2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

In the introductory undergraduate Environmental Engineering course, the instructor implemented a project in the early 2000’s to provide an opportunity for students to perform undergraduate research and present their findings. Over time, the project transitioned from a research paper related to climate change to a life cycle analysis of a “green” solution to its current focus: a literature review and a student-run experimentation of an implementable sustainable practice at the University. The goal of this study is to present an effective example of a curricular activity designed to enhance student interest in sustainability within civil engineering and to promote behavior changes in the campus community. A small student group is tasked with researching and creating a sustainable solution to reduce an environmental impact at the University. The small group selects a sustainable practice of their choosing related to one of the topics covered in the course: municipal solid waste, water conservation, energy conservation, or an instructor-approved sustainable practice of their choice. The student group must conduct research to determine and define the specific topic, create a work cited and experimentation plan to test the effectiveness of their idea, provide an overview presentation to source feedback from peers, address any safety issues that may arise during the project, conduct an experiment, submit a final report and present their findings to peers/instructors via a final presentation. The project in its current format was first completed by students in their junior year in the Spring of 2019. Student-initiated projects range from a study of water usage and a campaign to reduce water waste in the dorms to a study of food waste in the University cafeteria which resulted in a partnership with the food services contract to better understand student preferences resulting in less food waste to a project that worked with public works to reduce fertilizer usage to protect groundwater. While students gained real-world knowledge of sustainable practices, there is a potential for further improving the project by addressing difficulties students faced in achieving their objectives. The implementation of this project in 2019 has resulted in five years of students who better understand how to collect and present data to create a positive environmental impact. In the process, the number of civil engineering graduates who are more conscientious of the world around them has also increased.