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.