2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Teaching Teachers to Integrate Sustainability into Engineering Education: Lessons Learned from UTA’s EOP Institutionization Program

Presented at Tech Session 6: Transformative Practices in Evolving Learning Environments

Sustainability, as a topic, has increased in importance due to resource scarcity and the growing impact of climate-related disasters. Students and faculty are showing interest in sustainability but frequently do not know how to define sustainability or identify how they can contribute. Given engineering’s critical role in infrastructure and technology, bridging this knowledge gap is imperative. Therefore, the Engineering for One Planet (EOP) Institutionalization program at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) aims to train instructors on how to define sustainability, introduce the EOP framework and its resources to instructors for application in the classroom, and provide reproducible examples of how to integrate sustainability concepts into the courses while still meeting the course’s core learning objectives. To achieve these goals, we created two programs. One is a two-day bootcamp, held between late Spring and early Summer, which introduces key concepts including sustainability principles, the EOP framework, and the UTA’s initiatives. Participants learn how to integrate and combine these approaches in their classroom teaching. The second program is a two-semester long Sustainability Professional Learning Community where faculty meet in a small group led by a faculty facilitator. The faculty meet every two weeks and share knowledge of how they are implementing sustainability concepts into the classroom. They also learn from guest speakers, and at the end of the two semesters they develop a poster presentation that illustrates how they are implementing sustainability in their course(s). The pilot year of the program (the 2024-25 school year) had over 30 participants who taught over 100 classes that reached an estimated 2000 unique students. Our findings indicate that the bootcamp’s shorter duration and project-based approach attracted more faculty participation. In contrast, the SPLC facilitated deeper engagement but had lower enrollment. In this paper, we share our challenges, successes, and planned improvements to enhance faculty engagement and program effectiveness.

Authors

Erick C. Jones Jr. http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0559-4699 The University of Texas at Arlington [biography]

Erick C. Jones Jr., an assistant professor of Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering and Resource and Energy Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington, combines analytics and prototyping to develop (or improve) technological systems and accompanying decision-making tools, so organizations can allocate their limited resources to maximize desired outcomes sustainably, efficiently, and resiliently.

His lab, the SEAR lab, focuses on three major areas: 1) Energy Systems and Technology; 2) Buildings, Transportation, and Infrastructure; 3) Critical Supply Chains; with ancillary work in Operations Management, Logistics, RFID, and Health.

The lab specializes (analytically) in Mathematical Optimization, Simulation, AI / ML, and specialized analytics (GIS, LCA, TEA). They develop prototypes and pilots informed by Mechanical, Electrical, and Chemical Experiments guided by Systems Engineering principles conducted in interdisciplinary teams.

Jones has a Chemical Engineering undergraduate degree and Petroleum Engineering minor from Texas A&M University, an Operations Research and Industrial Engineering doctoral degree from the University of Texas at Austin, and was an NSF NRT, DOE FACES, GEM, and Mickey Leland Energy Fellow.

In between degrees, he worked in the oil and gas and engineering design industries contributing to his unique perspective on the opportunities and challenges in various sectors. He is a native Texan who has traveled 6 continents with only a backpack.
Kendra Lee Wallis The University of Texas at Arlington
Mengqi Monica Zhan [biography]

MONICA ZHAN
Dr. Zhan serves as an Associate Professor for the Department of Communication at the University of Texas at Arlington. Her research interests include employee communication and corporate communication. Recently, she has developed growing interests in underrepresented minority student and employee experiences.
Na-Li Kim The University of Texas at Arlington
Ann M.L. Cavallo http://orcid.org/https://0000-0003-1441-3204 The University of Texas at Arlington
Andrew Clark The University of Texas at Arlington

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

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