2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

WIP - A New Standard: Evaluating Innovativeness in Environmental Engineering Solutions

Presented at Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation Division (ENT) Poster Session

Innovativeness in engineering design is often associated with mechanical, electrical, or aerospace engineering, while it remains less emphasized in the field of Environmental Engineering, despite this discipline’s critical impact on human health and the environment. This paper presents the development of a Product Innovativeness Rubric for Environmental Engineering (PIREE) to help systematically assess the innovativeness of team-generated products in undergraduate-based courses. Utilizing key innovativeness identifiers, activity categories were developed that reflect the observable innovativeness of products. Evaluators are guided through a simple Likert-based rating process, which provides a holistic innovativeness score. Although designed for Environmental Engineering, the framework is adaptable for other engineering majors through contextual modification of activities and key skills. This paper discusses the rubric’s structure, implementation protocol, and its potential to advance research-based assessment of innovation in engineering education.

Authors

Calvin Leon Wynn University of Colorado Boulder [biography]

Calvin Wynn is a Ph.D student at the University of Colorado Boulder earning a degree in Engineering Education. He has a Masters and Bachelors of Science in Biosystems Engineering with an emphasis on Food Processing.
Dr. Azadeh Bolhari http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6289-7771 University of Colorado Boulder [biography]

Dr. Bolhari is a professor of environmental engineering in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering (CEAE) at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her teaching focuses on fate and transport of contaminants and capstone design. Dr. Bolhari is passionate about broadening participation in engineering through community-based participatory action research. Her research interests explore the boundaries of engineering and social science to understand the evolution of resilience capacity, utilizing quantitative and qualitative research methods.
Dr. Angela R Bielefeldt P.E. University of Colorado Boulder [biography]

Angela Bielefeldt is a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering (CEAE) and Director for the Engineering Plus program. She has served as the Associate Chair for Undergraduate

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