Infusing Sustainability into Diverse Courses and Programs Using Open Source Engineering for One Planet (EOP) Teaching Resources

Cynthia Anderson; Cindy Cooper

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Environmental Engineering Division (ENVIRON) Technical Session 2 - Engineering for One Planet (EOP)
Tagged Division: Environmental Engineering Division (ENVIRON)
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/47623

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Paper Authors

biography

Cynthia Anderson Alula Consulting

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Cindy Anderson (she/her/hers) is a sustainability consultant with Alula Consulting, and a strategy consultant for Engineering for One Planet with The Lemelson Foundation. Cindy specializes in innovative sustainability-focused research and curriculum projects for academic institutions, non-profits, government and corporations. Cindy has taught thousands of people through courses and workshops, around the world and online, in the fields of biology, sustainability and biomimicry. She is honored to be a collaborative partner on the Engineering for One Planet initiative since its inception, co-author of the EOP Framework and framework companion teaching guides, and active EOP Network Member. Cindy holds a MS from Oregon State University, a MEd from Griffith University (Queensland, Australia), and a BSc in biology from the University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada).

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biography

Cindy Cooper The Lemelson Foundation orcid.org/0000-0001-7253-4042

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As a Senior Program Officer for The Lemelson Foundation, Cindy leads the U.S. higher education initiative to educate the next generation of inventors and the Engineering for One Planet initiative to change engineering education to equip all engineers with fundamental skills in sustainability.

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Abstract

The climate crisis and environmental degradation are among today’s biggest challenges. These challenges can be addressed or exacerbated through engineering activities, leading industry to increasingly seek engineers who are as well-versed in technological expertise as they are in social and environmental sustainability and climate action. However, engineering students are not typically graduating with the skills, knowledge, and experiences needed to protect and improve our planet and our lives.

The Engineering for One Planet (EOP) initiative seeks to change the course of engineering education to reflect the growing urgency to incorporate fundamental climate and sustainability topics into all engineering disciplines. Catalyzed by The Lemelson Foundation and VentureWell in 2020 —in collaboration with hundreds of contributors from across geographies, lived experience, and sectors — EOP seeks to ensure that all engineers are equipped with core skills in social and environmental sustainability, such as sustainable design and lifecycle impacts, and related professional skills, such as teamwork and critical thinking.

Fueled by the input and collaboration of a growing global community, the EOP initiative fosters curricular transformation through three interrelated approaches: 1) developing and sharing teaching resources through community feedback and vetting in diverse courses and programs, 2) funding faculty change efforts and supporting faculty capacity-building, and 3) activating and supporting collaboration among diverse stakeholders across sectors.

In this paper, we focus on the first approach and discuss how these open source teaching resources have been and are being developed, impact to date, and areas for future work. The paper will share the unique ways these resources have been co-created by hundreds of cross-sector stakeholders and used in curricular change efforts across diverse institutions -including Minority-Serving Institutions, R1 and R2 universities, and community colleges-, what lessons are being learned that can help faculty with their efforts to infuse sustainability into their courses, and what else is needed to go beyond changing discrete courses to changing the course of engineering.

Citation
Format

Anderson, C., & Cooper, C. (2024, June), Infusing Sustainability into Diverse Courses and Programs Using Open Source Engineering for One Planet (EOP) Teaching Resources Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47623

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - The climate crisis and environmental degradation are among today’s biggest challenges. These challenges can be addressed or exacerbated through engineering activities, leading industry to increasingly seek engineers who are as well-versed in technological expertise as they are in social and environmental sustainability and climate action. However, engineering students are not typically graduating with the skills, knowledge, and experiences needed to protect and improve our planet and our lives. 

The Engineering for One Planet (EOP) initiative seeks to change the course of engineering education to reflect the growing urgency to incorporate fundamental climate and sustainability topics into all engineering disciplines. Catalyzed by The Lemelson Foundation and VentureWell in 2020 —in collaboration with hundreds of contributors from across geographies, lived experience, and sectors — EOP seeks to ensure that all engineers are equipped with core skills in social and environmental sustainability, such as sustainable design and lifecycle impacts, and related professional skills, such as teamwork and critical thinking.  

Fueled by the input and collaboration of a growing global community, the EOP initiative fosters curricular transformation through three interrelated approaches: 1) developing and sharing teaching resources through community feedback and vetting in diverse courses and programs, 2) funding faculty change efforts and supporting faculty capacity-building, and 3) activating and supporting collaboration among diverse stakeholders across sectors.

In this paper, we focus on the first approach and discuss how these open source teaching resources have been and are being developed, impact to date, and areas for future work. The paper will share the unique ways these resources have been co-created by hundreds of cross-sector stakeholders and used in curricular change efforts across diverse institutions -including Minority-Serving Institutions, R1 and R2 universities, and community colleges-, what lessons are being learned that can help faculty with their efforts to infuse sustainability into their courses, and what else is needed to go beyond changing discrete courses to changing the course of engineering. 

AU  - Cynthia Anderson
AU  - Cindy Cooper
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Infusing Sustainability into Diverse Courses and Programs Using Open Source Engineering for One Planet (EOP) Teaching Resources 
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/47623
ER  -