Collaborative Research: NLI: Forming Ethical Engineers: Integrating Embodied Carbon Education to Foster Ethical Responsibility in Environmental and Social Sustainability

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

This project aligns with NSF's priorities related to economic competitiveness, public welfare, STEM education improvement, and academia-industry partnerships in the United States. It seeks to examine how sustainability education aligned with the Engineering for One Planet (EOP) framework can support the ethical formation of globally competitive engineers—particularly their development of environmental and social responsibility—for the enduring economic competitiveness of the United States. The ethical dimensions of sustainability that enable long-lasting economic competitiveness and public welfare advancement are often underemphasized in engineering curricula. This project addresses this gap by leveraging embodied carbon (EC)—a measurable and design-relevant concept—as an entry point for students to critically engage with the environmental and societal impacts of engineering practice. Guided by the EOP framework developed by the Lemelson Foundation with input from industry, this project integrates EOP-aligned and EC-focused ethics modules into five engineering courses total across West Virginia University (WVU) and Purdue University, directly promoting the ethical formation of approximately 800 engineering students across two institutions. The findings will contribute to the scholarship of engineering education and inform national efforts to strengthen undergraduate STEM instruction by forging partnerships between academia and industry in the United States for a sustainable economic competitive future. This project directly supports the NSF Research in the Formation of Engineers (RFE) program by advancing research on how educational experiences shape students' professional and ethical formation. By situating EC within engineering education, this work contributes to knowledge regarding best practices in developing engineers who are not only equipped to design sustainable solutions but are also motivated to do so with a deep sense of responsibility to people and the planet. The project is guided by the EOP framework, which emphasizes comprehensive design thinking, material selection, professional responsibility, and teamwork in engineering education. It will (1) investigate how exposure to EC education affects students' understanding of environmental and social responsibility; (2) examine how students' ethical reasoning evolves in response to EC-focused learning experiences; and (3) explore how the impacts of EC modules differ across three implementation modalities (i.e., lecture-based, case-based, and project-based). Through specially designed modules in five engineering courses across WVU and Purdue, students will engage with real-world sustainability challenges delivered in varied formats to assess instructional effectiveness. A mixed-methods research design will combine pre/post surveys, group case study reports, and reflective writing to capture changes in students' knowledge, ethical awareness, and reasoning. Comparative analyses will identify patterns across modalities and institutions. This project will produce openly shared instructional toolkits and assessment instruments for use by many instructors across the U.S. Furthermore, by explicitly aligning the modules with the EOP framework and implementing them in multiple engineering disciplines, the project will generate empirical evidence and scalable models that support the broader goals of the Lemelson Foundation's initiative—to develop responsible engineers for a sustainable future through improved engineering education. In doing so, this project will help further operationalize the EOP competencies in real classroom settings and inform national efforts to prepare engineers for the future. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.