Conference Session

Hands-on Laboratory and Design Experiences in Environmental Engineering

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Parhum Delgoshaei, Virginia Tech; Vinod K. Lohani, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

students’ awareness on environmentalsustainability. LEWAS has been designed to accomplish this task by measuring water qualityand weather data from the site of an on-campus impaired stream and by providing end users withmeasured data in real-time in the form of a web-based interface.The main objective of LEWAS is to increase student awareness on environmental and energysustainability. Real-time remote monitoring of water parameters of an impaired stream servesthis objective for three reasons [1]: First, it makes students aware of what is happening or willhappen in their own campus if watershed development activities are not planned and executed inan environmentally friendly manner. Second, it enables stakeholders to assess the efficiency

Conference Session

Integrating Sustainability Across the Curriculum

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Melanie L. Sattler, University of Texas, Arlington; Victoria C. P. Chen, University of Texas, Arlington; Brian H. Dennis, University of Texas, Arlington; Stephen P. Mattingly, University of Texas, Arlington; K.J. Rogers, University of Texas, Arlington; Yvette Pearson Weatherton, University of Texas, Arlington; Madhu Rani, University of Texas, Arlington; Ketwalee Kositkanawuth

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

) engineering departments at The University of Texas at Arlington – Civil (CE), Industrial (IE),and Mechanical Engineering (ME) – are collaborating to infuse their curricula with sustainabilityconcepts of varying degrees of complexity from the freshman through the senior year. Theexpected outcomes of the project are to (1) increase students’ knowledge of sustainabilityconcepts, (2) increase students’ ability to analyze project components for sustainability, (3)increase students’ ability to propose mitigation strategies for reducing negative impacts and (4)provide opportunities for students to apply their knowledge of sustainability to real-worldprojects and problems.These outcomes are being achieved through three (3) key program elements

Conference Session

Integrating Sustainability Across the Curriculum

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jennifer Mueller PE P.E., Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Corey M. Taylor, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Patricia Brackin, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Richard A. House, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Kathleen Toohey, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Michael S. DeVasher, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Rebecca Booth DeVasher Ph.D., Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Mark H. Minster, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

engineeringeducation. As students learn engineering fundamentals, design skills, and professional practices,the complexity of sustainability principles and practices is routinely underplayed.In the statement Dialogue on the Engineer’s Role in Sustainable Development – Johannesburgand Beyond (NAE 2002)1, a number of American engineering societies (including the American Page 25.811.2Society of Civil Engineers, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Societyof Mechanical Engineers, the National Society of Professional Engineers, and the NationalAcademy of Engineering) formally stated the need for engineers to “deliver solutions that

Conference Session

Interdisciplinary Experiences and Assessment in Environmental Engineering

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Francis J. Hopcroft, Wentworth Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

professionals from the seeds plantedtoday in the minds of the current generation.References[1] Merlan, Francesca, Representing the rainbow: Aboriginal culture in an interconnected world,paper presented to Fulbright Symposium, Darwin, Australia, July, 1997[2] Morphy, Howard, Journey to the Crocodile’s Nest, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra,Australia, 1984.Biographical InformationFrancis J. HopcroftProf. Hopcroft has been teaching Civil and Environmental Engineering at Wentworth Institute of Technology formore than 18 years. He has taught freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors and has taught students fromtechnology and engineering programs as well as students from four separate majors. He has collaborated withfaculty from several other colleges

Conference Session

Integrating Sustainability Across the Curriculum

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Qiong Zhang, University of South Florida; Linda Vanasupa, California Polytechnic State University; James R. Mihelcic, University of South Florida; Julie Beth Zimmerman, Yale University; Simona Platukyte, University of South Florida

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

engineers can be effective. This paper summarizes thechallenges identified from three workshops on “Integrating Sustainability into Engineering:Design Principles and Tools to Expand your Educative Capacity” held in 2010 and 2011, andattempts to propose effective strategies for such integration.The paper begins with a brief overview of the status of sustainability education in engineeringeducation and then introduces the format of the workshop, the characteristics of workshopattendees, and the major categories and challenges identified during workshops. The majorcategories include 1) shifting paradigms around sustainability; 2) rigidity of existing educationsystem; 3) lack of new methods of teaching; and 4) lack of resources to teach sustainability

Conference Session

Interdisciplinary Experiences and Assessment in Environmental Engineering

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elizabeth Butler, University of Oklahoma

