FUNDING & AWARD OPPORTUNITIES
ANNOUNCING: Awardees of National Science Foundation-Lemelson EOP Grants – Year 1
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) announced the first grant awards as part of the Research in the Formation of Engineers (RFE) program — a joint initiative with The Lemelson Foundation to support the integration of environmental and social sustainability into engineering education. The awardees and their topics are:
- North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University – Integrating sustainability into industrial and systems engineering curriculum
- University of Arizona / University of Michigan – Supporting sustainable design and sustainable mindsets
- Arizona State University / Kennesaw State University / Villanova University – Leveraging institutional experience to advance sustainable engineering education
- Rochester Institute of Technology – Investigating the influence of sustainability-focused course interventions on students’ engineering identity development
- Harvey Mudd College – Prototyping a systems thinking framework to foster environmental and socio-technical thinking across an interdisciplinary engineering curriculum
Apply for Year 2 NSF-Lemelson EOP Grants!
The Lemelson Foundation and NSF are providing funding over three years for the RFE program to support sustainability-focused engineering education projects. Proposals by April 30, 2025 are highly encouraged for consideration in NSF’s upcoming fiscal year. For details and project submission guidelines, visit here.
Apply for ASEE EOP MGP Cohort IV!
Applications for Cohort IV of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Engineering for One Planet Mini-Grants Program (EOP-MGP) are now open. Faculty teams will be awarded $8,000 and provided with expert mentorship on how to use the EOP Framework to pursue new ways to integrate social and environmental sustainability into their curricula. The program launched in 2022 with three cohorts and a total of 45 awardees thus far. To learn how to apply for this new grantee cohort, visit here.
Hear from Jennifer Watt, ABET and The Lemelson Foundation EOP Innovation in Sustainability 2024 Awardee
We recently spoke with the inaugural Innovation in Sustainability Award winner Dr. Jennifer Watt from the University of Utah. Hear how she became involved with Engineering for One Planet as part of the ASEE EOP Mini-Grants Program, how sustainability has been integrated into engineering at her own institution, and her thoughts on the value of reaching across STEM disciplines and beyond. Read the interview here, and review the nomination kit here to nominate yourself or a peer for the next award by April 20, 2025.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Calling Educators: 2025 Engineering for One Planet Workshop – Villanova, PA – May 12-15, 2025
Want to bolster your climate and sustainability acumen and learn how to integrate cutting-edge sustainability topics into your engineering courses? Join peers and colleagues for a customized, in-person EOP professional development workshop offered by Villanova University — an EOP grantee since 2020 — at their beautiful campus. You will receive step-by-step curated materials and content, mentoring, and peer feedback to bolster your knowledge and practice to integrate sustainability into your current curricula. Tuition is free, and participants only cover food/supplies ($300) and travel costs. Only 15 spots are available, so pre-register here now.
EOP is Coming to the ABET Symposium 2025 – San Diego, CA – April 3-4, 2025
Engineering for One Planet will be featured in two sessions of the 2025 ABET Symposium! Learn how EOP can help with ABET accreditation requirements and how students, recent graduates, and faculty are working with EOP to prepare students for growing demands in green skills by imbuing social and environmental sustainability across required courses. Register here.
In the News
EOP in University World News
A new article in University World News features Engineering for One Planet as a vital solution to closing the green skills gap. As part of a series on Education for Sustainable Development in partnership with ABET, the piece provides a great overview of the evolution of the EOP initiative since its creation seven years ago — from the co-development of the EOP Framework and teaching guides to EOP’s trailblazing Pilot Grantees and grant programs with ABET, ASEE, and NSF. Click here to read the article.
