course was concluded. Findings -- Early experience with the program strongly indicates that the Capstone project requirement is an effective learning tool. However, identifying qualified mentors, developing suitable projects, assembling teams and administering the Capstone course are demanding tasks. Although students often experience difficulties in the early stages of their work, they ultimately express satisfaction and appreciation for the skills learned in the course. Practical implications -- The inclusion of a capstone team project in a graduate sustainability curriculum is strongly recommended. Adopting such a course requires significant effort and sustained faculty engagement. Originality/value -- Although there is considerable experience with undergraduate engineering Capstone course requirements, little is known about interdivisional capstone requirements at the level of master's degree in Sustainability. This paper details new and relevant experience helpful to the implementation of such a requirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) enrolls approximately 1900 bachelor students and 600 master's and PhD students focusing on the science and engineering of environmental sustainability. To satisfy student and employer interests in sustainable international development, ESF has developed a humanitarian engineering program. The program includes theoretical and field based course work, trips abroad, student organizations, and the establishment of the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges Scholar's Program (NAE GCSP). This manuscript describes the history, components, challenges, best practices, lessons learned, case studies, and outcomes of ESF's small-scale yet successful humanitarian engineering program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For sustainable engineering to contribute to sustainability, curricular reforms are needed to train sustainability-conscious engineers. Examining student perceptions of sustainability education can provide insights for benchmarking the current quality of a curriculum and for identifying strategies for reforming a curriculum. Thus, the goal of this study was to examine student interest in, knowledge of, and experiences related to sustainability in civil and environmental engineering (CEE) at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). A survey was developed and administered to students () enrolled in CEE capstone courses. The results indicated that although students are interested in sustainable development, there is potential for further enhancing sustainability learning. In addition, students reported that CEE courses strongly impacted their learning, which underscores the importance of curricular quality. Finally, although students were generally satisfied with CEE sustainability education, they cited the need for more guidance on integrating sustainability into the design process. Although this case study provides feedback to improve CEE sustainability education at Georgia Tech, it also serves as an example for other programs interested in evaluating their curricula from a student perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a research project that explored the issue of perceptions of the urban population regarding the role of plant clinics in the sustainability of green spaces in Tehran. The methodology used a combination of descriptive and quantitative research. The study involved 280 respondents from Region 17 of Tehran who attended the classes offered by plant clinics in the city. Data were collected through interview schedules. As the regression analysis showed, knowledge about benefits of green spaces, interest in green spaces, educational level and participation in training classes led to significant (41%) variation in the perception of respondents regarding the role of plant clinics in sustainability of urban green spaces. The results demonstrate that success of plant clinics in sustainability of urban green spaces will depend on informing the population about benefits of green spaces, and that the role of education and experience in the forming of perceptions must be recognised fully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous sustainability engineering education studies have suggested the importance of problem-based learning, project-based learning, team-based learning, and interdisciplinary learning. Place-based learning, interacting with outdoors, and building sustainable communities are also important aspects of sustainability education, yet relatively little has been published on how to use these pedagogical approaches in engineering education. The goal of this paper was to illustrate the implementation of all these pedagogical approaches in a graduate-level sustainability engineering education class. Fink's taxonomy of significant learning and the University of Toledo's Outdoor Classroom Garden provided the framework for this implementation. Throughout the semester, sustainability engineering students worked toward an engineering solution for how to water the University of Toledo's outdoor classroom garden. They also estimated the life-cycle cost and environmental impacts of their proposed solutions. The garden project and the design of the course provided many different learning opportunities that might be absent in a traditional civil engineering class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An existing multidisciplinary course on sustainable engineering in developing societies was expanded to include sustainability issues and challenges faced in the developed world. The new course consisted of independent modules on general background, sustainability concepts and tools, sustainable water and waste systems, sustainable energy systems, sustainable agricultural and food systems, and sustainable building systems. The course included a semester-long project experience conducted in interdisciplinary teams. Projects were sourced from local businesses and institutions or from organizations involved in international development. Course evaluation included an end-of-semester self-assessment by students and an analysis of project reports. Thirteen out of 18 students surveyed (72%) agreed that their ability to consider techno-economic, environmental, and social aspects of sustainability was improved as a result of the course. An improved student understanding of aspects of sustainability and its measures was also evident in student project reports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The field of engineering is changing rapidly as the growing global population puts added demands on the earth''s resources: engineering decisions must now account for limitations in materials and energy as well as the need to reduce discharges of wastes. This means educators must revise courses and curricula so engineering graduates are prepared for the new challenges as practicing engineers. The Center for Sustainable Engineering has been established to help faculty members accommodate such changes through workshops and new educational materials, including a free access website with peer-reviewed materials. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This essay rejects the notion that we understand sustainability well enough to talk about 'sustaining sustainable design'. The wide-ranging literature is surveyed to explore the contested meaning of sustainability. What emerges is an evolution of the meaning, with enlarging scope and philosophical basis, from an environmental emphasis to a focus on human flourishing and caring. A definition consistent with the most evolved view is that: 'Sustainability is the possibility that humans and other life will flourish on the Earth forever.' Ideas are presented about how flourishing can guide design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a report titled "Sustainability in Engineering Education and Research at U.S. Universities," by researcher Cynthia F. Murphy and colleagues. The focus of the study was to investigate how well the principles of Green Engineering, which is engineering for sustainability, have been incorporated into engineering education and research. In December 2003, "Environmental Science & Technology" published a special issue on these principles, using a framework that paralleled the 12 principles of green chemistry. Topics include findings from the benchmark effort in two major categories such as courses, course modules, and curricula, and the amount of money allocated to research in sustainable engineering.

