2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The Sustainability as Stewardship (SaS) Framework has been developed as a heavy adaptation of the Engineering One Planet (EOP) Framework. The most significant adaptation is the restructuring of the framework around the core principle of “Sustainability as Stewardship,” aimed at better contextualizing the concepts of sustainable design for instruction at a religious institution, such as the one at which the authors teach. Additional adaptations also include simplifications of the categories and topics as well as a reduction in the number of targeted outcomes in order to better accommodate both ABET expectations and the incorporation of the framework into an existing engineering curriculum. In addition to adapting the SaS framework, the authors also developed a series of fourteen curriculum modules in order to integrate the framework throughout a civil engineering program’s curriculum, with each module consisting of a single class lecture and follow-up assignments. These modules are not intended to be the entirety of a sustainability-related education, but instead to provide instructors with a framework that can help relate, structure, and formalize all additional sustainability-related learning experiences students receive during the completion of their degree programs.
The core principle and first module of the SaS framework is that producing sustainable engineering and technology solutions is a faithful application of the concept of stewarding well the resources God has given us as human beings and designers. Producing sustainable designs ultimately requires an understanding of how design decisions are interrelated with environmental, economic, and societal contexts as well as their impacts on all of society through the global context (modules 2-5, respectively). All of the first five curriculum modules are intended to be generally applicable to students from any engineering, computer science, or other technology design majors, and the design contexts defined in the framework align directly with the contexts described in the ABET Engineering Accreditation Commission’s student outcomes 2 and 4. In addition to the general understanding of sustainability developed through these introductory modules, it is also critical that students learn to apply these concepts within their intended fields. Through the SaS Framework, students are introduced to the topics of systems thinking (implications of design), design (applications of design), and communication & teamwork (implementation of design) that are specific and relevant to their field of study. Several modules were developed for each of these topics relevant to the field of civil engineering as a part of this first application of the SaS framework.
The framework and the curriculum modules have been completed and are being offered for the first time during the 2023-24 school year. At this point no formal assessment methods have been undertaken, so this paper will focus more on the development and structure of the framework and curriculum modules, in addition to including any anecdotal evidence collected from students and instructors during its initial implementation.