Combining thermodynamics and public policy: Exploring the benefits of this alternative instructional method

The Rochester Institute of Technology has recently developed an Engineering and Public Policy master´s program that is modeled after the program instituted at Carnegie Mellon University in 1976. One of the key graduate-level courses in this program, and the focus of this paper, is the Sustainable Energy Management (SEM) course offered within the Mechanical Engineering Department. SEM is an upper level engineering class that combines advanced studies of thermodynamics with public policy basics. The class is unique in the way that it takes thermodynamic analyses of complex contemporary engineering issues a step further by incorporating government regulations into problems that would otherwise be defined only by thermodynamic principles. The purposes of this paper are to explore the development and implementation of this novel course and its implications in regards to whether the course accomplishes its goal of developing an understanding of the interrelationship between engineering and public policy. Student course-end evaluations were analyzed and six student interviews were conducted in order to inform this investigation. From this research, it is clear that most students view the class favorably, and several possible improvements are considered for future iterations of the course.