Alba TorrentsJustificationENCE 215Course DescriptionCourse TopicsAlba TorrentsCivil and Environmental EngineeringENCE 215 Currently “Applied Engineering Science”To be changed to “Engineering for Sustainability”Proposed changes on syllabus and “style” of teaching after my participation to the “Chesapeake Project” This course has been designed to provide an introduction to topics within the broad field of “Sustainable Engineering” and to provide a bridge between freshman science courses and engineering applications. The department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has been offering this course (ENCE 215) for over 5 years under the name “Applied Engineering Science” and we are currently in the process to change the name to “Engineering for Sustainability.” The change of name has come as for the past few years we have been trying to re-organized the course from re-teaching basics of chemistry/biology and then applying them to “engineering/societal” issues to a presenting“sustainability” issues and apply the chemistry/biology to understand and quantify the issues. While the overall objectives and tools remain the same, the syllabus has been change to provide a “problem-based” approach. For example, in the previous syllabus wehad a unit on “Stoichiometry” similar to what you would find in a general chemistry course. We now do not have a unit on “stoichiometry” but stoichiometry principles are revised when students engage in “carbon footprint”“; control of acid rain” determinations among others. Similar examples could be provided for thermodynamics where it went form being covered with an “abstract” approach and them students would apply it in homeworks; to apply the make students identify the thermodynamics properties of materials in “energy’ related topics. As part of my participation in the “Chesapeake Project,” I was able to interact with faculty from humanities, business, biology and architecture; most of them with a commoninterests on sustainability and we participated in many discussions on the tools that we have to engage student into critical thinking. I am used to thinking purely of the quantifiable aspects of environmental/sustainability issues, comments made by co-participants concerning the intersection of the economics, and social aspects were interesting and a component I plan to incorporate through reading assignments and class discussions. Another eye-opening experience for me was how much more the social/natural sciences colleges engage students in class activities with a “Student-centered” format and how little I have been doing in engineering where due to a “tied”curriculum most of our lectures are “teacher-centered.” I particularly plan to add some class hands-on activities with the mentality that sometimes “less” is “more.” I appreciate the effort put in by the presenters of the Project and found it very helpful.JustificationWith infrastructure, natural resources, and engineering processes becoming increasinglycomplex and integrated, engineers need to be aware of the whole-life environmental and social impacts of their projects. Wise use of natural resources and materials with minimum adverse impacts on people and the environment should be a goal for all engineering processes/products. As the introduction to this course students will be asked and guided through an analysis of current trends in land use and natural resources and will be introduced to the concept of “sustainability”. Throughout the semester and for each specific topic, practices changes over time will be identified and students will be asked to justify whether changes where a result or pro-active or re-active measures. The question of “Knowing what we know now, should be had been able to predict ……. before we did?” will be posed. The course will include lectures, readings, discussions, small individual, and group projects. The main goal will be to enforce students’ understanding on the basic tools learned in their freshmen year while encouraging criticalthinking and their capability to dissect information for a “problem-based” approach.ENCE 215Engineering for Sustainability (3 credits) 3 hours lecturePrerequisites: CHEM135 and permission of department.Course DescriptionEngineers have a key role to play in planning, designing, building, and ensuring a sustainable future. In this class, a problem-based approach is used to examine fundamentally-based analyses and approaches for engineering a sustainable society, with a focus on sustainable use of energy and materials, sustainable infrastructure solutions, atmospheric sustainability and sustainable water supply, and human population growth and resource consumption and its implications for sustainability.Course Topics• Introduction to Engineering for SustainabilityFundamental concepts covered: fundamentals of life cycle analysis, mass and energybalance• Sustainable Use of Materials Fundamental concepts covered: fundamentals of thermodynamics, physical and chemical properties of materials, phase transfer processes, redox, indoor and outdoor environments. • Sustainable Waste ManagementFundamental concepts covered: fundamentals of thermodynamics, physical and chemical properties of materials, phase transfer processes, mass energy balance.• Atmospheric SustainabilityFundamental concepts covered: phase transfer processes, indoor and outdoor environments. • Sustainable Water Supply: LID (integrated below with population growth)• Sustainable Use of Energy: BiofuelsFundamental concepts covered: fundamentals of microbiology, principles of metabolism and bioenergetics (thermodynamics), stoichiometry, kinetics of growth.• Sustainable Infrastructure Solutions: Road EcologyFundamental concepts covered: fundamentals of ecology and ecosystem processes, including energy flow (thermodynamics) amd materials flow.• Human Population Growth and Resource Consumption: Implications for SustainabilityFundamental concepts covered: population dynamics and resource consumption rates(kinetics), "Smart Growth" and LID.COURSE SYLLABUS:Attached is the course Syllabus to be used in Fall 2009. This syllabus is tentative andsubject to change as the main topic used to illustrate the applications may change as a function of the year and the