At a glance
The relationship between engineering and environmental sustainability and social justice has presented many challenges, which… Read full summary
- Funding received
- 2023-2024
- Large
- Awarded
- $16,852
- Funding partners
-
- Student Activities Fee (SAF)
The relationship between engineering and environmental sustainability and social justice has presented many challenges, which have been recognized almost since the inception of the engineering profession. As inventors and developers of technology, engineering professions are both criticized for exacerbating these challenges and sought after to solve them. Unfortunately, while many engineers are motivated to shape a more sustainable and just world, training in how to translate that into research, design, and development of technologies is not part of a typical engineering education.
Over time, there have been frequent and vehement calls to better educate engineers on the environmental and social implications of their work. Specific educational initiatives and frameworks developed to support these efforts include the UN-sponsored Education for Sustainable Development (Byrne et al. 2010, Desha et al. 2019), sociotechnical thinking (Johnson et al. 2022), corporate social responsibility (Smith et al. 2018), and societal embeddedness (Sprenkeling et al. 2022). Despite long recognition of the need, substantial research has shown that uptake of such initiatives has been uniformly slow and uneven (Zandvoort et al. 2013, Leydens et al. 2022, Gutierrez-Bucheli et al. 2022). The opposition to program reform is generally based on displacement of what are seen as essential technical training requirements, which are often based on industry priorities.
The College of Engineering (COE) is one of the largest colleges at the University of Washington, with ten departments and over 9,800 students, academic personnel and staff. It is also a highly ranked engineering school. However, based on the project team’s experience, the COE faces the same constraints as are reported across engineering disciplines as a whole, which are based in systemic, historic, and cultural traditions that ultimately limit students’ ability to gain awareness and practical skills in the environmental and social implications of their work (Zandvoort et al. 2013, Leydens et al. 2022).
To address this deficit, the proposed feasibility study will assess the current status of environmental and social impact awareness and training within the COE, and create recommendations for program and curriculum interventions that will support environmental, community, and social justice oriented engineering at the University of Washington. The feasibility study is based on three Tasks, which are: 1) Assess availability and student engagement in existing education and training opportunities related to environmental and social justice, 2) Survey engineering students to evaluate sociotechnical and social justice perspectives, and unmet needs for education and training, and 3) Evaluate program models and curriculum interventions in other disciplines or institutions. The results from Tasks 1-3 will be used to develop recommendations for program or curriculum interventions that could be implemented within and across the College of Engineering.
The project is initiated by members (1 faculty, 2 graduate, and undergraduate students) of the Illimited Lab (https://www.illimitedlab.com/), a bioinspired engineering group within UW Aeronautics and Astronautics. The project outcomes are intended to be cross-cutting, however, and engage and produce results that are relevant to all of the ten departments within UW College of Engineering.
The relationship between engineering and environmental sustainability and social justice has presented many challenges, which have been recognized almost since the inception of the engineering profession. As inventors and developers of technology, engineering professions are both criticized for exacerbating these challenges and sought after to solve them. Unfortunately, while many engineers are motivated to shape a more sustainable and just world, training in how to translate that into research, design, and development of technologies is not part of a typical engineering education.
Over time, there have been frequent and vehement calls to better educate engineers on the environmental and social implications of their work. Specific educational initiatives and frameworks developed to support these efforts include the UN-sponsored Education for Sustainable Development (Byrne et al. 2010, Desha et al. 2019), sociotechnical thinking (Johnson et al. 2022), corporate social responsibility (Smith et al. 2018), and societal embeddedness (Sprenkeling et al. 2022). Despite long recognition of the need, substantial research has shown that uptake of such initiatives has been uniformly slow and uneven (Zandvoort et al. 2013, Leydens et al. 2022, Gutierrez-Bucheli et al. 2022). The opposition to program reform is generally based on displacement of what are seen as essential technical training requirements, which are often based on industry priorities.
