ISEE 2010 Launch Presentation

ISEE 2010 Launch, School of Engineering, 16th September 2009

ISEE 2010 Launch Presentation

Fit for Purpose – Designing the 21st Century Engineer

John Fitzpatrick, Edmond Byrne & Kevin Cronin


3rd International Symposium for Engineering Education

Symposium Chair: Ed Byrne

Symposium co-Chairs: Kevin Cronin John Fitzpatrick Dermot Brabazon

(DCU)


Apart from the launch of ISEE 2010, the twin aim of this presentation is thus to initiate a conversation within Engineering at UCC on the issue

of embedding sustainability on our programmes, and to gauge potential interest in this concept.

This presentation will reflect on the theme of the Symposium and will propose that a sustainability informed paradigm be embedded throughout all the professional degrees that we offer.


Setting the Scene [J. Fitzpatrick] Introduction & sustainability concepts Process & Chemical Engineering; where are we

now, what’s next & what else we would like to do?

Fit for Purpose? - Designing the 21st Century Engineer [E. Byrne]

ISEE 2010 [K. Cronin]


“meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”

Classic definition of Sustainable Development:

3 Pillars of Sustainable Development Environmental Economic Social


Environmental Unsustainability

These systems are inherently unsustainable in the long-term as

1) non-renewable resources will eventually be depleted and

2) wastes will eventually change the natural environment to such an extent that it will no longer be able to sustain the existence of large numbers of people.


3 Big Global Sustainability IssuesSupply of: Energy Water Food

They are interlinked andexacerbated byClimate Change

Overall, fossil fuels still supply most of our energy. This is unsustainable in the long-term.

Global Energy

Fossil fuels CO2

limited resource100s of years

Global warming /Climate change

Global Energy

Fossil fuels CO2

limited resource100s of years

Global warming /Climate change


Modules incorporating elements of sustainability on core programme:PE1003 Introduction to Process & Chemical Engineering PE3008 Safety and Environmental Protection I PE4001 Process Design and Feasibility Analysis PE4004 Safety and Environmental Protection IIPE4006 Design Project

Current practice on the BE (Process & Chemical) Engineering:

From 2010/11 – Incorporating an Energy and Environmental stream for students who choose this option, which includes:CE3016 Sustainable EnergyNE40XX Biomass, Geothermal & Solar EnergyPE30ZZ Sustainability in Process Engineering


Thereafter??Should the module on ‘Sustainability in Process

Engineering’ become a CORE module?

Should we embed sustainability concepts throughoutOTHER MODULES, and if so, how?e.g. embed Life Cycle Assessment into the Design

Project!

Given that these are questions common to all engineering disciplines, should a sustainability informed ethos be embedded across ALL OUR ENGINERING PROGRAMMES AT UCC and if so, HOW?


There is ‘a significant risk that many of the trends will accelerate.’ Copenhagen, 2009

“We have got to deal with increased demand for energy, increased demand for food, increased demand for water, and we've got to do that while mitigating and adapting to climate change...And we have but 21 years to do it.” Beddington, 2009

“I don't think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen. We're looking at a scenario where there's no more agriculture in California. I don't actually see how they can keep their cities going.”

Chu, 2009

The world in which engineers practice. ..where do we stand today?


“It is possible to reach a kind of knowledge which will be of the utmost use to men ..and thereby make ourselves the lords and possessors of nature.” René Descartes, 1638

“All the animals on land and all the birds of heaven, they are placed in your hands. Be fruitful then and multiply, teem over the earth and subdue it!” Genesis, 9, 1-2,7

Definition of Engineering: “The art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and convenience of man.”

Thomas Tredgold, 1828


Which is which?

The economy&The environment?

