Renewable Energy and Engaged Interdisciplinary Learning for Sustainability (REELS)

工程学院与政治系和社会学系正在联合开发和教授两门关于可再生能源和可持续发展工程的课程。第一门，可持续发展与社会变革，是一门跨学科的课程，探索可持续发展的政治以及技术创新和新可再生能源的开发过程。这门课程将在政治系和社会学系之间交叉列出。第二个受影响的课程是目前的电气工程可再生能源课程，将为该课程开发一个可再生能源实验室。实验室、社区项目和案例研究的结合正在创造一个培养创新和包容性的环境，建立量化技能，并扩大关于可再生能源和与可持续发展相关的社会正义问题的专题知识。工程专业的学生正在学习更广泛的社会影响以及如何分析公平和包容问题。社会科学专业的学生正在提高科学推理、应用工程和定量分析的技能。学生、教师和社区合作伙伴探索将社交技术与物质创新联系起来的策略。这种将社会学与工程学联系起来的合作关系正在吸引更多的女性和代表不足的少数族裔投身科学和工程领域。

Two courses pertaining to renewable energies and sustainability engineering are being developed and taught jointly by the School of Engineering and the Departments of Politics and Sociology. One, Sustainability and Social Change, is an interdisciplinary course that explores the politics of sustainability and the process of technological innovation and the development of new renewable energy sources. The course will be cross-listed between the Politics and Sociology Departments. The second course to be affected is the current electrical engineering Renewable Energy course for which a renewable energy sources laboratory will be developed. A combination of laboratories, community projects, and case studies are creating an environment that cultivates innovation and inclusiveness, builds quantitative skills, and expands topical knowledge about renewable energies,and social justice issues related to sustainable development.Engineering students are learning broader social impacts and how to analyze issues of equity and inclusion. Social science students are improving scientific reasoning, applied engineering, and quantitative analysis skills. Students, faculty and community partners explore strategies to link social technologies with material innovations. The partnership connecting sociology with engineering is attracting more women and underrepresented minorities to careers in science and engineering.