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Purpose -- The purpose of this study was to design an assessment instrument to evaluate students' attitudes toward sustainable engineering (SE). Factors that impact SE beliefs could then be explored. Design/methodology/approach -- Using the definition of sustainability from the Brundtland report and expectancy value theory, students' sentiment toward SE was evaluated using items to assess SE self-efficacy, SE value and SE affect. The survey was distributed at three diverse universities with 515 responses from students ranging from first year through graduate studies in a variety of engineering majors. The survey instrument was validated using principal components analysis, and internal reliability was established via high Cronbach's alpha for each construct. Findings -- Participation in more experiential, enriching learning experiences correlated to higher SE self-efficacy, value and affect. Extracurricular club involvement correlated with a lower self-efficacy but high SE value. Students who had participated in undergraduate research had a high SE self-efficacy, particularly in the environmental and social sub-scales. The students who participated in internships had high SE self-efficacy but lower SE affect. A greater number of volunteer hours correlated with increased SE affect. Female students possessed higher SE value and affect than male students, but self-efficacy was not significantly different. SE self-efficacy increased with academic rank. Originality/value -- This is the first effort to measure engineering students' attitudes toward SE using the three sub-scales of expectancy value theory and assessing correlations in these attributes with students' participation in various learning experiences. [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]