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

the value placed by students on sustainability andenvironmental issues.IntroductionThe “Bodies of Knowledge” (BOKs) of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers(AAEE) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) identify the skill sets needed topractice environmental and civil engineering at various points in an engineer’s career, includingafter completing the B.S. degree. Outcome 8 of the AAEE BOK calls for the ability to recognizelife cycle principles, to identify non sustainable components in engineered systems, to explainhow and why to integrate sustainability into engineering projects, and to quantify emissions andresource consumption associated with engineering processes (paraphrased from AAEE (2009)1).Outcome 10 in the ASCE

Conference Session

Interdisciplinary Experiences and Assessment in Environmental Engineering

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Angela R. Bielefeldt, University of Colorado, Boulder

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

structured around regional, national, or internationaldesign competitions. This practice appears common across all engineering disciplines. Someexamples are given in Table 1. Many of these design competitions result in a final product thatcan participate in actual competitions (i.e. a robot10, solar car, steel bridge, etc.); this removes aportion of the subjectivity from the judging. Wayroba12 describes national competitions as lesscreative and open-ended because the judging rules are readily translated into performancerequirements. Frequently the competition provides concise guidelines, constraints, andspecifications,12 which differs significantly from the real-world process of establishing these witha client. In some cases these same projects are

Conference Session

Hands-on Laboratory and Design Experiences in Environmental Engineering

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Andrew Ross Pfluger P.E., U.S. Military Academy; David-Michael P. Roux, U.S. Army; Michael A. Butkus, U.S. Military Academy

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

submit a 5-page technical report ontheir methods and findings and must compare the concentration of pollutants they detect to thePermissible Exposure Limits (PEL) for occupational exposure to indoor air pollutants establishedby the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Students receive feedback on theirprotocols and results from their customer, their instructor, and the environmental engineering labmanager. Page 25.57.2(1) IntroductionUndergraduate environmental engineering programs should equip their students with the basicfoundations in the discipline. Additional “significant experiences” are required to help studentsdevelop a

Conference Session

Hands-on Laboratory and Design Experiences in Environmental Engineering

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sandeep Sathyamoorthy, Tufts University; Linda Jarvin, Paris College of Art; Michael Hollis, U.S. Air Force Academy; John Anthony Christ, U.S. Air Force Academy; C. Andrew Ramsburg, Tufts University

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

learned asundergraduates to these new situations; (ii) learn on-the-job through self directed efforts; and(iii) apply general hypothetico-deductive reasoning and problem-solving skills. The CarnegieFoundation has suggested that current undergraduate engineering curricula within the UnitedStates may provide insufficient preparation for engineering practice[1]. When evaluating the keytraits engineers need for practice in the 21st century, the National Academy of Engineering(NAE) identified strong analytical skills, creativity, practical ingenuity, professionalism andleadership as being essential for success[2, 3]. The challenge lies in refining or developingengineering curricula to ensure engineering graduates develop these traits. Problem

Conference Session

Hands-on Laboratory and Design Experiences in Environmental Engineering

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Radian G. Belu, Drexel University; Irina Nicoleta Ciobanescu Husanu, Drexel University; Dunia Tania Periverzov, Drexel University (Tech.)

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

Page 25.120.2environment is one of its typical applications. Compared with existing real-time automatic waterenvironment monitoring systems, WSNs-based water environment monitoring system hasstrongpoint as follows3, 5-8: 1) Less effect of the system on ecological environment: nodestransmit water environment parameters to base station by low power and low radiation wirelesschannel and multi-hop communication protocol. Marine wireless sensor networks offer anunmatched option to a wide range of different domains. The significance of the aforementionedresearch lies in the fact that it opens the door for a variety of applications as well as new areas ofrelevant research in wireless networks. The possibility of having hundreds of thousands of

Conference Session

Interdisciplinary Experiences and Assessment in Environmental Engineering

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cheryl J.K. Desha, Queensland University of Technology; Charlie Hargroves, The Natural Edge Project

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

conditions,resource scarcity, and increasing levels of consumption and population pressures. Not onlyare the challenges grand in scale and complex in their interconnectedness, a number requirea substantial – it could be said transformational - shift in understanding to be able to deliversolutions that are genuinely sustainable.Smith et al1 highlight a unique context for businesses operating at the beginning of thiscentury, where future risks may be very different from past risks due to the potential forsignificant market and regulatory shifts across all sectors; time ‘t’. This includes for examplethe emergence of carbon taxes, hazardous waste legislation, pollution charges and so on. Asshown in Figure 1, the current commitment to environmental

Conference Session

Hands-on Laboratory and Design Experiences in Environmental Engineering

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sudarshan T. Kurwadkar, Tarleton State University; Daniel K. Marble, Tarleton State University

