Funding & Award Opportunities
ANNOUNCING: Awardees of National Science Foundation-Lemelson EOP Grants – Year 1
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) announced the first grant awards as part of the Research in the Formation of Engineers (RFE) program — a joint initiative with The Lemelson Foundation to support the integration of environmental and social sustainability into engineering education. The awardees and their topics are:
- North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University – Integrating sustainability into industrial and systems engineering curriculum
- University of Arizona / University of Michigan – Supporting sustainable design and sustainable mindsets
- Arizona State University / Kennesaw State University / Villanova University – Leveraging institutional experience to advance sustainable engineering education
- Rochester Institute of Technology – Investigating the influence of sustainability-focused course interventions on students’ engineering identity development
- Harvey Mudd College – Prototyping a systems thinking framework to foster environmental and socio-technical thinking across an interdisciplinary engineering curriculum
The Lemelson Foundation and NSF are providing funding over three years for the RFE program to support sustainability-focused engineering education projects. Proposals by April 30, 2025 are highly encouraged for consideration in NSF’s upcoming fiscal year.
Applications for Cohort IV of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Engineering for One Planet Mini-Grants Program (EOP-MGP) are now open. Faculty teams will be awarded $8,000 and provided with expert mentorship on how to use the EOP Framework to pursue new ways to integrate social and environmental sustainability into their curricula. The program launched in 2022 with three cohorts and a total of 45 awardees thus far. Learn how to apply for this new grantee cohort.
Hear from Jennifer Watt, ABET and The Lemelson Foundation EOP Innovation in Sustainability 2024 Awardee
We recently spoke with the inaugural Innovation in Sustainability Award winner Dr. Jennifer Watt from the University of Utah. Hear how she became involved with Engineering for One Planet as part of the ASEE EOP Mini-Grants Program, how sustainability has been integrated into engineering at her own institution, and her thoughts on the value of reaching across STEM disciplines and beyond. Read the interview here, and review the nomination kit here to nominate yourself or a peer for the next award by April 20, 2025.
Want to bolster your climate and sustainability acumen and learn how to integrate cutting-edge sustainability topics into your engineering courses? Join peers and colleagues for a customized, in-person EOP professional development workshop offered by Villanova University — an EOP grantee since 2020 — at their beautiful campus. You will receive step-by-step curated materials and content, mentoring, and peer feedback to bolster your knowledge and practice to integrate sustainability into your current curricula. Tuition is free, and participants only cover food/supplies ($300) and travel costs. Only 15 spots are available, so pre-register now.
Engineering for One Planet will be featured in two sessions of the 2025 ABET Symposium! Learn how EOP can help with ABET accreditation requirements and how students, recent graduates, and faculty are working with EOP to prepare students for growing demands in green skills by imbuing social and environmental sustainability across required courses.
A new article in University World News features Engineering for One Planet as a vital solution to closing the green skills gap. As part of a series on Education for Sustainable Development in partnership with ABET, the piece provides a great overview of the evolution of the EOP initiative since its creation seven years ago — from the co-development of the EOP Framework and teaching guides to EOP’s trailblazing Pilot Grantees and grant programs with ABET, ASEE, and NSF.
EOP Strategy Consultant and Network participant Cindy Anderson joined the Undercooled: A Materials Engineering Podcast to share how materials engineering faculty, students, and industry can bring sustainability into their work. Podcast host Steve Yalisove, Professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Program at University of Michigan, invited Anderson on the podcast after attending her EOP workshop at the 2024 ABET Symposium. His co-host Tim Chambers, a lecturer in the same program, was one of the contributors to the 13 Step-by-Step Ideas for Integrating Sustainability into Core Engineering Courses EOP Framework companion teaching guide.
LinkedIn: Double climate talent or put our climate goals at risk
A new report from LinkedIn caught our attention during ClimateWeek NYC with an important message about the green skills gap: We need to dramatically pick up the pace to prepare our workforce for the number of green jobs that are coming. If we don’t at least double the size of the green talent pool by 2050, nearly half of these jobs won’t have qualified candidates to fill them — and this jeopardizes our larger sustainability and climate goals. Read the report here, and get involved in EOP to be part of the solution!
EOP at ABET Symposium – Tampa, FL, April 2024
In April, EOP Network member and strategy consultant Cindy Anderson attended the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) Symposium, where she led a workshop guiding attendees through best practices for using the EOP Framework and Guides for ABET-accredited engineering programs.
