Keynote: Sustainability Education in U.S. Engineering Programs

A survey of university faculty members in the United States shows progress in enhancing the sustainability content of many engineering curricula. A total of 140 respondents from 98 institutions are represented. Faculty were asked to identify topic areas covered in courses they taught with significant sustainability content, given a list of 21 topic areas. Three topics are taught as full courses by more than 5% of the respondents, namely Design (14% of the respondents), Energy/Power Generation (9%), and Green Buildings, Infrastructure, and Construction (6%). Fifteen of the 21 topics are taught by more than a quarter of the respondents; the most frequently covered topics include the three topic areas mentioned above, plus Life Cycle Assessment, Climate Change, Water, and End-of-Life/Waste Management. Most of the sustainability content is taught in the junior and senior years; only 8% of the respondents teach sustainability topics in freshman and sophomore years.