Teaching sustainable engineering ten years later: What's worked & what's next?

Teaching environmentally related courses in environmental engineering and mechanical engineering technology curricula at two institutions has generated a wealth of experiences. Design for the Environment at the associate level, Design for Society at the senior level, and Sustainable Engineering at the graduate level are similar, complementary courses. Topics in each include green engineering and environmentally-conscious manufacturing. Environmental awareness discussions are included to make clear the perspective of why engineering students need to learn about green design. The writing components in each course are more involved than those in other engineering courses. Whereas each course has undergone student and faculty assessments, an accounting of the results reveals similarities and differences in student reactions to environmentally considerate material. This paper includes numerical analysis of student assessments and faculty reviews for the purpose of measuring progress towards common objectives. The paper also discusses qualitative data for understanding the direction sustainable engineering education might take. This analysis becomes useful when making changes to existing courses and plans for future ones by identifying what has worked well and what has not.