Asee peer logo

A Foundational Design Experience in Conservation Technology: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to meeting Sustainable Development Goals

Download Paper |

Conference

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Minneapolis, MN

Publication Date

August 23, 2022

Start Date

June 26, 2022

End Date

June 29, 2022

Conference Session

Environmental Engineering Division Technical Session 4

Page Count

14

DOI

10.18260/1-2--40887

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/40887

Download Count

455

Paper Authors

biography

Andrew Schulz Georgia Institute of Technology

visit author page

Andrew Schulz is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering within the College of Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. Schulz earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering and mathematics from Oklahoma State University. He is passionate about interdisciplinary undergraduate projects focused on sustainability initiatives and working to advance mental health resources for undergraduate and graduate students in engineering. Connect with me: https://bio.link/schulzscience

visit author page

author page

Cassandra Shriver

author page

Benjamin Seleb Georgia Institute of Technology

biography

Caroline Greiner Georgia Institute of Technology

visit author page

Caroline Greiner is pursuing her Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is passionate about engineering education, bio-inspired design, and prototyping. Ms. Greiner has a background in Biomedical and Health Sciences Engineering, having earned her Bachelor of Science in that field from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University in 2021. As an undergraduate, Ms. Greiner enjoyed being a teaching assistant, something she has continued doing at Georgia Tech. Outside of the classroom, she enjoys exploring the intersection of art and science, fostering cats, and spending time in the outdoors.

visit author page

author page

David Hu Georgia Institute of Technology

biography

Roxanne Moore Georgia Institute of Technology

visit author page

Roxanne Moore is a Senior Research Engineer in the G.W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on design and engineering education with a focus on promoting diversity and inclusion. She has served as PI and co-PI for grants from multiple sponsors including NSF and Amazon totaling more than $9M. In addition, her STEM outreach programs and curricula have impacted hundreds of thousands of K-12 students nationwide. She is the co-founder and director of Georgia Tech’s K-12 InVenture Prize, a statewide invention competition, open to all students and teachers in Georgia. She earned her BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in 2007, and her Masters and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2009 and 2012. Dr. Moore received the Georgia Tech Teaching Effectiveness Award in 2018.

visit author page

author page

Margaret Zhang Georgia Institute of Technology

author page

Nima Jadali Georgia Institute of Technology

author page

Anika Patka Georgia Institute of Technology

Download Paper |

Abstract

Project-based courses allow students to apply techniques they have learned in their undergraduate engineering curriculum to real-world problems. While many students have demonstrated interest in working on humanitarian projects that address the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), these projects typically require longer timelines than a single semester capstone course will allow. To encourage student participation in achieving the SDGs, we have created an interdisciplinary course that allows sophomore through senior-level undergraduate students to engage in utilizing human-wildlife centered design to work on projects that prevent extinction and promote healthy human-wildlife co-habitation. This field, known as Conservation Technology (CT), helps students 1) understand the complexities of solutions to the SDGs and the need for diverse perspectives, 2) find and apply international conservation guidelines, 3) develop teamwork and leadership skills by working on interdisciplinary teams, and 4) evaluate and assess conservation technology projects for multiple stakeholders and in the context of the SDGs. Students may take this course for several sequential semesters, partnering with more senior and junior students, allowing for long-term engagement in sustainability solutions. In the first half of the semester, we leverage more traditional pedagogical approaches, including formative assessments and in-class lectures on conservation, technology, and sustainability solutions. In the second half of the semester, we utilize peer, instructor, and expert reviews of the projects students work on to help them excel at successful and equitable conservation technology interventions. Through 9 formal interviews conducted with students, we discovered themes that students identified as most critical for engaging in conservation technology initiatives. These themes include 1) perspective given to students through in-person, active learning using the Dilemma, Issue, Question approach, 2) Independent learning of conservation technology background and theory during the beginning of the course, and 3) Hands-on learning and project-focused experiences in CT. To leverage engineers’ engagement in the SDGs, students needed half a semester of background information to allow for an adequate understanding of the complexities of humanitarian aid projects. This paper, discusses the course structure that will help leverage Sustainable Development Goals into engineering curricula and use Conservation Technology projects in the course as case studies for interdisciplinary learning.

Schulz, A., & Shriver, C., & Seleb, B., & Greiner, C., & Hu, D., & Moore, R., & Zhang, M., & Jadali, N., & Patka, A. (2022, August), A Foundational Design Experience in Conservation Technology: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to meeting Sustainable Development Goals Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40887

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2022 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015