Engineers Without Borders — Curriculum Change Project
Leadership & Impact · Sustainability · 2022–2023
As part of Engineers Without Borders, I led a curriculum change project focused on incorporating sustainability into the Engineering Strategies and Practice course at the University of Toronto. The goal was to identify practical ways to integrate sustainability topics into an existing core course without disrupting its structure.
- Role: Project lead, later consultant
- Focus: sustainability integration in engineering curriculum
- Work: research, surveys, report writing, faculty discussions
- Impact: produced implementation-ready recommendations for course changes
Project context
The Engineering Strategies and Practice course is one of the first design courses engineering students take at UofT. Our goal was to explore how sustainability concepts could be introduced in a way that felt natural within the course rather than as an added requirement.
After stepping in as project lead, I narrowed the scope to focus on changes that could realistically be implemented within the existing curriculum. This meant balancing student feedback, faculty constraints, and the overall goals of the course.
Research and collaboration
I recruited and onboarded a new team, then led research into how other universities integrate sustainability into engineering education. We also partnered with the Sustainability Engineering Association to run a survey across the engineering student body to understand what topics students felt were missing from the course.
The survey results helped us identify areas where sustainability could be introduced without increasing workload, such as design criteria, material selection, and lifecycle considerations.
Outcome
We compiled the research, survey results, and proposed changes into a detailed report outlining several ways sustainability could be incorporated into the course. I met with faculty members to discuss the recommendations and how they could fit within the existing course structure.
After stepping down from the lead role, I continued to support the project as a consultant while the team moved toward implementation, helping refine recommendations and provide context for earlier work.
What I learned
This project gave me experience working on problems that involve people, institutions, and constraints rather than purely technical systems. I learned how to gather feedback, communicate with stakeholders, and turn broad ideas into concrete proposals that others could actually use.
It also strengthened my interest in work that sits between engineering, policy, and implementation, where progress depends as much on communication and alignment as it does on technical skill.