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Session Description

Engineering education produces highly skilled professionals, and engineers from all disciplines have an impact on the world in large and small ways every day. The work of engineers has increased life expectancy, produced life-saving technologies, improved the ability to connect with distant places and people, enabled communications around and beyond the ends of the Earth, and created joyful media and entertainment experiences, to name just a few.
However, many engineered solutions have also led to unintended negative social and environmental impacts. The negative effects of climate change, pollution, and health disparities have a disproportionate impact on people from historically marginalized communities. People of color and women are underrepresented in engineering, but their perspectives and lived experiences are critical to developing the best engineering solutions that no longer perpetuate environmental, economic, or social disparities.
Engineering educators are increasingly seeking to introduce sustainability into coursework. This session will provide teaching tools, capacity-building, and course buy-outs or resources to do so.
To both address and avoid negative impacts of the range of activities that engineers undertake, engineers must be prepared in a broad range of skills under the broad umbrella of sustainability. These include technical skills such as Life-Cycle Assessment and energy measurement, and high-demand professional skills such as communication, teamwork and leadership, and critical thinking to evaluate ethical issues and trade-offs.
As the aspirations of employers turn toward imbuing sustainability across engineering and business functions, the demand for sustainability skills is outweighing the supply.

Moderated by

1. Dr. Jenna P. Carpenter

Speakers

1. Cindy Cooper

   The Lemelson Foundation

   As a Senior Program Officer for The Lemelson Foundation, Cindy Cooper supports the U.S. Higher Education initiative to cultivate the next generation of impact-driven inventors and innovators and foster equitable and inclusive pathways for student inventors. She also leads Engineering for One Planet, the Foundation’s effort to equip tomorrow’s engineers with the skills, knowledge and understanding to protect our planet and the life it sustains.

   Cooper joined The Lemelson Foundation as a Program Officer in 2017. During her tenure, she has served as judge for national and international innovation competitions, including the 2019 MacArthur Foundation 100&Change competition. Additionally, she has been a keynote speaker, panelist and moderator for national and global events.

   Cooper previously co-founded and served as the Executive Director of Portland State University’s Impact Entrepreneurs Program, where she served as faculty teaching social innovation and entrepreneurship, co-led PSU’s successful bid for recognition as an Ashoka U Changemaker Campus, developed social innovation incubation programs and co-led the creation of the nation’s first online academic and professional certificate in social innovation and entrepreneurship. Previously, she co-founded Speak Shop, a groundbreaking and award-winning social enterprise for learning Spanish online by video conferencing with teachers in Guatemala. She has experience in global strategic marketing and has consulted to corporations, foundations and NGOs on social innovation and environmental impact projects. Cooper received a 40 Under 40 Award in 2013, and her work has been featured in Fast Company magazine, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and NPR.

   Cooper is a Brazilian American and holds a Global M.B.A. with distinction from Thunderbird School of Global Management and earned a B.A. summa cum laude in Psychology/Spanish from Claremont McKenna College.

2. Dr. Michael K. J. Milligan P.E.

   ABET

   Michael K. J. Milligan is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of ABET, the global accreditor of over 4,500 college and university programs in applied and natural science, computing, engineering and engineering technology.

   Prior to joining ABET in 2009, Milligan was a systems director at the Aerospace Corporation, leading a team at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center developing the next generation environmental satellites for NOAA. Milligan served over 24 years as a career U.S. Air Force officer working in operations, engineering education, international research & development, technology acquisition.

   Milligan earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, his M.S.E. from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, and his B.S. from Michigan State University — all in electrical engineering. He also earned an M.B.A. in Business Administration from Western New England College, is a registered Professional Engineer (PE) in Colorado and Maryland, and a Certified Association Executive (CAE). He is also a Master Naturalist for the state of Maryland.

3. Dr. Adebayo Ogundipe

   James Madison University

   Adebayo “Bayo” Ogundipe is Professor and Department Head of Engineering at James Madison University (JMU). Prior to joining the department in 2010, he held the position of Research Fellow with the Center for Environmental Systems at Stevens Institute of Technology; NJ where his DOD-sponsored research was on the environmental impacts of munitions and the development of tools and protocols for assessing sustainable engineering designs using life-cycle assessment and industrial ecology methods. His work has resulted in research publications on environmental and sustainable engineering. He is the co-author of a textbook on sustainable engineering design as well as multiple guidance documents on the topic.

   Since joining the department, his scholarly interests have expanded to include the development of synergistic activities between engineering and non- engineering disciplines with the goal of interdisciplinary holistic approaches to problem solving. His ongoing cross disciplinary work involves international collaborations aimed at developing appropriate educational modules to help engineering students develop global cultural competencies, a necessity for sustainable problem-solving.

   Ogundipe earned his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Lagos in Nigeria, followed by a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering and PhD in Environmental Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology, NJ.

4. Mrs. Dora Smith

   Siemens Digital Industries Software

   Dora Smith directs the global education and startup strategies for Siemens Digital Industries Software. The strategic education initiative empowers lifelong learners to create a more innovative sustainable future through access to industrial strength software, industry-aligned learning resources, and an ecosystem of more than 1.5 million students at more than 4,000 institutions worldwide. The strategic startup program empowers entrepreneurs to make an impact on the world through cutting-edge tools and resources to take their innovations from digitalization to realization. Dora serves in academic-industry advisory roles, including chair of the American Society for Engineering Education’s Corporate Member Council and vice president for Diversity and Inclusion on the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies’ executive committee.

   She is an accredited business communicator with more than 25 years of experience in the engineering and manufacturing industry with leadership roles across disciplines. Previously, she held executive management positions at CAD Potential (now Tata Technologies), where she developed the company’s first academic and certification programs. Prior to that, she directed the Unigraphics Users Group (now Digital Enterprise Society) an independent, not-for-profit user advocacy organization supporting the engineering community. She also served as president on the board of directors of IABC St. Louis. Dora earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from University of Missouri-Columbia and a master’s in business administration from Washington University.

   Siemens Digital Industries Software helps organizations of all sizes digitally transform using software, hardware and services from the Siemens Xcelerator business platform. Siemens' software and the comprehensive digital twin enable companies to optimize their design, engineering and manufacturing processes to turn today's ideas into the sustainable products of the future. From chips to entire systems, from product to process, across all industries, Siemens Digital Industries Software is where today meets tomorrow.