Integrating Sustainable Design into Undergraduate Civil Engineering Curriculum

Abstract

The undergraduate civil engineering department has for years introduced students to the economic, environmental, and social aspects of sustainability. Within courses and through freshman and senior design projects students learned sustainable design. Students mastered the ability to recognize and discuss sustainable design but were unable to demonstrate the principles of sustainable design. In 2011, a more structured strategy to teaching sustainable design was adopted. In year one, an introduction to sustainable design principles was added to the Freshman Design course. The objective was to increase students' awareness of sustainable design. Assessment confirmed an increase in student awareness and understanding of sustainable design concepts. In the following year, Sustainable Civil Engineering Design was added as a required sophomore level course. The course objectives are to introduce the science behind the environmental constraints imposed by sustainable engineering, to utilize life cycle analysis as a design tool, and to incorporate a systems approach to design when identifying various sustainable development techniques. Future efforts will focus on integration of more sub-discipline specific sustainability concepts into junior engineering courses and to have students demonstrate the principles of sustainable design in the Senior Design course.