2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Work-In-Progress: Holistic, Multi-disciplinary Systems Approach to Teaching Sustainable and Contextual Engineering Concepts for Undergraduate Students

Presented at Best of Multidisciplinary Engineering Division (MULTI)

The urgent global need for sustainable engineering solutions necessitates a paradigm shift in engineering education. This paper advocates for a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary approach in teaching sustainable and contextual engineering to undergraduate students. The multidimensional challenges of sustainable development require engineers to understand the complex interplay of ecological, social, economic, and ethical factors. This paper highlights the imperative of embracing a holistic pedagogical framework that combines engineering fundamentals with knowledge from diverse disciplines. Specifically, this paper will discuss how two universities implemented sustainable, contextual learning opportunities for their undergraduate students from an interdisciplinary perspective and from disciplines not typically involved in sustainable education pedagogy such as Electrical and Chemical Engineering perspectives. This paper will provide examples on how contextual learning opportunities could be implemented with a range of types of assignments with various time commitments.
We argue that exposing undergraduate engineering students to this approach equips them with the essential skills, perspectives, and critical thinking abilities required to address sustainability challenges effectively. Incorporating real-world case studies, interdisciplinary collaboration, ethical considerations, and experiential learning opportunities within the curriculum prepares students to approach engineering problems with a nuanced understanding of the broader systems and contexts involved. Through our educational approaches to implementing contextual engineering learning opportunities, we aim to cultivate a new generation of engineers capable of devising innovative, sustainable, and contextually relevant solutions that positively impact society and the environment.

Authors

Dr. Courtney Pfluger Northeastern University [biography]

Dr. Courtney Pfluger is an Associate Teaching Professor at Northeastern University. In 2011, began as an Assistant Teaching Professor in First-year Engineering Program where she redesigned the curriculum and developed courses with sustainability and clean water themes. In 2017, she moved to ChE Department where she has taught core courses and redesigned the Capstone design course with inclusion pedagogy practices.
She has also developed and ran 9 faculty-led, international programs to Brazil focused on Sustainable Energy. She has won several teaching awards including ChE Sioui Award for Excellence in Teaching, COE Essigmann Outstanding Teaching Award, and AIChE Innovation in ChE Education Award. She also won best paper at the Annual ASEE conference in both Design in Engineering Education Division and the Professional Interest Council 5 (PIC V) for her research in Inclusive Team-based learning. In 2023, she won the Northeastern Inaugural Global Educator Award for her impactful work developing and running international educational programs.
Dr. Susan M Lord http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2675-5626 University of San Diego [biography]

Susan Lord is Professor and Chair of Integrated Engineering at the University of San Diego. She received a BS from Cornell University in Materials Science and Electrical Engineering (EE) and MS and PhD in EE from Stanford University. Her research focuses on the study and promotion of equity in engineering including student pathways and inclusive teaching. She has won best paper awards from the Journal of Engineering Education, IEEE Transactions on Education, and Education Sciences. Dr. Lord is a Fellow of the IEEE and ASEE and received the 2018 IEEE Undergraduate Teaching Award. She is a coauthor of The Borderlands of Education: Latinas in Engineering. She is a co-Director of the National Effective Teaching Institute (NETI).

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