The College of Engineering (COE) is one of the largest colleges at the University of Washington, with ten departments and over 9,800 students, academic personnel and staff. It is also a highly ranked engineering school. However, based on the project team's experience, the COE faces the same constraints as are reported across engineering disciplines as a whole, which are based in systemic, historic, and cultural traditions that ultimately limit students' ability to gain awareness and practical skills in the environmental and social implications of their work (Zandvoort et al. 2013, Leydens et al. 2022).
To address this deficit, the proposed feasibility study will assess the current status of environmental and social impact awareness and training within the COE, and create recommendations for program and curriculum interventions that will support environmental, community, and social justice oriented engineering at the University of Washington. The feasibility study is based on three Tasks, which are: 1) Assess availability and student engagement in existing education and training opportunities related to environmental and social justice, 2) Survey engineering students to evaluate sociotechnical and social justice perspectives, and unmet needs for education and training, and 3) Evaluate program models and curriculum interventions in other disciplines or institutions. The results from Tasks 1-3 will be used to develop recommendations for program or curriculum interventions that could be implemented within and across the College of Engineering.
The project is initiated by members (1 faculty, 2 graduate, and undergraduate students) of the Illimited Lab (https://www.illimitedlab.com/), a bioinspired engineering group within UW Aeronautics and Astronautics. The project outcomes are intended to be cross-cutting, however, and engage and produce results that are relevant to all of the ten departments within UW College of Engineering.
Ed Habtour
Project lead
- habtour@uw.edu
- Affiliation
- Faculty
Thijs Masmeijer
Team member
- thijsmas@uw.edu
- Affiliation
- Student
The relationship between engineering and environmental sustainability and social justice has presented many challenges, which have been recognized almost since the inception of the engineering profession. As inventors and developers of technology, engineering professions are both criticized for exacerbating these challenges and sought after to solve them. Unfortunately, while many engineers are motivated to shape a more sustainable and just world, training in how to translate that into research, design, and development of technologies is not part of a typical engineering education.
Over time, there have been frequent and vehement calls to better educate engineers on the environmental and social implications of their work. Specific educational initiatives and frameworks developed to support these efforts include the UN-sponsored Education for Sustainable Development (Byrne et al. 2010, Desha et al. 2019), sociotechnical thinking (Johnson et al. 2022), corporate social responsibility (Smith et al. 2018), and societal embeddedness (Sprenkeling et al. 2022). Despite long recognition of the need, substantial research has shown that uptake of such initiatives has been uniformly slow and uneven (Gutierrez-Bucheli et al. 2022). The opposition to program reform is generally based on displacement of what are seen as essential technical training requirements, which are often based on industry priorities.
Based on the project team's experience, the University of Washington College of Engineering (COE) program faces similar constraints that limit students' ability to gain awareness and practical skills in the environmental and social implications of their work. To address this deficit, the proposed feasibility study will assess the current status of environmental and social impact awareness and training within the COE, and create recommendations to develop a societal embedding framework for sustainability and community oriented engineering at the University of Washington. The feasibility study will initiate with (i) an assessment of the existing education and training opportunities - both formal and informal - that are available to students. Formal opportunities include required or voluntary courses (e.g., sustainability, social impact, and ethics) offered for academic credit. Informal opportunities include extra-curricular activities that are sponsored or promoted by the University or student groups (e.g., DubHacks, Alaska Environmental Challenge). These opportunities will be researched and summarized for purpose, scope, the number of engineering students that engage, and reported learning outcomes. The feasibility study will (ii) conduct a survey to evaluate COE students' interest and current knowledge in environmental and social impact engineering, and whether there is unmet need for training. The final study component will (iii) conduct a survey of COE alumni to assess whether training at UW was and is sufficient for the environmental, sustainability, and social issues that alumni encounter in their careers after graduating.
