Creating An Engineering For Developing Communities Emphasis In Environmental Engineering

A comprehensive program in Engineering for Developing Communities (EDC) is being created at the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU). As part of the program, an EDC option in the Environmental Engineering (EVEN) B.S. degree is being proposed. Given the success of the Engineers Without Borders (EWB) outreach and service program, it is expected that student interest in the EDC option will be significant. At a workshop on “Integrating AppropriateSustainable Technology and Service-Learning in Engineering Education” held at CU on September 27-29, 2004, participants were surveyed on existing courses and programs at their universities that are relevant to EDC. A description of the proposed curriculum, option courses and technical electives for the proposed EDC emphasis in EVEN are provided. Relevant social science and humanistic electives are recommended. The information will provide a foundation for other universities interested in an EDC program, although it will take a number of years before outcomes assessments are available. Background In the next two decades, almost 2 billion additional people are expected to populate the Earth, with 95% of that growth taking place in developing or under-developed countries. This will create unprecedented demands for energy, food, water, materials, waste disposal, health care, environmental cleanup, and infrastructure. Since such global problems are not usually addressed in engineering curricula in the US, we do not have engineering schools that educate engineers to address the needs of the most impoverished people on our planet, many of them living in industrialized countries. This is unfortunate as it is estimated that 40% of the world’s population lack adequate sanitation, 20% lack clean water, and 20% lack adequate housing. 1 Furthermore, engineers have a critical role to play in addressing the complex problems associated with refugees, displaced populations, and large-scale population movement worldwide resulting from political conflicts, famine, land shortage, or natural hazards. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), currently 1.8 billion people (30% of the world’s population) live in conflict zones, in transition, or in situations of permanent instability. It is clear that the pedagogy of engineering education needs to change (or even be reinvented) in order to address the challenges associated with the global problems mentioned above. Today, there is still a strong disconnect between what is expected of young engineers in engineering firms, the magnitude of the problems that we are facing in our global economy, ABET’s P ge 10364.1 Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education engineering criteria (criteria 3 and 4 for instance) 2 , and the limited skills and tools traditionally taught in engineering programs. Engineers of the future will have to be educated to make intelligent decisions that enhance the quality of life on Earth rather than endanger it. They will also be called to make decisions in a professional environment where they will interact with others from many technical and nontechnical disciplines. Workshop and Review of Other Programs A workshop on “Integrating Appropriate-Sustainable Technology and Service-Learning in Engineering Education” was held at the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU) on September 27-29, 2004. More than 70 participants from around the world discussed how to best educate engineers to meet these challenges. The workshop was sponsored by a department level reform grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance (NCIIA). One focal point of the workshop was a review and development of an educational program termed Engineering for Developing Communities (EDC). EDC related undergraduate (Table 1) and graduate (Table 2) courses and programs are currently active at other Universities, including initiatives across the fields of engineering, science, and humanities. A brief summary of selected programs is provided below. Table 1. Review of Existing Bachelor’s Degree Programs Relevant to EDC University, Program, website URL Brief Description Colorado School of Mines. Dept. Civil Engineering, Liberal Arts and International Studies. www.mines.edu/academic/epics/ The CVEN EPICs course is a multidisciplinary and vertically integrated course program with opportunities for service learning. Courses incorporate sustainability; values, society & decisions; environment, resources, science & technology; international studies. University of Dayton, OH. Engineering in Technical, Humanitarian Opportunities of Service (ETHOS) quickplace.udayton.edu/ETHOS ETHOS provides international service internships as well as through collaborative research and hands-on classroom projects that support the development of appropriate technologies for the developing world. Georgia Tech. School of Civil & Environmental Engineering. www.ce.gatech.edu/ Courses include: Lab for Sustainable Design & Construction; Sustainable Issues for Design; Environ Conscious Design & Manufacturing; Environmentalism & Ecocriticism; Technol & Policy; World Food, Population & Env. Univ. Illinois Urbana-Champaign International Programs in Engineering www.engr.uiuc.edu/international/ Provides information about study abroad, work abroad and other international opportunities Kalamazoo College, MI. International Sustainable Development Studies Inst. http://www.isdsi.org SDSI’s People, the Environment and Development study abroad program in Thailand allows college and university students to examine critical issues in globalization, sustainability, and cross-cultural learning. Marquette Univ. Dept. Civil & Environ Engrg; Health, Environment, and Infrastructure in Latin America (HEILA) Program. www.eng.mu.edu/ Students perform 2-week service learning projects in El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras while learning about the region’s history, culture, and politics. Students explore their profession and its relationship to society in the US and abroad. P ge 10364.2 Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education pages/Home/Departments/Civil_Environment al /International_Service_Learning University of Massachusetts, Lowell. Solar Energy Engineering; Center for Sustainable Energy energy.caeds.eng.uml.edu/ Seeks to improve energy efficiency in end-use sectors and increase the diversity of energy resources consistent with an economically and environmentally sustainable future. Combines undergraduate and graduate education, research, public service, service-learning, and public education. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. Civil & Environmental Engineering; Earth Systems Initiative; International Development Initiative. web.mit.edu/esi/ D-Lab is a full year course including a January field trip to a developing area. The course frames international development and appropriate technology featuring technical lectures, hands on work and language elements. Project teams are led by international students in partnerships with various organizations.