Integration of Environmental Sustainability with Capstone Experience

Environmental sustainability is one of the most long term challenges facing engineering today. For example, the National Academy of Engineering in the U.S.A. announced a set of “grand challenges” for the engineering profession 1 . In their document, the NAE stated: “As the population grows and its needs and desires expand, the problem of sustaining civilization’s continuing advancement, while still improving the quality of life, looms more immediate.” As a result, there is an increasing pressure nationally and internationally for strong inclusion of environmental sustainability in undergraduate engineering education. The integration of sustainability throughout an undergraduate engineering program in addition to the development of a unique inter-disciplinary course in environmentally conscious design have contributed to achieving significant program outcomes. However, significant skill development and outcome validation could be achieved by the careful integration of environmental sustainability in the capstone design experience. This paper describes the integration of environmental sustainability with capstone course topics and activities. In addition, assessment results for the integration impact on the capstone students in addition to achieving program objectives and outcomes are also discussed. Introduction In addition to validating program’s achievement to students’ outcomes 2-6 , capstone courses are usually the last phase for students development before graduation 7,8 . This comprehensive view of the capstone course allows for the natural integration of different needed activities to achieve the program educational outcomes and objectives 9 . During course development and implementation, the course activities should be driven to close the gap between the learner state at the beginning of the course and the goal state at the end of the course 10 . One of the top engineering challenges facing the world today is environmental sustainability 11,12 . In response, a set of “grand challenges” for the engineering profession has been declared by the U.S.A. National Academy of Engineering (NAE). The NAE declares 1 : “As the population grows and its needs and desires expand, the problem of sustaining civilization’s continuing advancement, while still improving the quality of life, looms more immediate.” Consequently, there is an increasing pressure nationally and internationally for strong inclusion of environmental sustainability in engineering education. In the following, as a step towards facing the environmental challenges in engineering education, the integration of environmental sustainability with an engineering capstone course will be discussed. In this work, environmental sustainability modules developed by a multi-disciplinary group of faculty are integrated with the capstone course activities. Increasing students’ awareness of the challenges and the impacts of their design decisions on the environment are the main drivers for the environmental sustainability integration with the capstone experience. P ge 23785.2 Environmental Sustainability Educational Modules For addressing environmental sustainability and promoting environmentally conscious engineering practices. a dedicated multi-disciplinary group of faculty have developed the innovative interdisciplinary course materials for Environmentally Conscious Design and Manufacturing 13 . The development project was funded in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. The developed materials are organized in the six topical modules shown in Table 1. These topics are offered through an internet based course open to engineering, science, and management undergraduate and graduate students. In addition to providing students with the environmentally conscious perspective, the developed materials aims at developing students’ economic, managerial, ethical, scientific, and engineering skills for critically examining environmental issues in product design and manufacturing. Emphasis is placed on engineering alternatives for reducing costs and improving environmental performance 13 . Table 1 – Course Modules and Topics The six topical modules, shown in Table 1, aim at enhancing students’ environmental awareness, critical thinking, and problem solving strategies needed for professional practices. By studying the six topical modules 13 , “students will be able to: 1. Provide a critical analysis of the historical, ethical, social, philosophical, and regulatory issues underlying the environmental impact of goods and services. 2. Evaluate life cycle analyses of products and/or processes and propose strategies for addressing environmental impact while still meeting design and economic requirements. 3. Conduct a material selection with a goal of reducing the environmental impact of a product and/or process while simultaneously reducing material costs. 4. Use appropriate tools to evaluate the environmental impact of a manufacturing process and recommend actions for reducing this impact and minimize production costs. 5. Propose design changes to a product to enhance recycling, reuse and/or remanufacturing capability with consideration of the economics of these activities. 6. Identify and apply best practices in promoting the environment in a corporate setting.” The six topical modules were introduced and integrated with the capstone course activities. The integration process aimed at enhancing students’ environmental awareness and realization of the impacts, of their design decisions, on the environment during the capstone experience. Module # Topic Discussed Module 1 Technology, the environment and industrial ecology Module 2 Life cycle concepts and assessment Module 3 Material Selection Module 4 Process Design Issues Module 5 End-of-use strategies Module 6 Environmentally responsible management