EOP on the ‘Undercooled’ Podcast
EOP Strategy Consultant and Network participant Cindy Anderson joined the Undercooled: A Materials Engineering Podcast to share how materials engineering faculty, students, and industry can bring sustainability into their work. Podcast host Steve Yalisove, Professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Program at University of Michigan, invited Anderson on the podcast after attending her EOP workshop at the 2024 ABET Symposium. His co-host Tim Chambers, a lecturer in the same program, was one of the contributors to the 13 Step-by-Step Ideas for Integrating Sustainability into Core Engineering Courses EOP Framework companion teaching guide. The podcast episode is available here.
LinkedIn: Double climate talent or put our climate goals at risk
A new report from LinkedIn caught our attention during ClimateWeek NYC with an important message about the green skills gap: We need to dramatically pick up the pace to prepare our workforce for the number of green jobs that are coming. If we don’t at least double the size of the green talent pool by 2050, nearly half of these jobs won’t have qualified candidates to fill them — and this jeopardizes our larger sustainability and climate goals. Read the report here, and get involved in EOP to be part of the solution!
TIME: The World Needs More Engineers to Help Meet Clean Energy Goals
A recent TIME article written by Ignacio Galán, Executive Chairman of the clean energy company Iberdrola, explores the critical need for more engineers with green skills, and offers ideas to address the growing skills gap. The article is aligned with what we’ve learned from LinkedIn’s 2024 Global Green Skills Report, which identifies trends at the intersection of the workforce and sustainability. Galán shares Iberdola’s research on the green transition and the important role engineering must play: “Engineers will help develop the next generation of wind turbines, solar panels, electricity networks, and energy storage systems, making them the gatekeepers to all the many benefits of the transition.” Click here to read the full article.
EOP NETWORK UPDATES
Development of New EOP Framework Teaching Guide
In September, 11 faculty participated in a 3-hour virtual EOP workshop hosted and led by the EOP Network’s Course Activities Committee — Jorge Loyo, Noé Vargas, Cindy Anderson, and EOP Network Manager Victoria Matthew — to contribute and develop activities for a new EOP Framework teaching guide. The guide is expected to launch in early 2025 with activities covering a wide array of learning outcomes, from environmental literacy to materials selection. Follow us on LinkedIn for the release of this new guide.
EOP Future Faculty Workshop Held at ASU
In October, network participants Allison Wolf and Hadley Willman (as a part of the EOP Network Empowering Students Committee) hosted an EOP Future Faculty Workshop at Arizona State University. During the workshop, grad students and postdocs interested in an academic career explored their teaching philosophies and how to integrate the EOP Framework into their classes. Congratulations to them both for leading this highly successful workshop and reaching faculty before they even begin to teach! If you and your colleagues are interested in learning how you might bring this workshop to your campus, please email Allison Wolf at allison.wolf@asu.edu.
EOP Was There
EOP at the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI) 2024 Conference – Lausanne, Switzerland – September 2024
The 2024 SEFI annual conference took place in Switzerland in September. The Lemelson Foundation’s Senior Program Officer Cindy Cooper represented Engineering for One Planet alongside collaborators Sarah Jayne Hitt from Engineering Professors Council and Jonathan Truslove from EWB-UK. The trio led a workshop to explore the key competencies faculty need to teach sustainability in engineering education, a unique angle on a key factor needed for curricular transformation.
ASEE recently announced 18 faculty teams selected for the Cohort III of the program, the largest cohort to date! ASEE also celebrated The Lemelson Foundation’s continuation grant supporting up to 48 awardees in total in 2025 and 2026 (Cohorts IV and V)! Cohort IV will open for applications this fall.
Announcements
We’re excited to announce the first ABET and The Lemelson Foundation Engineering for One Planet (EOP) Innovation in Sustainability Award: Jennifer Watt, Director Sustainability Education, University of Utah. Congratulations to Jennifer and all the 2024 ABET Award winners! Their groundbreaking contributions in engineering education highlight excellence and innovation. For more details visit ABET 2024 Award Winners.
EOP Was There!
