2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Addressing today’s complex environmental challenges requires engineers who are not only technically proficient but also equipped with strong leadership skills. Environmental engineers make decisions which impact public health, ecosystems, and long-term sustainability. Many projects involve regulatory agencies, policies, and collaborating with multidisciplinary groups. Attributes including integrity, critical thinking, resiliency, and supporting skills, such as systems thinking, communication, and innovation, not only impact the success of a project but also the growth of the profession. However, traditional environmental engineering undergraduate programs often do not adequately cover leadership development. The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework to integrate leadership development into environmental engineering education, while delivering the required technical knowledge needed in the profession. This will include mapping attributes to existing environmental engineering courses, adding leadership modules and activities, as well as implementation strategies for faculty development, assessment methods, and collaboration with industry and government. The framework will be evaluated in a future pilot program. The paper calls for curriculum reform in engineering education to develop leadership attributes.