2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Sustainable Development

Sustainability is defined as meeting the resource needs of the current generation without compromising the health and well-being of future generations. The challenge is how do we move society forward in the most sustainable manner. Continuously we hear about decreasing water availability either for consumption or irrigation, shortage of food in certain areas of the planet, changing weather patterns with catastrophic results, and climate change. Indeed, it could be said that we have entered a period of not just climate change but rather climate crisis with significant and negative impact all around the globe.

To address the interconnected challenges on our planet, the United Nations adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to achieve sustainable development. The SDG 7 is to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”. The SDG 13 is to “take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts” while SDG 12 aims to “ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.”

In alignment with the SDGs, the Center for Urban Agriculture and Sustainability (CUAS) at our university brings together students from various disciplines and educates them on sustainability in an urban environment, teaches them about renewable energy sources and associated technologies, provides opportunities to students to produce goods and food in a sustainable manner, and engages them in community service. Our focus has been on educating students on sustainable development and providing experiential learnings that contribute towards achieving UN SDGs 7, 12 and 13.

In this paper, the focus is on lessons learned from an eight-year long interdisciplinary collaboration that has been supported by various grants from USDA, local companies, and our university. The culmination of this collaboration has been the development of a Center for Urban Agriculture and Sustainability (CUAS), the creation of a minor program in sustainability but most importantly the collaborative efforts of students from various disciplines working together to address important societal problems. Student projects and learnings will demonstrate the impact we have had and continue to have on sustainable development. Sample projects reviewed will include a thermal solar conductor, a solar-powered rotating composter, a phone charging station, a solar-powered water purification system and a solar-powered aquaponics system.