2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Assessing the Impact of Experiential Learning through Engineers Without Borders on Sustainable Engineering Education

Presented at Environmental Engineering & Sustainability Division (ENVEST) Poster Session

Sustainable engineering is one of the themes of the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges and is of great interest and relevance in several engineering disciplines. ABET requirements for student outcomes in all engineering programs involve sustainable engineering topics through the consideration of environmental factors in engineering design [2]. Yet, sustainable engineering is often not discussed in required undergraduate courses in favor of emphasis on technical viability rather than application approaches that address these topics. Problem-based learning (PBL) has gained traction as a method to integrate education for sustainable development (ESD) into the undergraduate curriculum, however this method suffers from limited participant-directed learning, interdisciplinary knowledge, and collaboration [4]. As a result, the responsibility is often placed upon the students to take specialized, elective courses, which may not be available at many institutions [4]. Alternatively, students may engage in extracurricular student organizations to take part in experiential learning about sustainability outside of the classroom. At the University of Delaware, participation in the EWB student chapter is a popular way for students to learn about issues facing low-resource environments and gain firsthand experience working on sustainable engineering projects. This study aimed to understand how presenting sustainable engineering topics in different ways influenced undergraduate students’ interest, knowledge and confidence with the topic. Each of the teaching methods are expected to be successful in significantly increasing student interest, knowledge and confidence in sustainable engineering topics in the short term. Additionally, this study sought to determine how prior experiences and student demographics influenced the metrics of student engagement with topics in sustainable engineering.
Data were collected for this study by surveying undergraduate engineering students during a short seminar on sustainability in engineering. Three half-hour sessions of this seminar were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of three different teaching methods: teaching through literature review, teaching with a tactile aid, and teaching using a hybrid of the two methods. Each teaching method was employed at a separate seminar session. After analysis of the collected data, it was found that only the literature review was found to have a significant increase in all three metrics, rejecting the null hypothesis and suggesting it may be the best teaching method to achieve increases in the metrics in the short term. By the same tests, the tactile aid and hybrid teaching methods were found to have significant increases only in knowledge and confidence about sustainability. EWB student chapter membership versus non-membership was the only demographic category not showing inherent bias towards any specific group. It was determined that there was only a significant increase in the metric of knowledge from non-members to EWB student chapter members. In future studies, a more diverse and proportional set of subjects at various stages in their education and majors should be evaluated to better understand the relationship between the three metrics.

Authors

John Clifford Thomas Jr. University of Delaware Engineers Without Borders [biography]

John Thomas is a second-year undergraduate Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering student at the University of Delaware. He is Project Manager for UD's Engineers Without Borders Research Team and serves as Co-Public Relations Chair on the organizations executive board.
Rachel Tran University of Delaware [biography]

Rachel Tran is a third-year undergraduate student studying Biomedical Engineering at the University of Delaware (UD). She serves as Project Manager for the Research Team within Engineers Without Borders-UD Chapter. She also works as a research assistant in the Brain and Endocrine Signaling Lab at UD, researching the neuroendocrine social regulation of social behavior, addressing health disparities caused by birth mode. In her free time, she designs novel sustainable medical devices and has minors in Biochemical and Biomechanical engineering.
Anoushka Buddhikot University of Delaware [biography]

Anoushka Buddhikotis a fourth-year chemical engineering undergraduate at the University of Delaware and serves as a project manager for the Engineers Without Borders Research Team. She plans to pursue a PhD in chemical engineering and is passionate about encouraging fellow undergraduates to explore and pursue careers in engineering.
Michael Earley University of Delaware [biography]

Michael Earley is a Master's student in the 4+1 program at the University of Delaware, studying Computer Science after completing his Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering. He is one of several project managers for the Research Team within the Engineers Without Borders Chapter at the University of Delaware.
Prof. Nazim Karaca Esq. University of Delaware [biography]

Nazim Karaca was born with an olympic-level-potential for performance-eating, and a curiosity about everything else. Born on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, he arguably achieved self-awareness in Italy, a land he returns to regularly. After working in high-end restaurants and construction while he got a degree in philosophy, he decided to become an attorney to impress his wife and cats. Then, per his long-standing plan B, he obtained a degree in computer engineering and worked at New York Life and then University of Delaware as a data engineer. The only vestige of his attorney life, at this point, is his podcast, the Citizen’s Guide to the Supreme Court. He teaches Computer Ethics and low-level CISC courses, but mostly subsists on refined cheeses, freshly baked goods, and video games (he is NazKat on PlayStation Network and nazimkaraca on Steam). Do NOT touch his office legos.
Dr. Haritha Malladi http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8723-8964 University of Delaware [biography]

Haritha Malladi is an Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Director of First-Year Engineering at the University of Delaware. She received her Bachelor of Technology degree in Civil Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Warangal, India, and her MS and PhD in Civil Engineering from North Carolina State University. She is a teacher-scholar working in the intersection of undergraduate engineering education, sustainable infrastructure, and community engagement. She teaches the introductory engineering course for all first-year undergraduate students in the College of Engineering at UD. Her undergraduate teaching experience includes foundational engineering mechanics courses like statics and strength of materials as well as courses related to sustainability and infrastructure. Her research interests are in foundational engineering education, sustainability in engineering curriculum, and green technologies in infrastructure.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 21, 2026, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 24, 2026

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