Title: Student Perceptions and the Need for Life Cycle Assessment in Engineering Education
Advisor(s)
Dr. Logan, l-logan@onu.edu
Confirmation
1
Document Type
Poster
Location
ONU McIntosh Center; Activities Room
Start Date
11-4-2025 10:00 AM
End Date
11-4-2025 10:50 AM
Abstract
A module on engineering life cycle assessment (LCA) was developed and tested in a first-year engineering course at Ohio Northern University to teach students about sustainability and its application in engineering practices. Currently, there are gaps in engineering education, particularly in quantifying and justifying design decisions related to resource use and environmental impact. To explore these gaps, a comprehensive literature review was conducted on LCA in both engineering and science education worldwide. The analysis of more than sixty programs revealed the importance of incorporating the triple bottom line (people, planet, and profit) into the thinking when making design decisions. To improve engineering education at ONU, a module was created for integration into first-year engineering courses. The module relates the triple bottom line with LCA as a quantifiable metric in evaluating aspects of the sustainability of projects and associated prototypes. Included in the module are real world examples of LCAs used as a metric to an aspect of the triple bottom line. An anonymous survey was administered to assess students’ perceptions on sustainability and LCA pre- and post-module. Overall, survey results showed students’ knowledge of engineering’s quantifiable environmental impacts improved after module implementation. Future work includes further integration of LCA within the triple bottom line module, further assessment of student outcomes, and feedback after module implementation.
Recommended Citation
Budnik, Evan J.; Fisher, Madeline; Schubert, Blake; and Logan, Lauren H., "Title: Student Perceptions and the Need for Life Cycle Assessment in Engineering Education" (2025). ONU Student Research Colloquium. 5.
https://digitalcommons.onu.edu/student_research_colloquium/2025/Posters/5
Restricted
Available to ONU community via local IP address and ONU login.
Title: Student Perceptions and the Need for Life Cycle Assessment in Engineering Education
ONU McIntosh Center; Activities Room
A module on engineering life cycle assessment (LCA) was developed and tested in a first-year engineering course at Ohio Northern University to teach students about sustainability and its application in engineering practices. Currently, there are gaps in engineering education, particularly in quantifying and justifying design decisions related to resource use and environmental impact. To explore these gaps, a comprehensive literature review was conducted on LCA in both engineering and science education worldwide. The analysis of more than sixty programs revealed the importance of incorporating the triple bottom line (people, planet, and profit) into the thinking when making design decisions. To improve engineering education at ONU, a module was created for integration into first-year engineering courses. The module relates the triple bottom line with LCA as a quantifiable metric in evaluating aspects of the sustainability of projects and associated prototypes. Included in the module are real world examples of LCAs used as a metric to an aspect of the triple bottom line. An anonymous survey was administered to assess students’ perceptions on sustainability and LCA pre- and post-module. Overall, survey results showed students’ knowledge of engineering’s quantifiable environmental impacts improved after module implementation. Future work includes further integration of LCA within the triple bottom line module, further assessment of student outcomes, and feedback after module implementation.