UC College of Engineering Offers a New Sustainable Urban Engineering Minor in Response to Student Requests

Sustainable Urban Engineering is a popular term these days. For quite a while, students at the University of Cincinnati have been clamoring to learn more about sustainable urban engineering. Now the numbers are in: enough students have asked for formal instruction so that a minor was added to the engineering curriculum in sustainable engineering.

In September 2007 a survey was e-mailed to approximately 35,000 UC students. Approximately 1,500 students responded to the survey, and more than 250 respondents self-identified as being enrolled in the College of Engineering. Approximately 89% of the total respondents indicated that they wanted to participate in formal education about sustainability with a minor/certificate selected as the most-favored option. In response, the Center for Sustainable Urban Engineering (SUE) at UC has formed a trans-disciplinary minor in Sustainable Urban Engineering.

"Sustainable Urban Engineering" seeks to understand how urban infrastructure and environmental policies affect the long-term health and wealth of cities, and to apply this understanding for practical aims through the development of theoretical and analytical frameworks. (See "Unpacking the Jargon.") Such theoretical and analytical frameworks do not exist, and will only be discovered and tested through sustained multi-disciplinary research and education collaborations fostered by administrative support at all levels of the university.

With leadership from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, a multi-disciplinary minor in Sustainable Urban Engineering has been organized. Consisting of 30 credit hours, the objective of this minor is to provide students with seven learning opportunities, namely: 1) a shared experience in core courses; 2) technical depth in engineering and health; breadth in 3) planning, 4) management, 5) economics and 6) policy; 7) with a culminating capstone experience.

The capstone course experience for Integrated Sustainable Development with multi-disciplinary teams of students across the university arts and sciences, engineering, political science, health, economics, planning and management could come through such things as planning and construction of Habitat for Humanity House (course credit provided through independent study) or implementation of a project for Engineers Without Borders.

Students interested in completing the Minor in Sustainable Urban Engineering, should contact at sue@uc.edu. For more information, visit http://www.eng.uc.edu/sue/minor.htm.

Related Story:

6/26/2008 Getting Off the Grid and Unpacking the Jargon about Sustainable Urban Engineering
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