Understanding Sustainability Through Reverse Engineering

Keeping engineering students\´ educations up to date with the demands and needs -of the engineering industry is challenging, given the limitations on credit hours, topics, and time imposed upon undergraduate engineering curricula. Critical topics such as global warming, climate change, green practices and sustainable engineering solutions are central to recent changes to regulations and policies impacting the practice of engineering. Engineering education accreditation programs, such as the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), are increasing emphasis educating students to "understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context" [1]. Thus, it has become important to identify additional routes for exposing engineering students to sustainability principles for materials selection and engineering design. An undergraduate course that is part of the University of Florida (UF) Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) program employs a particular approach for introducing sustainability principles to engineering students.