Embedding global energy education into engineering technology curricula: The development and implementation of green energy and sustainability et minor

Abstract

As global economies are moving towards decreasing their carbon footprint, the use of renewable energy resources as the likely alternative is boosting. Manufacturing industries are adapting to sustainable processes and products while enhancing the use of green energy alternatives. The educational counterpart should keep the pace with the demand of trained professionals in these areas. Therefore during past five years, Engineering Technology (ET) undergraduate program at Drexel University, incorporated several courses related to renewable energy, sustainable manufacturing and green manufacturing. Our ET undergraduate program is a five year, 3 co-op, quarter based BS in ET degree. We are describing in this paper our efforts to lay the groundwork for a new minor in green energy from sustainable energy perspective, as well as from manufacturing industry challenges. Starting with a presentation of the past course developments and assessments, we describe the framework for the minor development and implementation. Several courses in our program were either re-developed or improved based on the dual demand from industry and students. Traditional courses, such Thermodynamics or Heat Transfer were given a focus on renewable energy conversion systems on learning modules enhanced by experimental activities, while new courses geared towards energy management or renewable energy were developed. Students 'assessments and feedback clearly showed that this change was a success, ranking these courses consistently above 3.8 out of 5 on a Likert scale [1]. Students chose capstone projects 'topics preponderantly from the same industrial areas, clearly showing the interest in green energy and sustainability fields. All these efforts and successes paved the way for implementation of a minor in Green Energy and Sustainability, with more courses being developed based on the collaboration between Drexel University and University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and DOED awarded funding.