IMPLEMENTATION OF SUSTAINABILITY (AND GLOBALIZATION) CONCEPTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING CURRICULUMS

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1 IMPLEMENTATION OF SUSTAINABILITY (AND GLOBALIZATION) CONCEPTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING CURRICULUMS John Woolschlager, Ph.D. Saint Louis University

2 What is Sustainability and how can it be measured? Sustainability is the capacity to endure. In ecology, the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. For humans, sustainability is the potential for long-term maintenance of well being. Sustainable Development is Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (UN, 1987) Triple bottom line is a method of evaluating sustainability achievement by assessing economic cost, environmental impact, and social acceptability (Elkington, 1997)

3 Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) Outcomes a) an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering b) an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data c) an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability d) an ability to function on multidisciplinary teams e) an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems f) an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility g) an ability to communicate effectively h) the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context i) a recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning j) a knowledge of contemporary issues k) an ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice

4 ABET Sustainability and Global Outcomes an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context You would expect a high-level of sustainability and global integration

5 Evaluation of Sustainability Implementation in Engineering Programs Does a program use the word sustainability or reference the triple-bottom-line (economics, environmental, and social impact) in program objectives, student outcomes, course descriptions, or on the website? If sustainability was in all of these areas, the program was considered to be strong in sustainability implementation. If programs just repeated the ABET outcomes verbatim, then they were considered weak in sustainability implementation. Other programs were considered moderate in sustainability implementation, while others had no sustainability implementation at all.

6 Level of Sustainability Integration

7 Level of Global Integration Much less than sustainability integration Typically, sustainability and global concepts integrated separately Even in my own program, we integrate global concepts in passing.

8 Barriers to Sustainability Integration The freedom of individual faculty members Incentive structure (salaries, promotions, and granting of tenure) Lack of desire to change Lack of pressure from society

9 Drivers of Sustainability Integration Visionary leadership and sustainability champions Presence of interdisciplinary groups Size (large universities of more than 10,000-12,000 students often find that the complexity of the organization reduces the possibility of rapid transformation) The existence of a coordination unit focused on sustainability

10 References WECD (World Commission on Environment, Development, the Brundtland Commission ) Our Common Future. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Elkington, J., Cannibals with Forks: the Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business, Capstone. Oxford. Sterling, S Higher education, sustainability, and the role of systemic learning, in P. Corcoran and A. Wals (eds.), Higher Education and the Challenge of Sustainability Curriculum, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, MA. Ferrer-Balas, D., Adachi, J., Banas, S., Davidson, C.I., Hoshikoshi, A., Mishra, A., Motodoa, Y., Onga, M., Ostwald, M An international comparative analysis of sustainability transformation across seven universities, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 9(3), Zhang, Q., Vanasupa, L., Mihelcic, J.R., Zimmerman, J.B., Platukyte, S Challenges for integration of sustainability into engineering education. Proceedings of the 2012 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, TX, June