The goal of the feasibility study is to identify specific gaps in engineering training, to support development of a societal embedding framework for sustainability and community-oriented engineering. The summary of current training opportunities can be compared against the frameworks listed above to assess the ability of students to access comprehensive training. Survey results will indicate student knowledge as well as interest in these areas, and whether these vary across engineering departments. The alumni survey will allow assessment of the sufficiency of current training opportunities. The results of the feasibility study and recommendations for program reforms will be shared with individual departments within and across the College of Engineering. They will also form the basis to develop subsequent proposals to pilot and test specific interventions for sustainability and community-oriented engineering. Such interventions could include (but are not limited to): development of a clinic or practicum program (e.g., School of Public Health, UW School of Law), development of new courses, updates or changes to curriculum requirements, development of new extra-curricular training opportunities (e.g., Hack-a-thons). The project team also intends to use the results of the feasibility study to support an application to PFE: Research Initiation in Engineering Formation, a National Science Foundation program geared toward engineering education reform.
The project team is comprised of a faculty PI and two graduate students with substantial experience in engineering education and research development in academic, government, and private industry labs. This includes experience with implementing a community-oriented research program in government labs. Importantly, the project team perspectives' are also informed by their direct experience of engineering programs in the Netherlands, where environmental and social learning is integrated throughout undergraduate and graduate curricula and research programs.
This work meets all four of the Campus Sustainability Fund Criteria and Preferences. The Sustainable Impact criteria are met in the goal of the feasibility study, which is to produce a strategic plan to realize a program where UW engineering students can gain improved training in the environmental and social impact of their work. The Leadership and Student Involvement criteria are addressed through strong student involvement in project design and implementation. A majority of the project budget will fund project time for two graduate students in the Illimited Lab, who will integrate the results into their PhD dissertation research. Students will also be broadly invited to participate in project components (i) and (ii). The focus of the project is on Education, Behavior Change & Outreach, which will include attention and awareness resulting from conducting the feasibility study. The project meets criteria for Feasibility and Accountability in multiple ways. The project team (a faculty PI and two graduate students) have the necessary skills and research experience to conduct the feasibility study. All surveys will be submitted for review by the UW Human Subjects Division. The project team is supported by other members of the research lab group (IllimitedLab), who are committed to engineering education for sustainability and social impact.
The feasibility study phase will be led by Ed Habtour, a faculty member in the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department, who was embraced in the Netherlands Societal Embedding at UTwetne. We will utilize resources available at the Illimited Lab. Campus sustainability funds will support graduate and undergraduate summer students ($11,719) to conduct the research, outreach, and survey, as well as the lead summer salary (40hr/$3,281). The study will take six months. It will conclude by the end of September 2024 if we start in April 2024.
Request amount and budget
How the project will react to funding reductions
A 10% reduction would require modest changes to the project plan. The scope of Task 3 could be reduced by leaving out the planned interview of COE alumni, and reducing program interviews from 10 to a smaller number (e.g., 7) of program models. Some planned communication and outreach activities to department curriculum and DEI committees would be reduced. A 20% reduction would look similar to 10%, with further reduction in evaluation of program models (e.g., 5 instead of 10), and/or conducting only one instead of two interviews. Some other minor reductions in project scope, outreach, and communication would be likely, the majority of all three Tasks could be completed. A 50% reduction in funding would mean that we would be unlikely to be able to implement the survey to students (removal of Task 2), but Tasks 1 and 3 could remain intact.
Plans for financial longevity
The results from Tasks 1-3 will be used to develop recommendations for program or curriculum interventions that could be implemented within and across the College of Engineering (e.g., see PASF forms submitted on behalf of the proposal). Such interventions could include (but are not limited to): development of a clinic or practicum program (e.g., School of Public Health, UW School of Law), development of new courses, updates or changes to curriculum requirements, or development of new extra-curricular training opportunities (e.g., Hack-a-thons). The project team will communicate the feasibility study findings to curriculum committees in each COE department, as well the DEI committees in each department.
Along with recommendations, it is expected that the process of conducting the feasibility study will also help identify a network of Engineering faculty, post-docs, and research staff that are interested in collaborating to advance curriculum and program design to support greater environmental and social impact engagement. It is intended that the recommendations from the feasibility study can and will form the basis to develop subsequent proposals to design and implement specific interventions for sustainability and community-oriented engineering. For example, the project team intends to use the results of the feasibility study to support applications to the National Science Foundation (PFE: Research Initiation in Engineering Formation Program and the Responsible Design, Development, and Deployment of Technologies Program. Both of these programs are geared toward engineering education reform.