B

A


A) The environment

B) The economy

Material and energy transfer between economy & environment

B

A

..what next??Natural Resources

Waste


The problem with ongoing unsustainability

is that, like vehicle with ongoing lack of control, it is destined to eventually crash! …unless a brake is applied in timely fashion.

habitat extinction

severe weather events

flooding

sea level rise

drought

food shortages

faminespecies extinction

water shortages

accelerating climate change

“The human species is on a brutal collision course

with its natural environment”

Pereira, 2009


“Civilization is based on mass production ..followed by mass consumption

..and mass disposal.” Arai & Smith, 2008

This manifests itself in a “Throw-Away” Philosophy.There is now a clear need to develop a “Just-Enough” Philosophy”


August Level Lake Mead @ Hoover Dam

1060

1100

1140

1180

1220

1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008

Feet

36.7m drop

Source: US Bureau of Reclamation

Question: Does the role and ethical responsibility of the engineer end here?


“As water found itself at the heart of many environmental debates and controversies, engineers also had to accommodate more ecocentric paradigms, where humans are seen as part and parcel of the environment rather than as its masters.” Molle et al, 2008

“Water – that’ll be the next war over water!”

“Look at your curricula and ask if they help address our social problems. We must reform undergraduate engineering. Our universities have let the profession and society down. ..Doing nothing is not an option!” Prof. David Wood, Opening Plenary, World Congress of Chemical

Engineering, Montréal, August 2009


A new engineering paradigm to be fit for purpose for the 21st Century!

From “lords and possessors of nature” to “being part and parcel” of it.From sustainability being a constraint on professional practice to being its very context.Recognise role in resolution of ‘wicked’ problems from many possible outcomes, as well as unique optimisation solutions to ‘tame’ well defined problems. The new engineer/The new model engineer/engage in post normal scienceFrom narrow role as ‘value neutral’ paid hands who are facilitators of techno-economic development, to a wider role envisaging the broader societal and ecological context, working in multi-disciplinary teams, and seeking to promote change “to make the world a better place”.


From ‘design with constraints’

..to being the context of engineering practice1997 Joint Conference on Engineering Education and Training for Sustainable Development, Paris: Sustainability should be “integrated into engineering education, at all levels from foundation courses to ongoing projects and research” Professional engineering institutions need to “adopt accreditation policies that require the integration of sustainability in engineering teaching”.

ABET, 2007: “an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability.” problem

description

engineering design

sustainability


Sustainability & the Professional Institutions

2001: Melbourne Communiqué 2007: Engineers Australia Sustainability Charter:“sustainable development should be at the heart of mainstream policy and administration in all areas of human endeavour”. ..“requires a fundamental change in the way that resources are used and in the way that social decisions are made”.

2007: IChemE Roadmap for 21st Century Chemical Engineering

2007: RAE: Engineering for Sustainable Development: Guiding

Principles


How might sustainability be embedded

throughout BE programme modules?

Some suggestions..


Apply Material & Energy Balances at Global Scale


Innovative technologies: microprocesses, biomimicry, PI

http://www.microchemtec.de/

Pax technologies

Bull kelp


Design Project; Alternative processes to produce Vinyl Chloride (VCM) (Bi, 2005)

Question asked: Design a process to produce vinyl chloride?Does this entity really need to be produced?Questions that could/should be asked: What do we do with vinyl chloride?

Are there other (less unsustainable) materials that could be produced instead? PLA?

How feasible is it to produce plastics from renewable materials as opposed to oil?

What are the technical and economic barriers to this?


Broader implications of putting sustainability as context of engineering

practice:

• Expanded Self Image • Improved Public Image

• Increased Recruitment Potential


RAE & ETB study on attitudes to engineering among the public (2007) showed mixed attitudes towards engineering.

• While it was felt that engineers were responsible for providing many modern conveniences, they were also held “responsible for key problems in society, such as climate change”.

• Engineering perceived as “part of a type of commercialism that acted in the interests of money and progress rather than the good of people”.


• General decline in the relative proportion of students undertaking engineering programmes over the past number of decades in many developed countries (RAE, 2007; NSB, 2008). • However, energy and sustainability engineering programmes are enjoying huge growth (e.g. UCC programmes). Indeed projected demand in the renewable energy sector alone will outstrip the capacity of the education system in the period of rapid growth ahead (Jennings, 2009).

Student recruitment


• Invent something new?• Made a difference to the world? • Earn good money? • Travel/see the world? • Gain the respect of friends, family or peers?• Some other reason than the above?

