The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute implemented a graduate-level course entitled “Integration of Design and Construction.” The course was offered during the fall semester of 1995 and 1996. The goal of the course was to provide a project-based, practice-oriented opportunity for teams of students to deal with the problems of functional integration. The three-credit-hour, one-semester course involved a mix of class discussion, laboratory, and lecture activities. Faculty relied on industrial participation to present the real-world projects to the students. First, the lessons learned at the end of fall semester 1995 are discussed. Next, the class profile and course organization for fall semester 1996 are described. Additionally, student performance and student feedback are presented and used to validate the value of the course and to plan a subsequent offering in fall semester 1997.

The senior level capstone course in the school of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science (CEES) at the University of Oklahoma is co-taught by practitioners and the CEES faculty. The students work in teams on real-world problems, and their work products are evaluated by practicing professional engineers. Recently, a local municipality provided CEES with a real-world, real-time, industrial park development feasibility project. The student teams designed alternative development plans, which were evaluated by the city engineer. The teams then made oral presentations about their plans before the city board, as is commonly done by consulting engineers in practice. Ultimately, the city incorporated certain aspects of each alternative into its final development plan. The money saved by the small municipality on the feasibility study enabled it to actually go forward with development of the industrial park. Use of the real-world, real-time, industry-driven project provided the students with valuable exposure to professional practice, as well as providing important feedback to CEES faculty regarding curriculum content, and allowing CEES the opportunity to be a “good citizen” in the state.

In 1994, the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) issued a statement titled “The Role of the Engineer in Sustainable Development” which proclaimed that sustainable development requires “dramatic changes in the culture of engineering.” In this paper, the writers examine some ideas about sustainable development and consider the implications for the culture of engineering. Specifically, we argue that, because the future is uncertain, promoting a variety of approaches to sustainable development would seem to be a prudent means of spreading the risks associated with uncertainty. Engineers in the United States appear to favor approaches that emphasize developing more efficient and effective technology through free enterprise, as expressed in the AAES statement. We think this tendency reflects some of the values, assumptions, and culture of the engineering profession. We consider the limitations of this approach and present arguments in favor of simple technology and low consumption lifestyles. Engineers will likely be in a better position to lead and collaborate with others in fostering sustainable development if they understand and appreciate a variety of different perspectives and practices of people of different ethnic and disciplinary cultures. To promote this, we suggest that engineers develop an understanding of and appreciation for goals, strategies, and values that are complementary to the goals, values, and strategies that have been central to the profession.