Sustainable engineering vertically-integrated project scheme in undergraduate engineering education

Troy O. McBride, Elizabethtown College
Kurt DeGoede, Elizabethtown College
Jean Fullerton, Elizabethtown College

Abstract

Sustainable Engineering has strong potential for hands-on multi-disciplinary project-based learning. In particular, projects within sustainable engineering can readily involve electrical, mechanical, computer, civil, and chemical engineering aspects while still being accessible to undergraduate engineering students. In this paper, we discuss a series of renewable energy and alternative energy storage projects, the structure of the vertically integrated project scheme at Elizabethtown College, and observations and outcomes from four years of the project scheme.