CE 35500 – Engineering Environmental Sustainability

This course is cross listed between Civil Engineering (CE) and Environmental and Ecological Engineering (EEE)

Credits and contact hours:

  • 3 credits
  • Lecture that meets 3 times per week for 50 minutes per meeting for 15 weeks

Specific course information:

  • Catalog description: An introduction to the examination of global-scale resource utilization: food, energy and commodity production, population dynamics, and their ecosystem impacts.
  • Prerequisites: Sophomore standing
  • Course status: Required in EEE program, elective in CE

Specific Goals for the course:

  • Student learning outcomes
    • ​By the end of the course, a student will be a creative thinker who can:
      • Appropriately frame sustainability questions to reveal the quantitative information needed to solve the problem.
      • Summarize results of quantitative analysis to create novel approaches for managing sustainability issues.
      • Synthesize interdisciplinary knowledge to envision a sustainable future.
      • Challenge “business as usual” thinking with divergent, logical, and original proposals for sustainability.
      • Integrate diverse credible sources of information to create strategies to sustainably manage resources.
      • Communicate their conclusions about sustainably managing water, energy, and land resources in a creative, well-organized, logical manner.
      • Identify the interconnectivity between environmental, social, political, and economic issues surrounding technical solutions.
      • Describe the linkages between land, water, energy, and material resources.
      • Discuss how different perspectives, their own included, are applied to sustainability dilemmas.
      • Compare the consequences of alternative ethical frameworks.
      • Evaluate conflicting information in the context of sustainability.
      • Produce scholarly products that demonstrate proficient information literacy skills.
      • Assess strategic opportunities for change (economic, social, political, engineer, personal, etc.) that are in congruence with globalization, urbanization, and a sustainable future.
    • By the end of the course, a student will be a socially aware global citizen who can:
      • Engage others of different cultural experiences, beliefs, and values in the exploration of the intercultural dimensions of sustainability issues.
      • Transform their approaches for considering sustainability issues by integrating knowledge of diverse cultural perspectives.
      • Gain a sense of responsibility for civic engagement in solving sustainability issues.
      • Adapt to the varied skills, talents, abilities, learning styles, and work strategies of their teammates.
      • Develop project deliverables that demonstrate cohesive team functionality.
      • Constructively evaluate their own and others contributions to the overall success of the team.
  •  Relationship of course to program outcomes
    • Outcome 1: An ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics.
    • Outcome 4: An ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts.
    • Outcome 5: An ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives.
    • Outcome 7: An ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.

Topics:

  • Framing Sustainability
  • Ecological Footprints
  • Water
  • Food
  • Energy
  • Materials Ecology
  • Human and Cultural Dimensions of Sustainability
  • Urbanization & the Future of Sustainability