Problem statement
Despite long recognition of the need and importance of training engineers in the environmental and social impact of their work, the uptake of initiatives is and has been astonishingly slow. Calls for improvement in this area are rampant in the literature (Zandvoort et al. 2013, Leydens et al. 2022) as well as elsewhere. For example, in a 2021 interview on climate change, National Academy of Engineering President John Anderson is quoted: "I have argued that we should include more social science in engineering programs. It's important if we want more ethical considerations in engineering practice. I don't just mean checking a box that says, "I took a course in psychology or sociology." I mean having social sciences and engineering instructors work together on courses, so that when engineers are designing something, they consider: What are the potential unintended consequences of this? Some unintended consequences are heavily weighted to promote inequities, especially based on poverty."
It is difficult to overstate the relevance of environmental and social impact training for engineering professions. It can help determine not only the focus and issues which engineers apply their technical expertise (i.e., what problems are being addressed) but also the way in which technology is designed and developed. For example, history has shown that - once regulations are put in place - products can be designed to be less polluting and/or more efficient (e.g., the impact of the Clean Air on reducing auto and power plant pollutants, Kuehne et al. 2024). Products and technology are developed to meet standards or according to the knowledge and priorities of the developers. Teaching engineers to consider both the upstream (product sources, efficiency) and downstream (environmental and social impacts) of their work is a critical component of designing products and technologies that support sustainable development.
Furthermore, we believe that many students seek an education and training that puts greater emphasis on environmental and social impact training alongside development of technical skills. Students often enter engineering fields because of their desire to help create a more sustainable and just world, but then find that their course schedules leave little to no expectation nor room to develop these skills. Demonstrating unmet needs on the part of engineering students is an important part of advocating for reform, as well as helping students in their goals to contribute to a more sustainable and just world.
Measure the impacts
The feasibility study will be accomplished through three Tasks, which are intended to collectively guide recommendations for practical program and/or curriculum interventions by departments within and across the College of Engineering. Please see attached Project Narrative for additional details and information (Tables and Figures) related to these tasks.
Task 1: Assess availability and student engagement in existing education and training opportunities related to environmental and social justice. The feasibility study will initiate with assessment of the existing education and training opportunities - both formal and informal - that are available to engineering students. Formal opportunities include required or voluntary courses (e.g., sustainability, social impact, and ethics) offered for academic credit. Informal opportunities include extra-curricular activities that are sponsored or promoted by the University or student groups (e.g., DubHacks, Alaska Environmental Challenge). These opportunities will be summarized for purpose, scope, number of students in each department that participate, and reported learning outcomes.
Task 2: Survey engineering students to evaluate sociotechnical and social justice perspectives, and unmet needs for education and training. The second task will be to survey COE students’ interest and current knowledge in engineering oriented toward environmental and social justice, and whether there is unmet need for training (see Figure 1, Project Narrative). The survey will be based on existing, validated survey instruments developed to assess sociotechnical and social justice perspectives for engineering students (Leydens et al. 2018, Johnson et al. 2019, Swartz et al. 2019, Leydens et al. 2021). The survey will be developed and implemented under appropriate review by the UW Institutional Review Board. Survey data will be summarized to identify student understanding and identified need(s) for training, and how these may differ across different departments or demographic groups (Johnson et al. 2019).
Task 3: Evaluate program models and curriculum interventions in other disciplines or institutions. The third task will evaluate models for program and/or curriculum interventions that can improve engineering students’ awareness of environmental and social impact training (see Table 1, Project Narrative). Interestingly, many disciplines outside of engineering have a long history of community-based practicum or structured programs that allow students to develop their technical skills in practice, often with public serving or community organizations (e.g., law clinics, public health practice). Across UW, there are multiple models ranging from purely curriculum-based changes (e.g., embedding social and environmental impact into technical courses) to practicum-based programs (e.g., matching capstone students with community projects). We have identified 10 programs that offer potential models for expanding students’ awareness or practical skills in addressing issues of sustainability, social justice, or community needs. We will conduct semi-structured interviews with directors of each of these programs to ascertain how programs are funded, the intended vs. realized student outcomes, and potential application for engineering students. The interviews will assess how the programs were initiated and are maintained (e.g., student registration, grant funding), department and faculty resources that are required, and administrative or cultural hurdles to implementation.
