2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Designing a Graduate Course in Sustainable Transportation and Human Rights with a Student-Centered Approach

Abstract: In recent years, there has been a growing interest in sustainability across various fields, including engineering, due to its impact on the environment and potential to generate solutions. The latest reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have emphasized the importance of implementing environmentally and socially responsible solutions, and the engineering community has responded with both research and educational initiatives to encourage the adoption of sustainable systems (The evidence is clear: The time for action is now. we can halve emissions by 2030). Following these efforts, the University of Connecticut created a class called “Sustainable Transportation'' which is going through a redesign with a focus on the interplay of sustainability, human rights, and transportation infrastructure. The purpose of the course redesign is to (1) developed a student centered learning environment, (2), ensure compliance with the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology standards (3) foster critical thinking by empowering students to question, discover and explore the socio-technical systems around them, (4) ensure compliance with the Graduate Certificate of Human Rights by discussing fundamental concepts of human rights and how this framework could be used to assess the social impact of transportation engineering projects and, (5) to integrate XXXX initiative on clean energy and transportation, while also providing students with quantitative tools for real-world assessments. In order to meet the requirements and ensure that the course promotes student-centered learning, a methodology based on (Finks, 2013) called “Designing Courses for Significant Learning” is employed as our design methodology. The course is open to graduate students, and juniors and seniors undergraduates students from engineering and non-engineering backgrounds interested in how transportation systems impact sustainability and play and instrumental role in the fulfillment of human rights, discussed from diverse perspectives, recognizing its broad definition and global variations. In this course students will delve into the impact of land-based transportation systems on the environment, society, and economy. Key topics include principles of transportation decision-making, performance measures, transportation demand, and costs, economic efficiency impacts, economic development impacts, air quality and noise impacts, energy use, land use impacts, and techniques to support equitable decision-making. This paper will summarize the lessons from redesigning this class, including experiences, challenges, and successes, from both the student's and professor's perspectives. Our goal with this paper is to serve as a guide for forthcoming engineering course redesigns that explicitly consider the integration of different disciplines, such as human rights, using a student-centered design.