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Dr. Doing
Dr. Vanek
CEE 402 - Engineers for a Sustainable World

Welcome to CEE 492 - Engineers for a Sustainable World

Instructors:  Dr. Park Doing and Dr. Francis Vanek

3 credits

Counts as a field approved elective or approved elective (ask your advisor)

Counts towards a minor in Engineering Management

Find out more about participating in an Engineers for a Sustainable World project for more than one semester

 

In this course, students undertake engineering-based group service projects in cooperation with partner community organizations. The projects offer real-life engineering research and design experience, from problem formulation through implementation. They may be local or international, may relate to any kind of engineering, and may last one or more semesters. Students work on interdisciplinary teams with a project supervisor (i.e., faculty or practicing engineer) and a representative from the partner community organization. Projects are selected based on academic content, potential significance to the partner community, commitment of the partner community organization, and student safety.

 

Students also examine the politics of technology, the relationship between engineering and international development, and ethics in engineering practice. This includes the ways that engineering can be used positively and negatively in development, and the ways that economic, social, cultural, political, and other contextual considerations are implicated in engineering design. Students are challenged to think critically about how engineering can be done most effectively to support development goals, and how engineering can also possibly weaken development efforts if it is done poorly. These issues are explored through discussions of the relevant scholarly theory and through their manifestation in the course projects. The course is coordinated with the Cornell Chapter of Engineers for a Sustainable World, an officially recognized student organization.

Course Objectives

This course is intended to promote civic responsibility and to help students improve skills the following areas:

    1. Engineering research and design
    2. Technical material in topic area associated with particular project
    3. Organization
    4. Working in diverse, interdisciplinary teams
    5. Resourcefulness
    6. Project management
    7. Oral and written communication
    8. Understanding of user needs
    9. Awareness of local and international communities
    10. Ethical conduct
    11. Understanding of how engineering can be applied to community service

    Course Meetings for Fall 2005

    Lectures       Tuesday and Thursday 10:10am-11:00am   (Hollister 352)

    Lab                Monday 7:30pm-9:25pm (Hollister 352)

    CEE 309-02 Topics in Engineering:Engineers for a Sustainable World

    CEE 492 can only be taken once. Students who have already taken CEE 492 and wish to continue working on a project may sign up for course credit through Special Topics: Engineers for a Sustainable World (CEE 309, Section 02). There are no lectures or official assignments involved in this course. It is run like an independent study supervised by your project supervisor. Students may sign up for 1 to 4 credits. Students signed up for Special Topics are expected to coordinate with the rest of their project team, some of whom will be enrolled in CEE 492 during the fall semester.