Engineering and Geoscience Essays

These essays were submitted by faculty in preparation for the Engineering, Sustainability, and the Geosciences workshop in March 2013. Participants were asked to share their approaches to integrating engineering and geoscience, why they think this approach is valuable in preparing students for the workforce, and their ideas for building upon this base to strengthen the integration of geoscience and engineering.


Common Ground Between Applied Geology and Engineering
Horacio Ferriz, California State University-Stanislaus
An academic essay page exploring the intersection of applied geology and engineering through geological engineering subdisciplines, case studies, and pedagogical strategies for developing problem-solving skills in geology students. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Teaching life cycle assessment (LCA) modeling through project based learning.
James Stone, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
Essay page from the InTeGrate project discussing a graduate-level life cycle assessment (LCA) modeling course taught through project-based learning, emphasizing interdisciplinary teamwork, sustainable engineering education, and the use of LCA software tools like GREET and OpenLCA. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

The Built Environment: A Common Ground for Geoscience and Engineering
John Duggan, Wentworth Institute of Technology
This webpage is an educational essay discussing the integration of geoscience and engineering in addressing sustainability challenges within the built environment, emphasizing interdisciplinary teaching approaches, resource life cycles, and sustainable design practices. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Uncertainty and Risk: Bringing the Geosciences into the Civil Engineering Classroom
Gretchen Miller, Wake Technical Community College
Gretchen Miller, Civil Engineering, Texas A & M University I suspect that certain concepts in my groundwater course irritate my students. That a rock labeled "sandstone" could have a hydraulic ...

Teaching from multiple perspectives
Dan Morgan, Vanderbilt University
Daniel Jones Morgan, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Vanderbilt University Teaching from multiple perspectives "Like most North Americans of his generation, Hal tends to know way less about why he feels ...

A few thoughts on the integration of engineering and geoscience
Vince Cronin, Baylor University
Vincent S. Cronin, Geology, Baylor University I am a geologist rather than an engineer, so my comments should be read with this perspective in mind. The first place to look for opportunities to integrate ...

Integrating Engineering and Geoscience Through Technical Writing
Thalia Anagnos, San Jose State University
This webpage is an educational essay detailing an interdisciplinary engineering technical writing course at San Jose State University that integrates geoscience and sustainability, using real-world environmental issues, guest experts, and project-based learning to develop students' communication skills and contextual understanding of engineering practice. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

The Challenge and Reward of Teaching Geological Engineering on the Border
Diane Doser, University of Texas at El Paso
A personal essay page detailing the pedagogical challenges and rewards of teaching geological engineering to civil engineering students at the U.S.-Mexico border, emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration, real-world project application, and curriculum design for sustainability. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Integrating Engineering Concepts to Introductory Geoscience Courses
Joel Aquino, University of North Georgia / Hall County Schools
This webpage is an essay within the InTeGrate project's workshop collection that details a pedagogical approach to integrating engineering concepts into introductory geoscience courses through process-oriented, inquiry-based labs informed by the author's mineral industry experience, emphasizing real-world applications, sustainability, and interdisciplinary learning for non-STEM majors. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Techniques to Teach Sustainability in Multi-Disciplinary Classrooms Comprised of Engineers, Geoscientists, and other Disciplines
Steven Burian, University of Utah
This webpage is an academic essay discussing pedagogical techniques for teaching sustainability in interdisciplinary classrooms, focusing on integrating engineering, geoscience, and other disciplines through differential teaching and learning, co-teaching, project-based learning, communication strategies, and linked-learning activities. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

It's a leucocratic gneiss. So what?
Paul Santi, Colorado School of Mines
Essay page from the InTeGrate project discussing the integration of engineering and geoscience education through applied, problem-based learning, emphasizing the shift from descriptive geology to practical engineering geology and geological engineering. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Reinventing the Introductory Geology Course for Engineering and Other Quantitatively-able Students
Laurel Goodell, Princeton University
Laurel Goodell, Geosciences, Princeton University Our fairly traditional GEO203: Physical Geology had for years served as entry into the department. However, enrollment in the course had been steadily declining; ...

Engineering Hydrology with a Real-World Perspective
Anne Ronan, New York University
Anne Dudek Ronan, Civil and Urban Engineering, Polytechnic Institute of NYU I regularly integrate engineering and geoscience in my junior-level Water Resources Engineering course which is required for all civil ...

Integration of Geoscience into Geothermal Bore Field Design
Kevin Amende, Montana State University-Bozeman
Kevin Amende, P.E., Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, Montana State University-BozemanToday's technological advancements play an important role in the way our society gathers and disseminates ...

Teaching Engineering Geology in a Geoscience Department
Robert Mitchell, Western Washington University
Robert Mitchell, Geology, Western Washington University I'm pleased to have this opportunity to share specific examples of how I integrate engineering and geoscience in an engineering geology course I teach ...

Finding Interdisciplinary Common Ground for Sustainability
Brenda Bowen, University of Utah
Brenda Bowen, Geology and Geophysics & Global Change and Sustainability Center, University of UtahThe grand challenges facing society today-- climate change, depleting natural resources, environmental ...

Finding a Global View at the Intersection of Geology and Engineering
LeAnne Teruya, San Jose State University
LeAnne Teruya, Geology, San Jose State University On January 12, 2010, Haiti was struck by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that caused massive destruction and an astounding loss of 316,000 lives. Little more than a ...

Materials and the Environment
Mark Koopman, University of Utah
Mark Koopman, Metallurgy, University of Utah I must confess at the outset that these are not the words of an experienced and wizened professor of engineering and the geosciences, but rather the observations of an ...

Navigating an Ersatz Dichotomy (Science vs Engineering)
Freddi-Jo Bruschke, California State University-Fullerton
This webpage is an academic essay discussing the false dichotomy between science and engineering in geoscience education, advocating for interdisciplinary integration through shared concepts like systems thinking, plate tectonics, and hydrology, with practical teaching strategies and examples for bridging cultural and curricular divides. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Embracing the "Mess" in Environmental Systems
Kyle Monahan, Clarkson University
This educational essay page advocates for interdisciplinary teaching in environmental systems, emphasizing real data analysis, schema formation, student collaboration, and sustainability integration to enhance geoscience and engineering education. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.


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