EOP at Villanova University
In June, Villanova University hosted an Engineering for One Planet pilot faculty training workshop funded by The Lemelson Foundation. The workshop engaged five EOP grantee institutions with in-depth discussions on integrating sustainability concepts into engineering courses using the EOP Framework. An online version will take place in the fall. Stay tuned for future EOP faculty training opportunities.
EOP at ASEE Annual Conference
The EOP community had a large presence at the 2024 ASEE Annual Conference, hosting more than 20 events, sessions, and experiences, including a booth (with sustainable EOP water bottles) and a happy hour. Thank you to all who attended and presented EOP workshops and publications. Hundreds of individuals contributed valuable ideas about ways engineering educators and practitioners can create a more sustainable future by embedding social and environmental sustainability concepts across engineering education.
For more details about each event, check out the full guide to EOP-related sessions on our website.
EOP Network Convening
Following ASEE, 30 extraordinary EOP Network participants convened to celebrate their achievements and share promising practices, including course and program innovations, education research findings, and new approaches for measuring sustainability outcomes. Identified next steps included accelerating systemic change by further engaging administrators, students, and industry. If you are an administrator, a student, or work in industry and would like to get involved, email manager@engineeringforoneplanet.org
EOP at ABET Symposium – Tampa, FL, April 2024
In April, EOP Network member and strategy consultant Cindy Anderson attended the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) Symposium, where she led a workshop guiding attendees through best practices for using the EOP Framework and Guides for ABET-accredited engineering programs.
EOP at IISE Conference – Montreal, QC, May 2024
In May, Cindy Anderson headed north and presented a special session about EOP at the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) Conference to introduce attendees to our resources to promote sustainability in Industrial and Systems engineering courses and programs.
Following the event, Cindy also hit the airwaves and was featured on the IISE’s “Problem Solved” podcast. Click here to listen to the full episode and also access her presentation from the conference.
Join Us at Upcoming Events
EOP at SEFI 2024 – September 2-5, Lausanne
Cindy Cooper, EOP’s founding Senior Program Officer, will be presenting at the 2024 SEFI Annual Conference with the theme “Educating Responsible Engineers.”
EOP at NSS Conference – September 9-11, Seattle
EOP leaders Cindy Cooper and Cindy Anderson will be presenting at the inaugural National Sustainability Society Conference. This conference is focused on the themes “Sustainability Innovation, Closing the Implementation Gap, and Workforce Development.”
EOP at ECL-USA Engineering Ideas Institute – September 23-25, Boulder
EOP is a sponsor and participant of the 2024 ECL-USA Engineering Ideas Institute. Register now to join us!
Engineers for a Sustainable World’s 2025 Annual Conference – March 27-30, 2025, Akron
Engineers for a Sustainable World is hosting its annual conference next year at the University of Akron with the theme “Designing Our Sustainable Future: Circularity, Community, and Creativity.” Presentation proposals are being accepted until August 31. Read through the guidelines for submission and fill out this form to submit. Students are encouraged to apply!
RESOURCES FOR CURRICULAR CHANGE
New Brochure on EOP and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
We’ve created a brochure showing how engineers are uniquely equipped to help achieve the United Nations’ 17 SDGs — from addressing poverty, hunger, and health to improving infrastructure, sustainable cities, and climate action — and how the EOP Framework maps directly to these. Click here to access the brochure and share EOP’s message!
FRAMEWORK FRIDAYS ON SOCIAL
Every Friday through the end of this year, EOP’s LinkedIn channel is featuring a Framework Friday tip that highlights how the EOP Framework and accompanying guides make less work of curricular change. Posts will also feature inspiring engineers, students, and educators in our community of EOP Signatories. Click here for a Framework Friday message from EOP Signatory Abasiafak Udosen, a mechanical engineer and doctoral researcher at Purdue University, about his commitment to sustainability in engineering.
Don’t Forget
For more real-time updates, follow Engineering for One Planet on LinkedIn.
