Collaborative Research: Preparing engineers to address climate change and its implications on sustainability: modeling impact of college experiences on students

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Engineers are an essential part of solving the effects of climate change and must not only be aware of the issues but empowered to make change to reduce and shift the impact of humans on the planet. This research will investigate engineering students' experiences during undergraduate programs that predict their beliefs about climate change and empowerment to address its related implications for sustainability in their careers. This study is the first of its kind to explore how experiences in college impact students' climate change beliefs and interest to address related implications for sustainability. To advance understanding, undergraduate engineering seniors' attitudes, empowerment, career goals, and experiences will be measured using a nationally representative survey just prior to students entering the workforce. When topics related to climate change and its implications for sustainability are included in these settings, the expectation is to find an increase in student willingness to take action to address the issues. This quantitative approach can provide generalizable trends about what happens during college and how it affects students' self-beliefs and long-term goals. Findings will be translated into practice through 1-2-page research briefs that explain the implications of the research to discipline specific engineering faculty. Educators can then develop curriculum to empower students to make change in their world and will likely to lead to more consideration for sustainability interests when setting career goals. By strengthening the relationship between awareness and action about climate change we can increase the number of U.S. educated engineers ready to address such complex sociotechnical challenges.This research builds on critical engineering agency theory in which students' learning and interest is enhanced when they see an opportunity to make change in their world. Critical engineering agency includes an individual's growing professional identity and attachment to their practice as an engineer. The guiding research question is, how do engineering students develop critical engineering agency and beliefs in college to address climate change and its implications for sustainability in their careers? This question will be answered using a nationally representative survey (n=4000) distributed to students in senior design or capstone courses. This quantitative approach will provide generalizable trends about influential experiences during college. A panel data analysis will help uncover differences among students' sustainability beliefs compared to prior collected data. We will also investigate differences in engineering identities among disciplines and predict both engineering agency and career expectations from their college experiences using MANOVA. Without recognition of climate change, action to address the issue is less likely to occur. The long-term vision is that this research becomes a catalyst for teaching about topics related to climate change and its implications for sustainability. Teaching will support students' critical engineering agency (e.g., empowerment and identity in engineering contexts) and beliefs about sustainability. Students' agency and beliefs may influence their career choice and expected career outcomes. As a result, more engineering students will pursue careers to solve societal challenges that mitigate and prepare for climate change and its global implications for sustainability.