Resumen de Transdisciplinary approaches for teaching and assessing sustainable
Derrick Tate, Timothy Maxwell, Atila Ertas, Hong-Chao Zhang, Urs Peter Flueckiger, William Lawson, A. Dean Fontenot, John Chandler
Sustainable design can be defined as incorporating larger environmental, resource, and social issues into decisions of theconceptualization, design, manufacture, operation, and end-of-life of products and systems. These larger issues include, for example,environmental concerns, energy independence, economic viability, and social impact. This paper argues for the need for transdisciplinaryapproaches for teaching and assessing sustainable design for undergraduate engineering curricula. These transdisciplinary approachesare discussed in the context of application to traditional senior- and freshman-level (‘capstone’ and ‘cornerstone’) design projects andincorporation into innovative technology programs that provide outreach and seamless pathways for recruiting engineering students anddeveloping a sustainable workforce.The teaching and assessment of sustainable design concepts and approaches should be driven by social and industrial needs whileaddressing forward-looking issues including the design and development of innovative products and service systems that use dramaticallyless energy, the reduction of energy intensity in manufacturing, and the provision of energy using ‘green’ technologies. The sections ofthis paper cover transdisciplinary design; sustainable design projects for undergraduate education; and pathways for a sustainableengineering and technology workforce.
