Today, I want to share a story about scaling sustainability education, not through a single course or a single faculty member, but through a community of educators committed to preparing engineers and construction professionals for the challenges of the future.
My hope is that my story demonstrates that meaningful change does not have to begin with a large grant, a major curriculum overhaul, or a university-wide initiative. Sometimes it starts with a simple question:
How do we help students understand that sustainability is not separate from engineering, but central to it?
I started my faculty career at Rochester Institute of Technology in 2018, where I spent seven years in the Civil Engineering Technology, Environmental Management and Safety Department before moving to The Department of Construction Science at Texas A&M University last August.
My research focuses on sustainable built environments, construction education, and the use of emerging technologies to advance learning and workforce development. Sustainability is central to my work. I am a LEED Accredited Professional, and much of my research examines how we design, construct, and operate buildings more sustainably.
But several years ago, I began asking a different question, “If sustainability is so important to the future of engineering and construction, how are we preparing students to think about it, not as an elective topic or a specialty area, but as an essential part of their professional identity?”
That question led me to the Engineering for One Planet initiative.
I joined the EOP Mini-Grant Program in 2022 as part of the inaugural cohort. I partnered with Professor Amanda Bao at RIT, and together we explored how we could integrate sustainability more intentionally within our Civil Engineering Technology curriculum.
The EOP Framework provided exactly what we needed.
It was not a prescriptive checklist. Instead, it offered a flexible framework that helped us think holistically about sustainability competencies and how they could be embedded across courses and throughout a student’s educational journey.
We were fortunate to have Michelle as our assigned mentor, and her guidance was instrumental to the success of our work. One of the strengths of EOP is that it is “not just a framework, it is a community.” Having mentors, peers, and access to shared resources made the process much less intimidating.
We began modestly.
Our pilot focused on two required courses.
The first was CVET 180, Introduction to Civil Engineering, a first-year course where students are just beginning to understand what it means to be an engineer.
The second was CVET 431, Structural Steel Design, a fourth-year course where students are making technical design decisions and preparing to enter professional practice.
The goal was not simply to add a lecture on sustainability.
Instead, we asked ourselves, “How do we embed sustainability into the way students think?” “How do we encourage students to consider environmental, social, and economic dimensions alongside technical performance?” “How do we help students understand the broader consequences of engineering decisions?”
After implementing these interventions, we assessed student outcomes.
Students reported increased understanding of sustainability-related concepts and greater confidence discussing sustainability issues.
More importantly, we observed a shift in mindset.
Students began to see sustainability not as something that belongs to environmental specialists, but as something relevant to all engineers.
That realization changed the trajectory of our work.
We recognized that sustainability integration should not stop at two courses.
So we asked the next question, How do we scale?
The first lesson I learned is that scaling does not happen overnight. And it rarely happens because of one large initiative. Scaling happens incrementally.
Each opportunity builds upon the previous one. Our pilot work through the EOP Mini-Grant helped us demonstrate proof of concept. That proof of concept enabled us to apply for and receive the Lemelson Foundation Institutionalization Grant. This grant allowed us to expand our efforts beyond our original two courses. We included three additional programs within our department and partnered with the Construction Management program at California State University, Fresno. Our faculty team grew from two members to seven (four faculty at RIT and three at CSU Fresno). Together, we integrated sustainability concepts across sixteen courses spanning multiple disciplines and academic levels. But the impact extended beyond those faculty members. Eight additional faculty members outside our core team participated in summer working sessions and developed sustainability interventions for their own courses.
This taught me another important lesson, scaling sustainability is not simply about scaling curriculum, it is about scaling people.
It is about creating communities of practice where faculty learn from one another, share resources, and feel empowered to experiment.
Throughout this process, we hosted teaching circles at least once each year. Faculty shared classroom activities, discussed challenges, and exchanged ideas.
We invited guest speakers to connect classroom concepts with real-world sustainability practice.
Professor Amanda Bao contributed a course activity to the EOP Teaching Guide, allowing other faculty members to adapt and use those materials.
Several members of our team participated in the EOP workshop at Villanova University, which provided valuable training, resources, and inspiration.
We also discovered that EOP offers an incredible ecosystem of resources. The teaching guides, webinars, workshops, mentoring opportunities, and online materials have been tremendously valuable, not only for faculty who are new to sustainability integration, but also for those looking to deepen and expand their efforts.
As our work continued to grow, we began asking larger questions.
“How do sustainability competencies develop over time?: “How do students begin to see themselves as professionals who are responsible for creating sustainable and resilient communities?”
These questions led us to pursue additional funding.
We applied for an NSF grant through the Research in Formation of Engineers program co-funded by the Lemelson Foundation (led by Dr Ashish Agrawal) and received funding to investigate how students develop a sustainability mindset and professional identity as engineers.
This work expanded our focus from curriculum design to professional formation.
We wanted to understand not only what students know about sustainability, but how sustainability shapes who they become.
That distinction is important because sustainability education is not simply about transferring knowledge. It is about cultivating values, mindsets, and habits of thinking that students carry into their careers.
And we have seen evidence of this impact. Some of our students, after being exposed to sustainability concepts throughout the curriculum, chose to pursue sustainability-focused master’s programs. Others incorporated sustainability considerations into capstone projects and extracurricular activities. One particularly meaningful example occurred when RIT hosted the ASCE Upstate New York and Canada Student Symposium. Our faculty and students helped create a new Sustainability Competition to promote sustainability within civil engineering education. And our student team earned second place in that inaugural competition.
For me, that moment was significant. Because sustainability was no longer confined to the classroom. Students were embracing it as part of their identity and culture. They were taking ownership and ultimately, that is the goal.
We want sustainability to become part of how students think, how they solve problems, and how they envision their role in society. Another unexpected outcome of this journey has been mentorship. After completing the EOP Mini-Grant, I was invited to serve as an EOP mentor.
For the past three years, I have had the privilege of supporting faculty teams as they embark on their own sustainability integration journeys. This has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my experience because I have seen firsthand how powerful it can be when faculty members realize that they do not need to start from scratch.
There is a framework. There is a community. There are resources. And there are people who are willing to help.
Today, as I continue this work, I remain optimistic about the future of sustainability education.
Our students are entering a world shaped by climate change, rapid urbanization, resource constraints, artificial intelligence, digital twins, and emerging technologies that are transforming engineering and construction practice. The challenges are complex. But they are also interconnected. And sustainability provides a lens through which students can navigate those complexities.
The EOP Framework has shown us that sustainability is not another topic competing for space in an already crowded curriculum. It is a way of thinking. A way of approaching engineering problems. A way of preparing students to make decisions that consider technical excellence alongside environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and long-term resilience.
As I reflect on this journey, I realize that the greatest impact of EOP is not the grants we received, the courses we redesigned, or even the publications we produced. It is the people. It is the students who now see sustainability as part of who they are as engineers. It is the faculty who gained the confidence to try something new. And it is the community that reminds us that meaningful change does not happen alone.
So I would like to leave you with this question. “What would it look like if every engineering student graduated believing that sustainability is not someone else’s responsibility?” “What if sustainability was woven so deeply into our curricula that students could not imagine practicing engineering without it?”
If we truly believe we are educating engineers for one planet, then sustainability is not an
elective. It is a responsibility.