Engineering Sustainable Civil engineers

Abstract

Engineering Sustainable Engineers (ESE) was designed to infuse curricula in the Departments of Civil (CE), Industrial and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington with sustainability. The overarching aim is to improve student knowledge of and competency in addressing sustainability issues in engineering design and problem solving. Three key program elements are (1) sustainability learning modules, (2) multidisciplinary senior design project and (3) quality sustainable engineering internship. This paper describes the implementation and preliminary assessment of the Civil Engineering (CE) components of the project. The targeted courses are required for all CE students and span from freshman through senior year. The courses are common to many civil engineering curricula nationwide. The program components address, to varying degrees, all facets of sustainability - economic, social and environmental impacts (triple bottom line); however this paper addresses primarily the environmental aspects. Sustainability course modules were implemented in Spring 2010 with pre-tests and post-tests administered for each. Additionally, students completed a self-assessment of their learning in each course. With one exception, self-assessment results indicated that a majority of students (> 50%) were "strongly confident" or " confident" of their ability to address each of the learning objectives in each module. Pre-test and post-test data are being compared to the students' self assessments. The modules have been revised to further improve this outcome and were implemented and evaluated again in Fall 2010. The final modules will be faculty-ready "graband- go" curricular units that include objectives, lecture and reading materials, active learning activities, homework problems and assessment tools. In Spring 2010, civil and industrial engineering seniors collaborated on a project to design a portable biodiesel production refinery for the campus. The refinery will use waste vegetable oil from campus dining facilities as feedstock to be transformed into biodiesel for use by the university's shuttle busses and generators. While the students pointed out challenges faced in completing the project (e.g. coordinating schedules among multiple groups with different deadlines), they were generally positive in their overall responses regarding the experience. All of the CE students involved agreed that participation in the project made them more likely to consider sustainable design options as practicing engineers, and all indicated that they would recommend the experience for other students. Surveys were administered to several companies in Spring 2010 to determine their interest in hosting an intern, their commitment to sustainability and to evaluate the quality of internship experience for prospective interns. Four companies hosted quality sustainability internships during Summer 2010, three of which were held by CE students. The internship experiences were evaluated by faculty, company representatives and students through student presentations and surveys. With the exception of one response for one objective, all students indicated that the internship experience improved their knowledge of and competency in addressing sustainability issues in engineering design. While company responses were mixed regarding the quantity and quality of internship candidates, survey results indicate 100% satisfaction with the internship program; and all company representatives are interested in participating in the future. Project evaluation is on-going. Assessment results are being used to modify content and implementation strategies as needed. © 2011 American Society for Engineering Education.