The Multidisciplinary Experience

Perspectives on Grand Challenges for Engineering

Exploring the Four Grand Challenges Themes
Laying the Foundation for a Holistic Engineering and College Experience
First Experience Conducting Research and Making Posters

The Grand Challenges for Engineering (FSE 150) class has fulfilled the first interdisciplinary competency on the road to becoming an NAE’s Grand Challenges Scholar. FSE 150 has introduced to me the NAE’s grand challenges in sustainability, security, health, and joy of living. Within these overarching themes, there are specific challenges that the NAE has identified as most crucial for the modern era that we all live in. I have chosen the grand challenges theme of sustainability, in particular developing methods for carbon sequestration. I have identified that I am interested in utilizing microorganisms for the sustainable production of valuable biofuels and biochemicals. This was the focus of my Grand Challenges theme paper for FSE 150. I had the opportunity to learn about the research being conducted in the field of biochemical production at ASU. I also had the opportunity to talk to Dr. David Nielsen, a professor of chemical engineering who works at the Biodesign Institute. After this talk, I joined Dr. Nielsen’s laboratory which focuses on synthetic biology techniques for sustainable chemical production.

When exploring the theme of sustainability in FSE 150, science and engineering were the only two facets we explored. One of the activities that we did was analyzing the company PlayPump, which utilized a merry-go-round in a playground to draw water from the ground in Africa. Even though the idea was good, the company didn’t do enough outreach before installing their product in Africa. In the end, the PlayPump failed because of severe mechanical flaws, and because the children lost interest in playing on the merry-go-round. This activity showed me that all engineering may not be useful engineering and that an engineer should utilize the power of human-centered design.

Throughout the entire course, we had guest faculty members talk about sustainability, security, health, and joy of living. These professors highlighted their research at ASU and shed light on engineering challenges that I’d never realized the importance of until this class. Some highlights were Dr. Rakibul Hasan’s talk on privacy in the digital era and Dr. Bruce Rittman’s talk on the future of energy and climate sustainability. Even though security is not my chosen theme, I found Dr. Hasan’s talk to be very informative and applicable to my daily life as an internet user. I want privacy and to not have my data sold or misused. Dr. Rittman talked about different energy sources in the modern world, and how they impact the economy and the environment. Until this talk, I didn’t realize how much the economy influences energy feedstocks.

Overall, FSE 150 has given me an interdisciplinary understanding of engineering. The four overarching grand challenges of engineering encompass some of the most complex issues we face in the modern world. FSE 150 has allowed us to collaborate with our peers on a future solutions project throughout the course. This project allowed me to address a grand challenge, do research, explore the economics and feasibility of the solution, and then work with my group to engineer the solution. I found this class to be very valuable for my future as an engineer, but also a globally minded citizen. I learned more about engineering through this course and have solidified my interest in sustainability. This experience will continue in my career, my research, and all the engineering courses I take in the future.

Eco-Representatives

Peer-to-Peer Sustainability Program
Engage with Campus Students/Staff/Residents on Sustainability Practices
Multidisciplinary Projects on Sustainability in the Local Community

The Eco-Representatives program is a peer-to-peer program focused on improving sustainability within the ASU campus and residential dorms. It takes an interdisciplinary approach to sustainability that incorporates engineering, business, marketing, service, and community outreach. Eco-reps regularly plan, engage, and contribute to ASU-wide sustainability events, including collaborations with the Next Generation Service Corps, ASU's zero waste department, and unique organizations like the International Genetically Engineered Machine team at ASU. Through eco-reps, I have implemented "cool foods Fridays" at the dining halls in Barrett and Tooker. Cool foods are low in carbon emissions and utilize fair trade practices. We have partnered with Zero Waste to implement strategies to reduce office waste i.e. Keurig Cups from ASU offices. We have made composting food leftovers more accessible to students in the residence halls. We have attended ASU sustainability showcases to learn how ASU is converting its gas-powered maintenance trucks into electric trucks. We have also helped students understand the importance of public transportation in ASU by creating guides for the Tempe Streetcar and Flash and Orbit buses. A key part of eco-reps is tabling and engaging with the community, which we have done nearly every week of the year. All eco-reps must participate at least 5 hours in the first semester and 2-5 in the second semester and must host events that engage with their respective residence hall. This interdisciplinary experience was very valuable since it allowed me to understand and explore the community side of sustainability. As an engineer who wants to help the community, having an interdisciplinary understanding of sustainability is crucial to engineering solutions that benefit society. Eco-reps is one of these interdisciplinary experiences.

Eco-reps is a pure sustainability initiative-based program at ASU. Our goal is to increase sustainable activities in the residence halls and on campus. In the grand challenge of sustainability, there are many levels of focus: personal, community, city, state, country, and world. All sustainability initiatives start a the personal and community level. As part of Eco-reps, we focused on engineering solutions to increase personal sustainability, for example, a place for food waste from residence halls to be converted into compost. We also focused on the community aspects of sustainability, whether that's collecting data on Starbucks’ reuse-a-cup program, or learning how ASU is converting their utility trucks that are gas-powered into electric vehicles. This sustainability program has won an award for being impactful on campus sustainability and plays a huge role in ASU’s, Tempe’s, and Arizona’s goals to be more sustainable. Programs like eco-reps are crucial to engineer solutions to the grand challenge of sustainability, and they use interdisciplinary approaches to personal and community-level sustainability efforts.

Eco-Reps has been one of my favorite experiences during college, and was extremely beneficial as a multidisciplinary experience in GCSP. The culmination of engineering, social, business, etc is hard to do alone in an engineering degree, thus the incredible value that this experience has on my grand challenges and personal journeys. ASU has made a mini documentary for Eco Reps, which can be viewed here: The Arizona State University Eco Reps Program. Thank you to Paige Strickland, the program manager, and Selena Morse for their incredible dedication to sustainability and their encouragement for me to join the program as well as learn and grow with all the Eco-Reps.

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