It would be difficult to find an industry sector in which the management of environmental sustainability is not of significant relevance. It is unfortunate that engineering and cognate areas of education have, for the most part, ignored these vital issues. It is, therefore, essential that all facets of engineering, design and manufacturing take action on environmental sustainability concerns through appropriate strategies. They should endeavour to implement standards, such as the ISO 14001 environmental management systems or Eco-Management and Audit Scheme, as a foundation for sustainable engineering and manufacturing. It is vital that these issues are seriously addressed in engineering education. Most engineering degree programmes do not include a broad spectrum environmental sustainability module and many have little or no exposure to any facet of learning in this area. The environmental sustainability intervention at the University of Limerick has been two-pronged in that: (a) a number of self-paced tutorials have been designed, which are intended for use in a number of European Union Universities as well as for small to medium sized industries (SMEs) and (b) an undergraduate module entitled 'Design for Environmental Sustainability' has been devised and implemented in several engineering and cognate programmes. It is in the context of engineering education that this paper discusses: the strategies used; the initial impact of the introductory programme intended for SMEs and Universities; and the introduction and evaluation of the undergraduate sustainability module. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering education, like many fields, has started to explore the benefits of concept maps as an assessment technique for knowledge integration. Because they allow students to graphically link topics and represent complex interconnections among diverse concepts, we argue that concept maps are particularly appropriate for assessing interdisciplinary knowledge integration. The results from a year-long study of a design course in green engineering demonstrate the viability of this approach. However, this research also highlights important issues in faculty scoring of interdisciplinary concept maps that may not be present when maps are used in traditional single-discipline settings. The interdisciplinary setting revealed differences in (1) evaluation criteria, (2) expertise, and (3) investment. We conclude with suggestions for selecting and training scorers to address these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article studies how sustainability can be incorporated into chemical engineering education in the United States. The authors describe some of the educational practices used to incorporate sustainable development concepts into engineering education, with a particular focus on chemical engineering education. The authors also examine categories of sustainable engineering courses and identify the elements of sustainability and how these elements are incorporated into design. Trends prevalent in sustainable engineering teaching are also discussed.

A wide variety of engineering students and professionals are interested in sustainability issues, but do not come from environmental backgrounds. As a result, courses designed for such students must strike a balance between providing useful environmental and sustainability knowledge and yet remain appropriate for those coming from a non-environmental background This paper outlines such a course that has been taught and refined for the last three years in the Faculty of Engineering, University of Windsor, to a mixed class of civil, mechanical, environmental and industrial engineering graduate students. The paper provides examples and descriptions of what was done in the class and their effectiveness for teaching sustainability, as well as what difficulties were encountered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trends in innovative product design and manufacture require a paradigm shift in traditional methodologies because they are becoming increasingly ineffective for applications built for sustainable timbres. The well-known concept of sustainable development, which is based on sustained growth for environmental, economic and societal benefits, is brought into focus for highlighting the significance of product design and manufacture. The technological challenges posed by the need for implementing innovative design and manufacture call for a need for developing and implementing new educational and training programmes for next generation design and manufacturing engineers. We aim at tackling these challenges with a proposed new curriculum at five different levels. Perpetual material flow and multi life-cyclelmulti-use self-healing materials, innovative product and process design and development are in the core of the proposed design for sustainability educational programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new sequence of courses at Carnegie Mellon University exposes students to concepts in the emerging discipline of Sustainable Engineering and prepares them to play leadership roles in the years ahead. This sequence includes four half-semester courses: (1) Introduction to Sustainable Engineering," (2) Industrial Ecology and Sustainable Engineering Design; (3) Life Cycle Assessment, and (4) Case Studies in Sustainable Engineering. Students successfully completing this sequence have an appreciation for the myriad ways in which engineering decisions can affect the environment and for the responsibilities of engineers in helping society cope with future challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering education has focused on the mathematical and scientific principles which underpin proper design. Technological capabilities have, in some instances, overcome society's ability to adapt behavior to new technologies. Sustainable systems should be engineered to address economic, environmental, and behavioral issues as well as technical issues. Developing education curricula that encourages students to consider all facets involved in sustainable systems has challenged engineering programs. A pilot course based upon the design of a sanitation facility for a school in Azové, Benin, was taught in the 2004–2005 academic year. The objective of the course was to create a meaningful project that would teach sustainability as part of the design process. Over 1,200 7th- to 10th-grade students at CEG in Azové lack access to clean water and basic sanitation facilities. A site visit to the CEG confirmed that water and sanitation were priorities of the school board and parents of the children. Students at Gonzaga University designed a water and sanitation system for CEG and learned about sustainability requirements for structures, hydraulics, and water and wastewater treatment. Upon implementation of the proposed design, exposure to pathogenic organisms is expected to decrease substantially. Students were encouraged to consider sustainability issues in design and problems associated with water and sanitation in the developing world. Incorporating sustainability lessons through design and peer presentation significantly improved the education in global awareness and sustainability as perceived by students and professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]