Empowering the Future: Engineering Faculty Combat Green Skills Shortage in Education with Innovative New Grant

The engineering technology faculty at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is tackling a skills gap in sustainability. They’ve launched a project to weave eco-friendly practices into undergraduate engineering programs.

Ashish Agrawal, an assistant professor in RIT’s College of Engineering Technology, is leading this three-year endeavor. He believes combining eco-friendly methods with the economic and social aspects of sustainability can reshape engineering education. “We need to think about sustainability throughout the design process,” he explained. “It’s crucial for shaping students into responsible engineers.”

The project will look into how various activities—like problem-solving exercises, real-world case studies, and capstone projects—impact students’ understanding and attitudes toward sustainability. Students from their first year to graduate level will help gather data for this initiative.

Joining Agrawal are other faculty members skilled in sustainability: Lisa Greenwood, Amanda Bao, Yewande Abraham, and Lucio Salles de Salles. Together, they’re creating content for 10 courses across civil engineering technology, environmental health and safety, and electrical and computer engineering technology. Each course will address the three key aspects of sustainability: environmental, social, and economic.

“It’s vital to connect the theory to real-world applications,” said Salles de Salles. “Students often do calculations without seeing how they relate to sustainability. Once they start working in the field, they will realize these connections are essential for designing anything.”

RIT has always prioritized sustainable practices. Its engineering programs are ABET accredited and already incorporate sustainability principles. This project aims to enhance these efforts and prepare students for industry needs.

“We’re shaping future professionals,” Agrawal noted. “Students need to understand that thinking sustainably is a crucial part of engineering.”

The group secured a grant of nearly $350,000 from the National Science Foundation for their project titled “NLI: Research Influence of sustainability-focused course interventions on students’ engineering identity development.” This funding supports a national initiative, the Engineering for One Planet Framework, designed to equip all graduating engineers with essential skills for protecting and enhancing our environmental and social systems.