Triple Bottom Line Awareness in Design (TriAD): Diversifying the Engineering Profession of the 21st Century

California Polytechnic State University Foundation, San Luis Obispo CA

Investigators

Abstract

This Department level reform project in Materials Engineering at Cal Poly will advance the knowledge of how to design engineering learning experiences that accomplish two social imperatives: 1) retaining women and other underrepresented groups in the engineering degree programs; and 2) equipping engineers to solve the technical challenges in the context of our complex, global society. The strategy is to apply the rich body of results and best practices from education research on the re-design of a curriculum that emphasizes what is called Triple Bottom Line Awareness in Design (TriAD). The proposed work comes out of the urgency to not only create a more diverse population of engineers, representative of society, but to instill new thinking, new ideas, and new ways of balancing economics, the environment, and society's needs (i.e., an awareness of the triple bottom line) in engineering design. The basic premise of the proposed work is that young people will be motivated to study and apply their creative energies to benefit society if they are aware of the need and know they can make a difference. Intellectual Merit The design approach to the curriculum is to incorporate two qualities that are critical for engineers in the 21st century: 1) utilizing a systems approach to design and 2) emphasizing ethical, environmental, health and safety, sustainability, social, political, and manufacturability issues. It also incorporates six principles that have proven to be effective in achieving higher retention of underrepresented individuals in engineering and promoting deeper learning in the students: 1) providing meaningful context (i.e., a "real world" application); 2) integrating concepts from math, science and technology; 3) emphasizing active learning and design; 4) facilitating meaningful connections among students; 5) promoting reflection and self-assessment of learning; and 6) creating significant interaction between students and faculty, with faculty acting as coaches. Broader Impacts The proposed work will advance the understanding of how to design learning experiences for greater retention of underrepresented individuals in engineering. Students are motivated by the experience of mastery. The freshman experience is designed not only to enable these students to experience varying degrees of mastery, but to allow them to experience the joy of being able to assist individuals in need. Providing these experiences is particularly important for underrepresented individuals who have not had as many opportunities as others. The experiences are also critical during the first two years, since that is when students are most likely to drop out of engineering. The proposed work will advance the understanding of how to design learning experiences to equip engineers for the complex social issues that they will face. The Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) requires programs to demonstrate that students are able to formulate engineering solutions within the design constraints of ethical, environmental, health and safety, sustainability, social, political, and manufacturability issues in design. However, no clear methodology has emerged to integrate these considerations into the engineering curriculum. Designing for the triple bottom line naturally requires an understanding of these issues. This work will demonstrate the effectiveness of TriAD in developing the intellectual attributes required of the 21st century engineer.