Teaching and Learning “Green Engineering” in a Multidisciplinary Seminar

This paper presents the recent experience of teaching and learning “Green Engineering” in a multidisciplinary seminar. The instructors who organized the seminar included an environmental engineer and a mechanical/manufacturing engineer. The student population included both graduate and undergraduate students majoring in civil/environmental, mechanical, manufacturing and aerospace engineering as well as several biology majors. The course was organized as a semester long seminar with many guest speakers from industry, government, academia and law firms. In addition to assigned reading and literature searches/reviews, the main learning experiences were provided by two large team projects. The first multidisciplinary team project was a “game” that required the students to develop a facility to provide a variety of products that utilized materials that are toxic, hazardous and radioactive. The students were assigned various roles in the company including bidding, manufacturing, environmental and purchasing responsibilities. The teams were judged on both the financial and environmental success of their company. The second multidisciplinary major team project focused on the creation of a green product including, the design and manufacturing processes, as well as the business plan. The student interest in this project was enhanced by a competition with cash prizes that was financed and judged by WPI’s Entrepreneurship program’s faculty and staff.