Incoporation of Sustainability into Engineering Curriculum

The engineering programs at West Texas A&M University (a mid-sized regional institution in the Texas A&M University System located in the Amarillo, Texas region) are incorporating concepts of sustainability and climate change into their curriculum. This institution has four engineering programs all established in the last twenty years: mechanical (2003), civil (2010), environmental (2012), and electrical (2016). At the time of establishment, engineering societies were not heavily emphasizing the role of sustainability and climate change to the extent that societal requirements now warrant. ABET accreditation criteria and engineering society ethical guidelines now emphasize the concept of sustainability. In 2021, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) revised and updated their Policy 360 which addresses both sustainability and climate change. This paper will highlight how these concepts of climate change mitigation and adaption in engineering design are being incorporated into the curriculum across all four programs. Climate change is sometimes a polarizing topic, and its use in our region is unique because of general student apathy or resistance to its inclusion in the classroom. The lessons learned from the authors can be used to better incorporate sustainability and climate change around myriad engineering programs. These lessons concern how to include these ideas in curriculum as well as how to deal with human impacts and moral components of any discussion concerning the future of human well-being. A discussion of prior investigations of the incorporation of these topics into engineering programs is included and a proposed method of further incorporation of sustainability and climate change topics is proposed. We also consider the utilization of climate change ideas in ABET outcomes to enhance to real-world application of the outcomes for students.