(58d) Teaching Of “Sustainability, Technology, And Society” At Northwestern University

Our experience in offering a senior/graduate level elective at Northwestern University, entitled ?Sustainability, Technology, and Society? will be presented. The course was offered as a chemical engineering course, but its contents were intended for advanced science and engineering students, and there was the assumption that the students have been exposed to general and organic chemistry. The objective of the course is to discuss the global impact of natural resource utilization and recovery, and the role of science, technology, policy, and business strategies in enhancing sustainability. Because of the advanced science and engineering background of the students, many technical topics can be addressed at a rather sophisticated level.

The course covers topics ranging from effect of human activities on the environment, ranging from concept and some detailed applications of life cycle assessment and life cycle cost analysis of processes, products, and policies, to examples of technology to enhance sustainability, and examples of companies formulating business strategy based on sustainability. Because of the recent attention received, energy related topics, including global warming, form one of the major themes. Other themes are derived from chemically related activities. Other aspects of the course include: (1) emphasis on current events, (2) case studies of companies, and (3) project based student activities.