Mississippi State University, Mississippi
March 9, 2025
March 9, 2025
March 11, 2025
Professional Papers
8
https://peer.asee.org/54165
3
Dr. Adaline Buerck is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Engineering in the Department of Environmental and Civil Engineering and the Director of The Cecil Day Family Center for International Groundwater Innovation. Dr. Buerck joined Mercer University in Fall 2022. Before joining Mercer, Dr. Buerck was at the University of South Florida where she completed her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering and a Graduate Certificate in Social Marketing and Social Change.
Today’s complex and interconnected world has made it ever more important for engineering students to learn how to collaborate across various fields to tackle complex societal issues. One field that can aid in enhancing the acceptance/uptake of engineering projects that address complex societal issues (i.e., climate change, littering, etc.) or industry challenges (i.e., water treatment plants dealing with things being flushed that shouldn’t be), is social marketing. Social marketing is the use of traditional marketing principles to create a positive behavior change for an individual, community, or society. Though the benefits of utilizing social marketing principles in address engineering topics has been noted the integration of teaching these principles to engineers has not been explored. This study seeks to evaluate a semester-long course on research methods in social marketing tailored for engineering students. The course aimed to bridge the gap between engineering principles and social marketing strategies, fostering interdisciplinary skills crucial for addressing societal challenges. Through a mixed-methods approach, student engagement, knowledge acquisition, and practical application of research methodologies were assessed. Data were collected through a pre-post survey and project assessments. The results of this study will provide insights into the challenges and benefits of teaching social marketing principle to engineering students. Student feedback and results will also be used to update the course content for future semesters.
Buerck, A. M. (2025, March), Evaluation of a Social Marketing Class for Engineers Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Southeast Conference , Mississippi State University, Mississippi. https://peer.asee.org/54165
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