CONGRATULATIONS: ASEE EOP Mini-Grant Program Cohort II Awardees
In May 2023, the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) — in partnership with Engineering for One Planet (EOP) — announced the 14 awardees of its second cohort of the ASEE EOP Mini-Grant Program (EOP MGP). Supported by The Lemelson Foundation, EOP MGP offers $8,000 and mentoring to teams of educators from diverse engineering programs to pursue new ways to integrate sustainability into their curriculum. This year, ASEE received more than 100 applications for this program!
Congratulations to this year’s awardees!
ASEE EOP MGP Cohort I Awardees Featured in Prism Magazine
ASEE shared select impacts of its EOP MGP Cohort I awardees in an article in the Spring 2023 edition of its Prism magazine. The article showcased distinct approaches by three awardees — Bradley University, the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, and Kennesaw State University — for incentivizing integration of environmental and social sustainability into engineering courses. Ultimately the 13 awardees in the program impacted 34 engineering courses and reached more than 1,600 students. Read more here.
Earlier this year, the 13 Cohort I awardees shared their approaches to curricular change at the final program symposium. Click here to learn how they applied EOP in their classrooms.
NEW: EOP Pilot Grant Program Synopsis
Hot off the press: A new report highlights key takeaways and tips from EOP’s trailblazing grantees. The first EOP program synopsis of its kind, it showcases the diverse approaches that five grantees took to successfully implement sustainability into their curricula from June 2020 to June 2022. This concise distillation provides clear and applicable takeaways for other faculty, administrative leaders, institutions, and stakeholders. Access the report here.
New: ASME Report Recommends Prioritizing Engineering for Sustainable Development
The American Society of Mechanical Engineering’s (ASME) Engineering Global Development (EGD) team published, “Engineering Workforce Advancing Sustainable Development,” a white paper outlining recommendations to ensure engineers are equipped to tackle the wider impacts of technical innovation. Engineering for One Planet is listed among the resources for bringing socio-technical concepts into engineering curricula. Read the white paper here.
JOIN US AT UPCOMING EVENTS
EOP at the 2023 NAI Annual Meeting
Join us in Washington, DC, from June 25-27 as we gather for the National Academy of Inventors’ (NAI) 12th Annual Meeting! With sponsorship from The Lemelson Foundation and EOP, this gathering brings together a cross-sector community of professionals who will learn about ideas and initiatives that diversify invention and promote inclusion and sustainability, the themes of this year’s conference.
The conference promises an impressive lineup of presenters! Learn more at: Annual Meeting Program – NAI.
More than 20 members of the EOP community will participate in the American Society for Engineering Education’s (ASEE) 130th Annual Conference! Learn more about EOP at the Interdivisional Town Hall on June 26, during the June 28th Topical Plenary: “Changing Engineering Courses to Changing the Course of Engineering: Seizing Today’s Sustainability Opportunity” or in several other divisional sessions featuring EOP faculty and students. Stop by the ASEE EOP Mini-Grant Program booth to learn about the grants and take a selfie to win a reusable EOP water bottle!
If you haven’t registered to attend, there is still time! Register today at 2023 Annual Conference (asee.org).
EOP WAS THERE!
EOP at VentureWell’s OPEN 2023 Conference
In March 2023, Cindy Cooper presented EOP at VentureWell’s OPEN 2023 conference. Presenting to an audience of more than 300 faculty and students, Cindy shared, “Over the past few years, we’ve worked with VentureWell and a community of stakeholders, including many of you, to design and launch Engineering for One Planet… more than ever, there is collective will among academics, employers, funders, and government leaders to make this ambitious vision a reality. No single organization or sector can achieve the transformation we are seeking, which is why the EOP initiative is fueled by collaboration.” Learn more about VentureWell OPEN’s community of innovation, entrepreneurship, and sustainability here.
At this year’s OPEN conference, VentureWell presented the Sustainable Practice Impact Award to Dr. Sylvia Robles, Assistant Professor of Practice in the UTRGV Robert C. Vacker College of Business and Entrepreneurship at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. An innovative entrepreneur, researcher, and educator, Dr. Robles founded the Adopt a Startup Program at UTRGV to empower students and support sustainability in local businesses.
“I want to foster the local entrepreneurial ecosystem by networking and opening opportunities to the underserved,” says Dr. Robles. “That’s my dream.”
Learn more about Dr. Robles’ inspirational journey and dedication to fostering her local entrepreneurial ecosystem in this interview with The Lemelson Foundation’s Invention Notebook on Medium.
In March, EOP collaborated with Engineering Change Lab-USA (ECL-USA) to present a virtual summit exploring the barriers that prevent the integration of sustainability into engineering education, and imagining what an ideal engineering educational system would look like.
Cindy Cooper spoke on the value of the EOP Framework, and faculty from two of the five EOP Pilot Grant Program schools — the University of Maryland and Arizona State University — shared how they approached integrating EOP principles into their curricula.
Learn more and watch the presentations at Scanning the Horizon of Engineering Education: The Sustainability Imperative | Engineering Change Lab – USA (ecl-usa.org).
On April 18 in sunny Puerto Rico, Cindy Cooper shared EOP with hundreds of engineering deans as a panelist on “Reimagining Engineering Careers“ at the 2023 ASEE Engineering Deans Institute. The discussion explored career readiness, trends in industry talent needs, and building partnerships between academia and industry throughout the academic experience that better prepare students for the workforce. The Lemelson Foundation also sponsored reusable EOP water bottles for all attendees.
EOP featured prominently at the 2023 ABET Symposium, a flagship event for accreditation, assessment, and the global exchange of best practices in STEM education. Cindy Anderson, EOP Strategy Consultant with The Lemelson Foundation, Cindy Cooper, and ABET CEO Michael Milligan shared how EOP’s tools can help faculty meet and exceed ABET sustainability learning outcomes required for accreditation. Cindy Anderson and EOP Network member Dustyn Roberts, Practice Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, presented a hands-on workshop to explore the two newly-launched EOP Framework companion teaching guides. Cindy Anderson was on the closing plenary panel moderated by former ABET President, William Wepfer, along with leaders from Engineers Without Borders, Engineering Change Lab-USA, and Peace Engineering.
TAKE ACTION
Become an EOP Signatory
The EOP community includes hundreds of supporters who believe in a common goal: to ensure all future engineers across all disciplines learn the fundamental skills and principles of social and environmental sustainability. Read what university faculty, students, and administrators, and leaders from the nonprofit, government, and industry sectors are all saying about EOP at EOP Signatories – Engineering For One Planet.
Join the movement and add your voice by becoming an EOP Signatory.
Are you working on an initiative, anywhere in the world, that focuses on developing engineering skills at the undergraduate or master’s level to address one or more of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs)? If so, consider applying for the Quanser Global Sustainability Award.
The mission of the award is to encourage the development of initiatives that prepare students to discover and create sustainable engineering practices throughout their careers because engineering interventions can create solutions for a circular economy — an approach that can work across all technical disciplines. Deadline to apply is June 16, 2023. Learn more.
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