2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Training the nation’s engineers to understand sustainability, or the economic, environmental, and social context and long-term potential impacts of their work, is key to fostering competitive technological innovation. Engineers increasingly face challenges that demand not only technical expertise but also a deep understanding of how their decisions shape sustainable outcomes, an awareness that is essential for advancing responsible innovation, earning public trust, and striving in a rapidly evolving global economy. Yet, despite their importance, these topics remain mostly absent in undergraduate engineering education. Efforts to integrate these themes more broadly into required curricula have proven difficult, and past institutional initiatives have achieved only limited success. One reason for this persistent challenge is that academic change, particularly around curriculum and instruction, is a complex and dynamic process. Faculty, who play a central role in enacting change, operate within institutional systems shaped by competing demands, incentive structures, and cultural norms. Without a clear understanding of what motivates faculty to act, efforts to promote meaningful and lasting curricular innovation are unlikely to succeed. This project, funded by the NSF Research Initiation in Engineering Formation program, investigates the conditions that reinforce or hinder faculty motivation to incorporate sustainability into undergraduate engineering courses, suggesting practical, evidence-informed strategies to support instructional change. These insights will help institutions better prepare engineering graduates to navigate the societal implications of technology and contribute to a resilient, future-ready STEM workforce.

The project examines faculty motivation through a systems thinking approach, using a large, private research university, as a single-institution case study. The study focuses on the adoption of the Engineering for One Planet framework and pursue two primary goals: (1) to identify factors in the academic system that influence faculty motivation to adopt the framework in their teaching; and (2) to understand how the dynamics among these factors affect faculty motivation to integrate this framework into their curricula. To accomplish these goals, the research team uses qualitative system dynamics modeling. This poster will present the preliminary models created.

These models consist of a series of causal loop diagrams (CLDs) that illustrate relationships among institutional factors, such as departmental culture, leadership priorities, tenure and promotion practices, and faculty development resources, and how these factors ultimately reinforce or hinder faculty motivation. The CLDs were created on a combination of empirical data gathered from interviews with faculty and a literature review of faculty perspectives and motivation on integrating sustainability in their curriculum. By integrating the CLDs, we will produce a qualitative system dynamics model representing a case-based theory of faculty motivation to integrate sustainability in their curriculum. This theory will serve as the foundation for actionable recommendations to institutional leaders, educators, and policymakers, identifying potential leverage points that support or inhibit instructional change. The project will contribute to the broader effort to modernize engineering education and ensure its relevance in addressing complex societal challenges.