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

, difficulties encountered and lessonslearned, along with the respective roles of undergraduate researcher and faculty mentor arepresented.IntroductionTraditionally environmental engineering education has been at the post-baccalaureate level withCivil Engineering graduates pursuing specialized environmental education at the graduate level.With the increase in the demand for trained environmental professionals, environmentalengineering has recently emerged as a distinct engineering discipline with 59 universities in theUnited States now offering ABET accredited environmental engineering programs at thebaccalaureate level including Tarleton StateUniversity.1 Although the number of schools offeringundergraduate environmental engineering program is

Conference Session

Integrating Sustainability Across the Curriculum

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Noel E. Bormann P.E., Gonzaga University; Mara London, Gonzaga University; Andrew Douglas Matsumoto, Gonzaga University; Melanie Ruth Walter; Spencer Joseph Fry

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

used in African kitchens that can improve thehealth of families (especially women and children), and at the same time reduce resourceconsumption. Student deliverables include: (1) An improved ceramic water filter that uses lessclay material and require less fuel to fire in a kiln. These improvements reduce deforestation. (2)Investigation of the performance of corn stover bio-fuel pellets when used as a cooking fuel. Useof this bio-fuel also reduces deforestation and improves watersheds. (3) Evaluation of usingthermo-electric cells powered with waste heat from cooking fires to ventilate harmful smokewith high particulates concentrations from the kitchen. (4) The key project goal was to develop aproject implementation plan that focuses on

Conference Session

Integrating Sustainability Across the Curriculum

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stefan J. Grimberg, Clarkson University

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

spring are incorporated into the existingteam structure.The focus of this paper is to describe the experience of the most recent three years, wherestudents and faculty participated in a project funded through EPA’s P3 program. While anaerobicdigestion (AD) of farmwaste has been promoted by the USEPA for large farms, no solutions areavailable for small farm systems. The objective of this project is to determine the feasibility ofusing small-scale anaerobic digesters to increase the efficiency of waste-stream management andthe utilization of renewable energy, and to improve the economic feasibility of small-scalefarming of livestock. Five students (1 M.S. in Civil Engineering, 4 undergraduate) wereinvolved initially in writing and submitting of

Conference Session

Integrating Sustainability Across the Curriculum

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sarah Kathryn Bauer, Rowan University; Andrea Rose McFarland, Rowan University; Mary M. Staehle, Rowan University; Kauser Jahan, Rowan University

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

involves team building, hands-on activities, technical reportwriting, and oral presentations. The underlying concepts of engineering design pervadethroughout all eight semesters4. However, as shown in Table 1, each Clinic course has a specifictheme and emphasizes specific topics4. Inside of these overarching objectives, the engineeringfaculty at Rowan University have developed a variety of projects of innovative pedagogy thatfocus on sustainable engineering at each level of Engineering Clinic. Table 1: Overview of the Course Content in the Eight-Semester Engineering Clinic Sequence4 Year Clinic Theme (Fall Semester) Clinic Theme (Spring Semester) Freshman Engineering

Conference Session

Practitioner Panel on Issues Related to Environmental Education

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sharon A. Jones, University of Portland

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

Conference Session

Interdisciplinary Experiences and Assessment in Environmental Engineering

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Angela R. Bielefeldt, University of Colorado, Boulder

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

. The data indicated that students from alldemographics could benefit from the research experience. Mentoring varied widely betweenindividual students, projects, and years which appeared to have significant impacts on thestudents’ responses. The paper concludes with recommendations for other REU sites toconsider.BackgroundIntensive summer research programs for undergraduate students have a long history. TheNational Science Foundation (NSF) endorses such programs via the Research Experiences forUndergraduates (REU) site grants, which began in 1987.1 Prior to the REU program the NSFfunded Undergraduate Research Participation (URP) grants from 1958 to 1979. 1 Most of thestudents who participated in the URP program worked on research at their home

Conference Session

Hands-on Laboratory and Design Experiences in Environmental Engineering

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sudarshan T. Kurwadkar, Tarleton State University; Daniel K. Marble, Tarleton State University; Jennifer T. Edwards, Tarleton State University

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

. Environmental educationis the necessity of the current generation, primarily because of the enormous demand exerted onthe natural environmental resources as a consequence of rapid population growth, pace ofurbanization and industrialization across the world. The first official attempt at defining whatenvironmental education ought to be was made by William B. Stapp in 1969. According to Stappet al., “Environmental education is aimed at producing citizenry that is knowledgeableconcerning the biophysical environment and its associated problems and motivated to worktowards their solution”1. The emphasis in this definition is on making environmental education atool to create a self-sustaining human population that is aware of its environmental