Conference Session

Sustainability and engineering education

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Woolschlager, Saint Louis University, Parks College of Eng.

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

, reflecting the evolving areas ofpractice in the professional field. More recently, many environmental engineering programshave begun to incorporate sustainability principles into the curriculum, reflecting the need toprepare future engineers to address complex and interdisciplinary issues that challenge oursociety. The purpose of this paper is to examine how sustainability principles have beenintegrated into environmental engineering curriculums. A national-level review of all sixtyABET accredited environmental engineering programs reveals that 73% have incorporatedsustainability concepts somewhere in their program educational objectives, student outcomes,courses, and/or in program descriptions posted on websites and in catalogs. However, few

Conference Session

Problem- and project-based learning in environmental engineering

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Susan E. Powers, Clarkson University; Stefan J. Grimberg P.E., Clarkson University

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

and the third room for tomatoes. Because northern climates do not provide sufficient light for plant growth, artificial lighting is also needed. We use high efficiency LED lights that make the rooms glow pink (Figure 3). Plants reflect green light, but they absorb light in the red and blue wavelengths of the visible spectrum. Thus, we can reduce energy use

Conference Session

Environmental engineering pedagogy and innovation

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marty Anne Gustafson, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Carl Vieth, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Patrick Eagan, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

projects ranging from sales and commercial operations to clinical delivery systems and financial performance. Carl’s teaching interests and experience reflect a wide range of development activities. Carl leads lean-six sigma training and development as part of the administrative process redesign initiative and the adminis- trative excellence strategic initiative at the University of Wisconsin. In addition, Carl is a frequent lecturer on patient safety and healthcare system optimization. As the co-director of the technical leadership cer- tificate program, Carl was instrumental in forging beneficial teaching partnerships with the Wisconsin School of Business. Prior to coming to the UW, Carl managed global corporate

Conference Session

Sustainability and engineering education

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kim LaScola Needy, University of Arkansas; TAHAR MESSADI, UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS; John Henry Kester III, University of Arkansas

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

to complexsocietal problems such as a lack of sustainability”.38 Building off of the integration ofinterdisciplinarity, there are explicit actions taken to collaborate. The difference is found inpursuing the final step from action-oriented research to developing solutions. The findings aretranslated to action utilizing the new discoveries of knowledge.Systems Thinking ApproachAll of these latter forms of applying more than one research method to a particular problem haveexperienced success in implementation and reflect how the traditional research methods can bebroadened beyond their initial scopes. The common theme is the use of systems thinking to theprocess of research. In systems thinking, cause and effect is seen as a dynamic rather

Conference Session

Sustainability and engineering education

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Alexandre David Wing, Colorado School of Mines; Cristal Hibbard, Colorado School of Mines; Jennifer Strong, Colorado School of Mines; Jörg E Drewes, Colorado School of Mines; Junko Munakata-Marr, Colorado School of Mines

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

answer is true in the context of aquifer recharge, thequestion did not state this context. After many presentations on different methods of water Page 23.1123.9treatment throughout the workshop and multiple contexts (i.e. natural treatment vs. membranefiltration), more than one answer actually ended up being correct, and reflected poorly upon thepre- and post- results.Each year, presenters are encouraged to reword their questions or refocus their presentationsdepending on the results of the previous workshop’s tests. While some of the ReNUWItpresentations show great growth on the pre- and post-test results, some did not. This

Conference Session

Environmental engineering pedagogy and innovation

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Angela R Bielefeldt, University of Colorado Boulder

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

topic distribution between homeworks 2, 3, and 4.Only 3 pre-midterm homeworks in 2009.The lack of difference in the homework scores is not entirely surprising. Students often worktogether and always had ample opportunity to receive help during office hours. In addition, thenumber of students is small to determine statistically significant differences.The performance on the exams may be a more accurate reflection of students’ learning (seeTable 4). The midterm exam covered content from the inverted part of the 2011 class. Eachyear the exact questions on the midterm change, but are in general very similar (data from earlierversions of the course from 1997 to 2005 is not shown). The average and median studentperformance in 2011 was not any better

Conference Session

Problem- and project-based learning in environmental engineering

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lupita D Montoya, University of Colorado, Boulder; Robyn Sandekian, University of Colorado Boulder; Daniel Knight, University of Colorado, Boulder

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

academic achievement and persistence,3,4,5 as hasintroducing the concept of engineering as a “servant of society.”6Within engineering education, the typical method of implementing service to society is throughservice-learning, which is defined as “a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningfulcommunity service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civicresponsibility, and strengthen communities.”7 Service-learning in an international context,especially within developing communities, can be used to engage students who may not be asinterested in design projects that do not have a socially-useful purpose. Fulfilling community-based design needs contextualizes engineering education to make it relevant to