Education and outreach goals
Most of the project outreach will be aimed at communicating project goals, steps, and then results (recommendations) across the College of Engineering. Because COE departments are autonomous in many respects, we plan to communicate with each department separately. Given the emphasis on education, training, and supporting students, project communication will focus on curriculum and DEI committees within each college. The project team will reach out to personnel that lead these efforts in each department, and make presentations or otherwise communicate the feasibility study goals, to gain feedback at the project outset. The project team will then communicate with these committees periodically throughout the project, with interim and then presentation of final feasibility study recommendations.
A large amount of outreach and communication will be through implementation of the three project tasks. The survey to COE students is expected to reach many thousands of engineering students, and will include links to the website with information about the project. Survey respondents will also be able to indicate if they would like to receive final results from the feasibility study. Tasks 1 and 3 will entail substantial outreach as well as some in depth interviews with instructors and program directors not only within but external to COE, resulting in broad communication about the project goals and intended outcomes. Lastly, task 3 also entails outreach to COE alumni working in public-serving or community-based organizations.
Our most basic goals for education and outreach are to initiate critical thought and conversations - at individual, department, and the college level - about how and to what extent environmental and social impact education should be part of engineering education. Beyond that, our education and outreach goals are also intended to help identify stakeholders and raise support for design and implementation of recommendations that result from conducting the feasibility study. Toward that end, communication during the feasibility study will emphasize inviting feedback and hearing concerns, rather than lobbying for particular solutions.
A critical goal of communication at each stage of the project will also be to identify faculty, post-docs, research staff, and students that are interested in becoming collaborators in this work. Toward that goal, the project will be posted initially on the Illimited Lab website (https://www.illimitedlab.com/), with information to contact project team leads about study design, progress, or collaboration. As the project nears completion, the project team will work with the communications manager at Aeronautics & Astronautics to write a project summary for the A&A website (https://www.aa.washington.edu/). Our aim is to complete the feasibility study with a network of supporters, allies, and collaborators in design or implementation of program or curriculum interventions.
Student involvement
The project will fund time for two student researchers in the Illimited Lab to conduct some of the project tasks, with assistance and guidance from the faculty lead. An undergraduate student assistant in the lab will be hired and paid on an hourly basis for work to develop, test, distribute, and then analyze data from the survey to COE engineering students (Task 2). This work will include using literature review and existing (validated) survey instruments to design the survey questions, create an application for review to the Human Subjects Division, and design a professional survey using the UW licensed software Qualtrics (https://itconnect.uw.edu/uware/uw-qualtrics/). The undergraduate researcher will be supported in this work by Ed Habtour (faculty) as well as an experienced consultant that is contributing professional in-kind services to the project (see PASF form). As time is available, the undergraduate student will also contribute time to Task 1, which is identifying, researching, and summarizing information on existing formal and informal education and training opportunities.
The project also funds some time for a PhD student researcher to work on the project during the summer period (when classes are not in session). The PhD student will work with the undergraduate student, faculty, and consultant to develop the assessment methods for existing opportunities (Task 1), and will review and assist with the survey as needed (Task 2). A majority of the PhD student time will go toward evaluating the structure, goals, mechanisms of support, and outcomes from the 10 model programs identified for evaluation (Task 3). The PhD student will be supported in this work by the consultant, who will assist with creating the semi-structured interview questions for program directors. The PhD student will be supported in conducting interviews by their faculty lead (Habtour).
Both of the student researchers will contribute to producing components (e.g., data analysis, figures, summary of interview data) of final project reports and recommendations for program and curriculum Although there is no expectation that students would publish the data and information, it will be a unique data that would be suitable for communication at research conferences or symposia, either within or outside of the University of Washington. If interested, students would be supported in using the data for these purposes.