Curriculum Intervention: Assessing Need for and Implementation of Sustainability Development in a Global Context within the First-Year Engineering Curriculum at Purdue University

Abstract

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Globalization is a world-wide phenomenon that is reshaping international relations in tremendous ways and at impossible rates. Due to rapid advancements in communication, transportation, and information technologies, there has been an increasing connectedness of humanity around the globe. With this trans-global integration comes many benefits, but also countless challenges. It is critical that engineering education facilities constantly update and restructure their curriculum to produce engineers who are capable of tackling the world’s greatest global challenges of this globalization era. Therefore, our team proposes a curriculum intervention of the First-Year Engineering Program. We wish to analyze the depth of global competency concepts taught in the course, with a specific focus on sustainability because it is crucial that young engineers develop an understanding of sustainability and perform their specialized tasks with a sustainable vision in mind. METHODS: To ensure high quality development of Purdue engineers is this area, our research team proposes a curriculum intervention involving two parts: (1) An analysis of the global competency and understanding of sustainability of current engineering sophomores who recently completed the First-Year Engineering (FYE) program at Purdue University; (2) An implementation of concepts from a current Purdue course, CE/EEE 355 Engineering Environmental Sustainability, into the FYE curriculum, as well as an implementation of globalization concepts as needed. Furthermore, our team seeks to answer the following research questions: (1) How consistent is the material that is taught across different sections within the FYE program? (2) How much control and influence does each engineering professor have in covering the topics of globalization and sustainability? (3) What hands-on, practical experience and exposure to globalization concepts are the students getting? EXPECTED OUTCOMES: At the conclusion of this research project, our team expects two tangible outcomes: (1) A plan of implementation of sustainability and globalization concepts into the Purdue engineering curriculum; (2) A set of data measurements and specific goals to determine whether the implemented concepts make a difference. Countless research papers stress the importance of evaluating the impact of new initiatives. Thus, our research team seeks statistical evidence that the concepts learned in CE/EEE 355 make a significant impact on the capability of the student, and the implementation of new concepts based off of CE/EEE 355 make a significant difference when implemented into the FYE engineering curriculum. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the forces of globalization are leading to rapid changes among global dynamics and international relations, and several effects of globalization, such as poor resource utilization, are beginning to pose a threat to humanity. Therefore, engineers must be able to evolve alongside society and must have the skills to tackle the world’s leading problems. Engineers must also understand the importance of sustainable development to ensure a bright future for younger generations to come. As a result, our team suggests a curriculum intervention of the FYE program to better educated Purdue’s young engineers on issues of globalization and sustainability. Purdue is among the top engineering institutions, but to maintain its relevance and influence, there must be a shift in the curriculum to better prepare its graduates to work in this highly-globalized era.