What personal aspiration motivated your decision to become an engineer most?

1st year engineers Imperial Coll. London UCC* (Alpay et al, 2008) (2009) 24 15

21.5 3520.5 3010.5 1010.5 513 5

*estimate based on show of hands during Orientation 2009


• Sustainability must become the context of engineering practice. Engineers are morally and ethically obliged to make this happen.

• The current societal construct is unsustainable. It is leading to ever increasing environmental and societal stresses.

• To achieve this, sustainability must be embedded throughout engineering programmes. This involves more than just the inclusion of sustainability module/s through programmes.

In conclusion..

• A sustainability informed paradigm will broaden engineering’s role to incorporate societal and ecocentric paradigms as well as techno-economic and can thus increase the relevance and importance of engineering within society and aid recruitment.


Some Questions to consider??

Might Engineering at UCC accept the thesis presented?

If so, how could this be moved forward among our programmes, particularly in the context of the new school?Perhaps ISEE 2010 can provide some ideas and/or space for reflection?...


ISEE 20103rd International Symposium for Engineering

EducationPrevious Symposia held at Dublin City University (2007, 2008). Next one expected to be at The University of Sheffield (2012)

Major Theme: Educating Engineers for a Changing World Leading transformation from an unsustainable global society


Major Theme: Educating Engineers for a Changing World Leading transformation from an unsustainable global society

Theme based topics:• Embedding sustainability throughout the engineering curriculum• Educating the new engineer; new vision, new opportunities • Engineering ethics; roles, responsibilities and sustainability • Engineering for basic needs and the developing world • Teaching sustainability


Other themes on Engineering Education: • Assessment methods for achieving learning outcomes • Applying IT to enhance learning • The Bologna process• Industry perspectives on engineering education • Entrepreneurship and innovation • Discipline specific topics


ISEE 2010 will, incorporate a rigorous peer review process, overseen by a distinguished International Advisory Panel

The International Advisory Panel includes 60 members from 13 countries and includes members from all Engineering disciplines at UCC.

http://www.ucc.ie/isee2010/advisory.htm


Some Key Highlights• Keynote from Professor David Shallcross, University of Melbourne, Editor of the IChemE transactions Journal Education for Chemical Engineers, on future potential role of sustainability in informing the accreditation guidelines of IChemE•Professional Institutions Forum; key members of respective Professional Engineering Institutions will reflect on their Institutions conception of the appropriate relationship between sustainability and professional engineering practice in the 21st Century. The forum will invite input from delegates.• Keynote from John Mullins, CEO Bord Gáis,Main Sponsor for ISEE 2010 on the ‘Industry perspectives on engineering education’ topic. John is a graduate of Electrical Engineering at UCC.


Some Key Highlights (continued):

• International book launch of “Engineering Education & Sustainable Development - A Guide for Rapid Curriculum Renewal”, by Cheryl Desha of the Natural Edge Project (Griffith University, Queensland, Australia)

• Delegate Workshop, hosted by Cheryl Desha which will allow delegates to look at possible unit/module level sustainability informed descriptors for the first year of engineering programmes for each of the engineering disciplines

http://www.naturaledgeproject.net/


The overarching aim of the Symposium is thus to have a conversation about future directions in engineering education and our profession in a deliberative and open manner. We intend that this will be a significant international Symposium in the area of Engineering Education, particularly in relation to the theme of the Symposium.

We also intend that, as an event that concerns all of Engineering, that it can help bring the constituent parts of the school closer together.


You might consider submitting a paper to the Symposium. Key dates:

Initial Abstract Submission Deadline 30th November 2009 (N.B. Abstracts only required initially) Notification of Acceptance of Abstracts 1st February 2010 Submission of Full Paper 29th March 2010 Peer reviewed feedback from papers 10th May 2010 Formal submission of final paper 24th May 2010 Final Registration Date 4th June 2010 ISEE 2010 1st -2nd July 2010*

*Welcome reception and book launch on Wednesday evening, 30th June.


http://www.ucc.ie/isee2010

Documents

ISEE 2010 Launch Presentation