TIME: The World Needs More Engineers to Help Meet Clean Energy Goals
A recent TIME article written by Ignacio Galán, Executive Chairman of the clean energy company Iberdrola, explores the critical need for more engineers with green skills, and offers ideas to address the growing skills gap. The article is aligned with what we’ve learned from LinkedIn’s 2024 Global Green Skills Report, which identifies trends at the intersection of the workforce and sustainability. Galán shares Iberdola’s research on the green transition and the important role engineering must play: “Engineers will help develop the next generation of wind turbines, solar panels, electricity networks, and energy storage systems, making them the gatekeepers to all the many benefits of the transition.”
Development of New EOP Framework Teaching Guide
In September, 11 faculty participated in a 3-hour virtual EOP workshop hosted and led by the EOP Network’s Course Activities Committee — Jorge Loyo, Noé Vargas, Cindy Anderson, and EOP Network Manager Victoria Matthew — to contribute and develop activities for a new EOP Framework teaching guide. The guide is expected to launch in early 2025 with activities covering a wide array of learning outcomes, from environmental literacy to materials selection. Follow us on LinkedIn for the release of this new guide.
EOP Future Faculty Workshop Held at ASU
In October, network participants Allison Wolf and Hadley Willman (as a part of the EOP Network Empowering Students Committee) hosted an EOP Future Faculty Workshop at Arizona State University. During the workshop, grad students and postdocs interested in an academic career explored their teaching philosophies and how to integrate the EOP Framework into their classes. Congratulations to them both for leading this highly successful workshop and reaching faculty before they even begin to teach! If you and your colleagues are interested in learning how you might bring this workshop to your campus, please email Allison Wolf at [email protected].
Lausanne, Switzerland – September 2024
European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI) 2024 Conference
The 2024 SEFI annual conference took place in Switzerland in September. The Lemelson Foundation’s Senior Program Officer Cindy Cooper represented Engineering for One Planet alongside collaborators Sarah Jayne Hitt from Engineering Professors Council and Jonathan Truslove from EWB-UK. The trio led a workshop to explore the key competencies faculty need to teach sustainability in engineering education, a unique angle on a key factor needed for curricular transformation.
Seattle, WA – September 2024
National Sustainability Society (NSS) Conference
Cindy Anderson and Cindy Cooper attended the inaugural National Sustainability Society Conference, where they delivered a presentation about the EOP initiative and EOP resources. They also led a session with Krista Hiser of the Global Council for Science and the Environment to foster community discourse around the topic of using accreditation as a lever for systemic change.
Boulder, CO – September 2024
Engineering Change Lab-USA (ECL-USA) 2024 Ideas Summit
Cindy Cooper attended ECL-USA’s 2024 Engineering Ideas Institute — sponsored by Engineering for One Planet and The Lemelson Foundation — to discuss how the engineering community tackle the growing challenges of a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous) world. Engineering practitioners, educators, and students shared their perspectives on the evolving role of engineers in shaping the future and tackling widespread global challenges. Read the wrap-up here.
New York, NY – September 2024
Climate Week NYC w/ ICSI
Engineering for One Planet was at a panel session hosted by ICSI during Climate Week NYC focused on the need to better equip engineers with green skills to address the climate crisis and resource scarcity. Victoria Matthew was on stage to share what we have learned, and Cindy Cooper and Cindy Anderson contributed to ICSI’s new report, Is Our Global Engineering Workforce Fit for the Future? Check it out here.
Portland, OR – November 2024
International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE)
In November, Cindy Anderson attended the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition Annual Conference where she shared Engineering for One Planet’s free, online resources, and how to become engaged with the EOP initiative.
Every Friday, EOP’s LinkedIn publishes a #FrameworkFriday post, featuring a curricular change tip or inspiring message from the engineers, students, and educators in our community. Click here for a Framework Friday message from EOP Signatory and EOP Network participant Dr. Adebayo Ogundipe about his commitment to sustainability in engineering.
Make Your Voice Count: Take Five Minutes to Sign Up as an EOP Signatory!
Have you become an EOP Signatory yet? It only takes five minutes to show your public support. If you need inspiration, check out what other members of our community are saying on our EOP Signatories page. You might even get profiled on EOP’s LinkedIn!
Send Us Your Stories of Curricular Change
We regularly look for success stories from the EOP community about their use of the EOP Framework to showcase as inspiration and a potential model for others. Send us your story at [email protected].
For more real-time updates, follow Engineering for One Planet on LinkedIn.