(59h) Is It Time to Survey How We Teach Sustainability in Chemical Engineering?

AIChE has successfully developed the strategy of surveying the core courses of the chemical engineering curriculum every ten years [1-8]. These surveys have explored how faculty around the country update the teaching of Introduction to Chemical Engineering, Mass and Energy Balances, Thermodynamics, Transport Phenomena, Reaction Engineering, Process Control, Process Design, and Unit Operations Lab courses, considered to be the backbone structure of the chemical engineering career. The inclusion of Safety and Professional Electives has come to round up those other topics considered someway essential for the professional formation [9-10]. The analysis of those surveys has proved very insightful for AIChE to keep track of the state of academia in chemical engineering, and for faculty and other interested stakeholders to monitor the relevance of the content and strategies in the formation of the next generations of chemical engineers. The emergence of sustainability mainly in the shape of professional electives followed a much encouraged and supported initiative starting with the promotion of the topic from UN conferences on the environment [11-23]. It was further reinforced with the program of the Decade for Sustainability Education [24]. However, the integration of sustainability in the chemical engineering curriculum has adopted much dispersed strategies and some relatively slow pace. Several attempts have been tracking the progress of these initiatives [25-26]. Led by rapid changes in research and industrial developments, the “topic” has already become and essential skill, not to say a core formation, for new professionals in the field and most certainly for the next generations of chemical engineers. This fact calls the attention about the central role that sustainability should be playing in an updated chemical engineering curriculum and the strategies to turn it into effective teaching methods. A preliminary web survey of top chemical engineering departments in the U.S. and some scattered data from similar European institutions reported here reveals a tremendous effort at offering content on sustainability at higher education level (undergraduate, graduate) in the form of elective courses, extending into concentration or certificate programs, and even master and doctoral programs. It seems, however, that the rich diversity of these initiatives could provide for a more integrative approach consolidating a global strategy to core teaching in chemical engineering. It will also help in guiding more institutions to adopt an efficient inclusion of sustainability. In this regard, to add an example of what is being done and what needs to be done, our institution has developed a strategy based on the establishment of an interdisciplinary center for sustainable development, increasingly involving engineering disciplines (starting with a nucleus of civil and environmental engineering) and more recently adding the sciences, humanities, business, and medicine. The center supports research and teaching, offers certificate programs for students and professionals, and serves as an encounter plaza for organizations, government and private institutions, and academia to discuss, rise and examine proposals on a broad range of sustainability efforts. Schools and departments add their own initiatives (mainly as elective courses) fitting particular interests of their academic programs. The chemical engineering department (a main contributor to the origins of the center referred to above) has recently started to develop its own strategy to incorporate sustainability into the curriculum [27] with an elective course on “green chemical engineering” for undergraduates and an elective course on “process intensification” for graduate students. In combination with an introductory course on sustainability, by chemical engineering faculty, and the leadership of a doctoral program in circular economy, provides a simple “linear” path (from first-year student to a Ph.D. degree) in teaching sustainability. However, it would benefit extensively from a more consolidated approach and insightful advice from faculty considering the need to include sustainability as a “core” formation for chemical engineers, as a timely survey could support.

[1] Ford, L. P., Brennan, J., Cole, J., Dahm, K. D., Jamieson, M. V., Landherr, L. J., Silverstein, D. L., Vaughen, B. K., Vigeant, M. A., Thiel, S. W. (2020, June), How We Teach: Chemical Engineering in the First Year Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual On line . 10.18260/1-2—34738, https://peer.asee.org/34738

[2] Ford, L., Brennan, J., Dahm, K., Silverstein, D., Landherr, L., West, C., Cole, J., Thiel, S., Vaughen, B., Jamieson, M. (2022, August), How We Teach: Material and Energy Balances Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2—41893, https://strategy.asee.org/41893

[3] Vigeant, M. A., Cole, J., Dahm, K. D., Ford, L. P., Landherr, L. J., Silverstein, D. L., West, C. W. (2019, June), How We Teach: Thermodynamics Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2—32903, https://peer.asee.org/32903

[4] Lepek, D., Vigeant, M. A., Silverstein, D. L., Keith, J. M. (2015, June), How We Teach: Transport Phenomena and Related Courses Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/p.24201, https://peer.asee.org/24201

