Indianapolis, Indiana
June 15, 2014
June 15, 2014
June 18, 2014
2153-5965
Environmental Engineering
10
24.772.1 - 24.772.10
10.18260/1-2--20664
https://peer.asee.org/20664
489
Brenda Read-Daily received a B.S. in Civil Engineering at Bradley University, a M.S. in Environmental Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering also at the University of Notre Dame. During her graduate studies, she conducted multidisciplinary research combining microbiology with engineering design. Her research interests include optimizing biological nutrient removal processes in agricultural drainage and wastewater treatment processes in order to mitigate pollution. She is currently developing undergraduate research opportunities examining nitrogen removal in tile drainage systems.
Integrating Environmental Engineering into General Engineering Programs as a Means of Enhancing Curriculum in Sustainability A growing number of general engineering and engineering science programs offer environmental engineering concentrations with many others integrating sustainability into their curriculums. One such program is at Elizabethtown College, which offers a general engineering degree with a concentration in sustainable design. This program is undergoing rapid growth with an increasing percentage of students choosing the sustainable design concentration. Currently, to satisfy the requirements for this concentration, students take courses in a wide range of topics including green architecture, green robotics, renewable energy, and population and global issues in addition to traditional engineering subjects. However, the department decided that environmental engineering was a missing piece in its curriculum. Therefore, an environmental engineer was recently added to the faculty, which previously had consisted of mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, and physicists. This move was made to diversify the program and meet the increasing demand for students interested in a wide range of sustainability topics. The question now emerges, which environmental engineering courses should the program offer to best meet the needs of sustainable design concentration? This paper describes the process that Elizabethtown is currently undergoing as it determines how to adapt its curriculum. In addition, it provides an overview of what classes existing general engineering programs offer within their environmental engineering concentrations. As the field of engineering shift towards placing a heavier emphasis on sustainability, it is important to start a broader conversation about how general engineering programs can integrate environmental engineering to equip future engineers.
Read-Daily, B. (2014, June), Integrating Environmental Engineering and Sustainability into Engineering Science and General Engineering Programs Paper presented at 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana. 10.18260/1-2--20664
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