Integrating sustainable development into the undergraduate engineering curriculum through a mandatory first year engineering design course at the University of Toronto

This paper discusses how Engineering Science, an undergraduate division within the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada, has worked to foster engineers that can meaningfully contribute to sustainable development (SD). Specifically, Engineering Science has developed ESC102: Praxis II, a core course required for all first year undergraduate Engineering Science students, which takes both a systems engineering and an interdisciplinary approach to solving complex problems in a local context. All Engineering Science students take Praxis II, and are exposed to sustainable development concepts even if they had no prior interest in sustainable development (SD). The 2010 Praxis II course integrated SD concepts by explicitly requiring students to consider and develop sustainability requirements, using the "DfX" concepts from the "Design for Sustainability" (DfS) and "Design for Environment"(DfE) literature, and incorporate sustainable design concepts into their final projects. Students were guided in these activities through introductory lectures, discussion groups, and tutorial activities. Sustainable design was also an explicit part of the assignment requirements. This paper discusses the goals, process, and success of the 2010 Praxis II course curriculum integration of sustainable development concepts. It discusses the specific training in problem-solving and sustainability concepts that students received, and the challenges students faced in applying SD concepts to their solutions. We also explore how to improve student engagement in and student acceptance of SD concepts. Finally, we summarize the lessons learned for integrating SD concepts into an engineering design course