[5] Ford, L. P., Brennan, J., Silverstein, D. L., Landherr, L. J., West, C. W., Thiel, S. W., Dahm, K. D., Cole, J., Jamieson, M. V. (2021, July), How We Teach: Kinetics and Reactor Design Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2—37261, https://peer.asee.org/37261

[6] Silverstein, D. L., Vigeant, M. A., Staehle, M. (2016, June), How We Teach Process Control: 2015 Survey Results Paper presented at 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana. 10.18260/p.25495, https://peer.asee.org/25495

[7] Ford, L. P., Cole, J., Dahm, K. D., Vaughen, B. K., Jamieson, M. V., Landherr, L., Silverstein,, D. L., Vogel, T. J., West, C. W., Thiel, S. W. (2023, June), How We Teach: Capstone Design Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2—43394, https://sftp.asee.org/43394

[8] Vigeant, M. A., Silverstein, D. L., Dahm, K. D., Ford, L. P., Cole, J., Landherr, L. J. (2018, June), How We teach: Unit Operations Laboratory Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2—30587, https://peer.asee.org/30587

[9] Ford, L. P., Carter, T., Brennan, J., Dahm, K., Barr, C., Flodman, H., Landherr, L., Silverstein, D., Thiel, S., Vaughen, B., Vogel, T. (2023, November), Process Safety across the Curriculum Paper presented at 2023 AIChE Annual Meeting, , Orlando, Florida (129a) https://www.aiche.org/conferences/aiche-annual-meeting/2023/proceeding/paper/129a-process-safety-across-curriculum

[10] Ford, L. P., & Cole, J., & Dahm, K., Brennan, J., Silverstein, D., and Thiel, S. (2023, November), How We Teach: Chemical Engineering Electives Paper presented at 2023 AIChE Annual Meeting, , Orlando, Florida (129b) https://www.aiche.org/conferences/aiche-annual-meeting/2023/proceeding/paper/129b-how-we-teach-chemical-engineering-electives

[11] United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, 5-16 June 1972, Stockholm. https://www.un.org/en/conferences/environment/stockholm1972

[12] Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future. 1987. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/5987our-common-future.pdf

[13] UN Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 5-14 June 1992 https://www.un.org/en/conferences/environment/rio1992

[14] Special Session of the UN General Assembly, New York, 23-27 June 1997 https://www.un.org/en/conferences/environment/newyork1997

[15] Millennium Summit, New York, 6-8 September 2000 https://www.un.org/en/conferences/environment/newyork2000

[16] World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, 26 August – 4 September, 2002 https://www.un.org/en/conferences/environment/johannesburg2002

[17] World Summit, New York, 14-16 September, 2005 https://www.un.org/en/conferences/environment/newyork2005

[18] High-level Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals, New York, 22-25 September, 2008 https://www.un.org/en/conferences/environment/newyork2008

[19] Millenium Development Goals Summit, New York, 20-22 September, 2010 https://www.un.org/en/conferences/environment/newyork2010

[20] UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio de Janeiro, 20-22 June, 2012 https://www.un.org/en/conferences/environment/rio2012

[21] Special Event towards Achieving the Millennium Development Goals, New York, 23-25 September, 2013 https://www.un.org/en/conferences/environment/newyork2013

[22] UN Summit on Sustainable Development, New York, 25-27 September, 2015 https://www.un.org/en/conferences/environment/newyork2015

[23] Stockholm+50 Conference, Stockholm, 2-3 June, 2022 https://www.stockholm50.global/

[24] United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Shaping the Future We Want. UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014). Final Report. UNESCO 2014. https://sdgs.un.org/sites/default/files/publications/1682Shaping%20the%20future%20we%20want.pdf

[25] Glassey, J.; Haile, S. Sustainability in chemical engineering curriculum. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 13(4): 354-364, 2012

[26] Sheehan, M., Desha, C., Schneider, P., and Turer, P. Embedding sustainability into chemical engineering education: content development and competency mapping. Chemeca, 2012 https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/26335/1/Chemeca_2012_Paper__Sheehan_et_al.pdf

[27] Reference to be provided after approval to keep the anonymity of the authors during the process