AEESP Meeting, Blacksburg VA July 28-Aug 1, 2007

1. Synopsis:Workshop on Frontiers in Environmental Engineering EducationJames (Chip ) KilduffRensselaer Polytechnic Institute AEESP Meeting, Blacksburg VA July 28-Aug 1, 2007

2. Acknowledgments • Sponsors • NSF, AEESP, AAEE, ASU (SoE, John Crittenden) • Planning Committee • Michael Aitken, Patrick Brezonik (ex-officio), Michael Butkus, Chip Kilduff, Nicholas Clesceri, Raymond Hozalski, Loring Nies, Susan Powers

3. Participants • Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ • January 8-10, 2007 • 60 Attendees • Academia • Range of sizes and missions • Government (NSF, EPA) • Professional societies (AAEE, ASEE, NSPE, ASCE, AEESP) • Water and wastewater utilities • Consulting engineers

4. Workshop Objectives • Identify “Body of Knowledge” outcomes • Identify ways to transform curricula • In response to Body of Knowledge • In response to new science and technology • To bridge environmental literacy gap • To improve recruitment • Identify ways to interact with practicing engineers • As input to curriculum change • As participants in the educational process • As “customers”

5. Nomenclature • Body of Knowledge (e.g., ASCE) • Alternative: Competencies • Knowledge • Skills • Ways of thinking • Attitudes • Experience • Judgment • Creativity • May be taught, encouraged, nurtured, illustrated by example, etc. Evaluation Synthesis Analysis Application Understanding Knowledge

6. Purpose of BOK - ASCE • ASCE recognizes that changes in how (Civil) engineering is practiced must occur. That change is necessitated by: • Globalization; sustainability; emerging technology; increased complexity, interdisciplinarity • Development of an “aspirational” global vision • Develop policies to move toward realizing this vision • ASCE Policy 465: MS degree or equivalent is a prerequisite for licensure and professional practice • Implement such policies in part by defining the BOK, which defines what is required to enter the practice of civil engineering at the professional level (licensure) • Combines education and experience

7. ASCE Vision • Entrusted by society to create a sustainable world and enhance the global quality of life, civil engineers serve competently, collaboratively, and ethically as master: • planners, designers, constructors, and operators of society’s economic and social engine, the built environment; • stewards of the natural environment and its resources; • innovators and integrators of ideas and technology across the public, private, and academic sectors; • managers of risk and uncertainty caused by natural events, accidents, and other threats; and • leaders in discussions and decisions shaping public environmental and infrastructure policy.

8. Purpose of BOK • Provide a strong foundation for further development • A guide for curriculum development and reform • Create strong identity • A guide for employers, future students, society • Define needs for • BS degree • Licensure • Lifelong learning • A mechanism to call for specific attributes, e.g., creativity and innovation • Enhance recruitment

9. Potential Pitfalls • Is a BOK really necessary? • Should a more in depth discussion of who we are and where we are going precede BOK development? • Much progress has been made in the absence of an explicit BOK; it should not move us backwards • Resource constraints • Faculty • Faculty workload • Support for new courses • New evaluation criteria • Perceived risk of constraining faculty and program creativity, independence of too prescriptive

10. Uniqueness of EnvEng • Serve public welfare, health, and safety directly • Objectives: human and ecosystem health • Prevention, improvement, remediation • Systems perspectives – interactions and interfaces • Engineered system • Natural systems processes • Human systems and processes • Multi-media and their interfaces & interactions • Complex multi-scale systems • Global perspective • Environmental ethics • Risk: environmental, reliability “Systems of systems”

11. BOK Attributes • Reflect our responsibility to address grand societal challenges for compelling intellectual and practical reasons • Prepare students for an unknown future • Provide strong fundamentals • Promote ability to apply principles to new problems • Promote ability to exploit new opportunities • Must build on a body of knowledge appropriate for all engineers • May be achieved through some combination of BS degree, advanced degrees, experience, life-long learning

12. Flexibility • Allow for multiple pathways to achieve BOK • BOK should allow for future growth in the field in ways that we can not imagine at this time • Promote expansion into new areas • BOK should provide a good foundation allowing career flexibility outside the field

13. Breadth vs Depth • Provide an appropriate balance between breadth and depth • In science, among engineering disciplines, and within environmental engineering • To enable determination of impacts of solutions to engineering problems in a variety of domains • Economy, public livelihood, human health, ecosystems, and function of the earth’s life support systems

14. Professional Practice • BOK should address competencies beyond those required to enter practice or pass PE exam • Professional practice one of but not the only “next step” in professional development

15. Human (Social) System Goods & Services Impacts Natural (Eco) System Sustainability Framework Culture/behavior Policies, politics, law Industry/agriculture Economics Historical context Atmosphere Hydrosphere Lithosphere Biosphere

16. Resource Interactions and Feedback Social Sciences & Humanities (Environmental Studies) Natural Sciences (Environmental Science) Social Capital Natural Capital Financial Capital Economics Technological Capital Engineering & Applied Sciences (Environmental Engineering) Will Focht, Oklahoma State University

17. Systems Perspective and Analysis impacts • Human Systems • Culture/behavior • Policies, politics, law • Industry/agriculture • Economics • Historical context uses • Natural Systems • Atmosphere • Hydrosphere • Lithosphere • Biosphere Technical Environmental Engineering Systems • Basic Math/Science • Biology/Ecology • Chemistry • Physics • Earth Science • Stats/prob • Tools • Fate and transport • Risk / exposure • Impacts/benefits analysis • Industrial ecology • Env. Chemistry • Basic Engrg. Science • Mass/energy/momentum • Fluid mechanics • Thermodynamics • Computation

18. Beyond the Foundation Ways of Thinking systems thinking problem solving design critical analysis critical evaluation Skills communication experimentation computation teamwork project mgmt information mgmt Attitudes role of technology in society ethics respect for diversity respect for democratic public service professional service sustainability

19. Importance of Creativity • Tough Choices or Tough Times, NCEE Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce

20. Education vs. Training • Training How to do • Develop contextual skill for enhancing immediate productivity • Education  How to think and create • Develop conceptual skill for thinking beyond the prevailing paradigm Courtesy of Dom Grasso, J. Bordogna, NSF

21. Importance of a University Education • Provides basis for creativity • Introduces students to • Major kinds of knowledge • Major forms of inquiry to develop new knowledge • Different means of analysis • Provides intellectual power • Critical thinking • Reasoned judgment • Ability to engage in the great debates that define our times • Necessary for analysis and solution of complex problems

22. Conclusions • Change drivers include globalization; sustainability; emerging technology; increased complexity, interdisciplinarity • BOK should • Provide a sustainability framework • Promote systems thinking • Promote creativity • Provide a strong technical background while recognizing the importance of a university education