BENCHMARKING SUSTAINABILITY ENGINEERING EDUCATION
Impact/Purpose:
The data to be collected in the benchmarking activity will be refined through a series of questionnaire activities as defined in the methods section. Initial assessments will collect data that include (1) curricula development activities, (2) sustainability centers and institutes, (3) conferences related to sustainability, (4) institutional support, (5) opportunities to pursue concentrations or joint degrees, (6) faculty position titles that include sustainability, and (7) guest lectures and seminars.
Description:
The goals of this project are to develop and apply a methodology for benchmarking curricula in sustainability engineering and to identify individuals active in sustainability engineering education.
Record Details:
Record Type:PROJECT(
ABSTRACT
)
Start Date:01/12/2005
Completion Date:01/22/2007
Record ID:
134243
Keywords:
SURVEY, LIFE CYCLES, INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY, DESIGN FOR ENVIRONMENT,
Related Organizations:
Role
:OWNER
Organization Name
:ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY - MAIN CAMPUS
Citation
:Tempe
State
:AZ
Zip Code
:85287
Role
:OWNER
Organization Name
:CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY
Mailing Address
:5000 Forbes Ave
Citation
:Pittsburgh
State
:PA
Zip Code
:15213
Project Information:
Approach
:The methods to be used in benchmarking educational practices will apply two types of information gathering tools, namely formal questionnaires and website/literature reviews augmented by interviews when needed. The formal questionnaires will be designed to assess the coverage of sustainability engineering concepts in engineering curricula; the website/literature reviews will identify faculty who use sustainability engineering tools in their research and other activities and practicing engineers who use sustainability engineering in their job activities. Each of these tools will be applied, sequentially, to assessing the practices of four communities. The first community is the group of institutions involved in this proposal. Applying questionnaire instruments and search tools to this limited population will allow the tools to be refined before they are used in broader populations. The second community is a population of several hundred faculty members already known to be active in sustainability engineering education. It is anticipated that this audience will be willing to provide detailed information and documentation about their activities. The third community is the set of all ~1500 accredited engineering programs and departments at U.S. colleges and universities. The fourth community consists of practicing engineers actively using sustainability engineering tools. Unlike the first three communities which are used to assess the current status of sustainability engineering education, the practicing engineers will help identify sustainability engineering skills that will be needed by students as they graduate and begin to practice their profession.
Cost
:$350,000.00
Research Component
:Engineering and Environmental Chemistry
Project IDs:
ID Code
:X3832351
Project type
:EPA Grant