2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of the present time. Economic damages from just 341 weather and climate-related disasters between 1980 and 2023 in the U.S. exceeded $2.481 trillion. As a result, there has been a widespread effort to improve environmental sustainability through rapid decarbonization efforts and a shift towards renewable energy sources. There will be considerable demand for engineers aware of various novel emerging technologies that can be used to support various climate goals. Despite its importance, engineering students must take particular electives to get exposure to concepts aligned with environmental sustainability. Project-based learning (PBL) incorporated into core engineering classes can broaden the exposure of these topics to a larger group of engineering students, which improves environmental sustainability across several disciplines. Hence, we piloted PBL based on the Engineering for One Planet (EOP) framework into various core courses across several engineering disciplines (chemical, mechanical and electrical) at undergraduate and graduate levels within the University of Texas at Tyler. The students were provided reading materials, videos, and lectures on the core values of EOP, specifically focusing on systems thinking, environmental literacy, environmental impact assessment, materials selection, and design. After introducing the EOP concepts, three to five student teams were formed, and each team was tasked to pick an approved topic related to the specific classes. The deliverables for the assignment were a preliminary report, a final report, and an oral presentation to the peers. Finally, an anonymous survey was conducted to gauge the improvement in the student’s understanding of the core EOP concepts and how it helped them improve their understanding of environmental sustainability. Survey responses showed that the students had a more sustainable mindset after performing the PBL based on the EOP framework. Furthermore, the students also improved their technical communication and group work skills, which are critical for modern engineers.