SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING PROGRAM: MEETING ALL NEEDS WITHIN MEANS OF THE PLANET

Across engineering education in Canada and the world, there is an increased recognition of the importance of sustainability mindsets, particularly since the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015. Traditionally, sustainability within engineering has focused on the technical issues and taken a very end-of-the-line approach, for example looking at how to technically manage and reduce pollution (Tejedor et al., 2019). There is a growing recognition of the need to transition to a more holistic systems approach to more effectively address sustainability by considering the “complex, systemic interconnections and cause and effect relationships” (Sandri, 2013). This is also reflected within the CDIO Syllabus 3.0 section 4 which highlights the importance of systems engineering within societal and environmental contexts. At the University of Calgary, we developed a program in sustainable systems engineering from the ground up, where we intentionally imbedded a systems approach and a regenerative design mindset from the onset. In this paper, we provide an overview of the frameworks we have used to guide our program development. For example, the engineering for one planet framework (EOP, 2020) aims to “minimize negative impacts, strive to achieve at least net neutral outcomes, and, ideally, are restorative” (p.9). If we are to be truly transdisciplinary in our approach to solving complex challenges, we need to move from a human-centered to a life-centered approach. Overall, we hope to foster mindsets to develop engineering students who are able to fundamentally shift the discourse on sustainability engineering within industry, and critically reflect on the role of engineering itself. As engineers our responsibility is not only to society and culture, but also to nature and the planet. This program aims to provide students with the necessary skillsets to foster real change across engineering industries to better support the interrelated elements of our society and planet.