2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Establishing a capstone project methodology for a graduate-level program is always challenging. It is more so when the program is new and in a non-traditional subject area, namely, Sustainability Management. Study of sustainable development and its management is relative a new subject area at the graduate level.
The program objective is to train future leaders of corporations, government agencies, non-profits etc., who will strive to demonstrate a balance among the three elements of sustainability, namely, Environment, Economics and Equity/Social Justice (generally referred to as 3 Es). Implementation of sustainability projects bring in elements of management and engineering.
Sustainability Management graduate level capstone projects bring to fruition all the knowledge and skills from the coursework. The project is key to students’ academic success and for the future leaders’ implementation of sustainability principles in their real-world workplace. Students in this program come from a variety of educational background – science, engineering, management, economics, liberal arts, etc. The methodology for the capstone projects is not the only key to the success of their projects but should be broad enough to reflect real-world practical implementation process.
This paper will demonstrate a pragmatic capstone methodology and tools developed for the program that focuses on both technical and management aspects of sustainability. It includes graduate research attributes such as sustainability modelling, project and implementation process flow, etc. In addition, management attributes with tools such as sustainable SWOT and risk analyses, Best Management Practices, etc., are also part of the methodology. Engineering calculations for emissions, water conservation, energy savings, etc., are also done depending on the nature of the project. The ultimate goal of the capstone project is to help demonstrate the viability of the three sustainability principles (3 Es) and to quantify the results. Projects are executed in teams and are evaluated with rubrics for technical content, implementation analysis and writing quality. Majority of the projects are industry-sponsored projects. This gives the students the real world experience by solving real-world problems.
The capstone is executed in two phases. In the first phase, a team’s output is a project proposal document with clear problem definition, objectives, some initial research and literature survey, identifying issues and risks (high level), stakeholders and tools to quantify the results. Project implementation is the second phase of the capstone with a completed project document/report and a formal presentation to the stakeholders (school and sponsors). During the first phase of the project, a sponsor letter is obtained from a company executive.
This paper will present the full methodology with examples of successfully completed capstone projects with metrics. Students’ feedback will also be discussed along with further potential enhancements to the methodology.