2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Community engagement in engineering education provides a key opportunity for students to gain valuable hands-on experience while enriching the live of local residents and promoting a positive impact. Since 2020, our institution has been working on a transformative project with the overarching goal of revitalizing neighborhoods adjacent to the university.

The primary goal of this initiative is to enhance the built environment in order to promote active and healthy lifestyles and improve the quality of life of the residents. Enhancements include sidewalk improvements, addition of new crosswalks, street trees, upgraded street lighting, and green spaces improvements among others. To attain this objective, we have established strong relationships with our city government, community organizations, and local residents, to ensure that the project aligns with the community needs and goals.

Student involvement has been a key focus of this initiative. By actively participating in neighborhood revitalization projects, students gain real-world experience, develop practical skills, and build meaningful relationships with the community and with professionals and organizations involved in the project. Furthermore, students have the opportunity to see the tangible results of their efforts, motivating them to pursue careers in civil engineering with a commitment to make a positive impact on society.

This paper describes the framework developed for neighborhood revitalization projects, emphasizing the community engagement initiatives and student involvement efforts. Additionally, we discuss the methodology developed to assess the success of this program and how we plan to integrate community based projects into the engineering curriculum. The ultimate goal is for this initiative to serve as a model and inspiration for universities and communities alike, highlighting the transformative power of collaboration between higher education institutions, industry, and community partners to drive meaningful improvements in our communities, fostering growth, innovation, and social well-being.