Development of Master’s Programs in Sustainable Engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology

During the 2006-2007 academic year, a team of faculty from the Kate Gleason College of Engineering developed a proposal for a pair of Master’s programs (a Master of Science program and a Master of Engineering proposal) in the field of Sustainable Engineering. Sustainable Engineering has been described as “engineering for human development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” [3]. Both programs are multidisciplinary in nature and include coursework from the disciplines of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering Technology, and Public Policy. The programs offer students the flexibility to develop ‘tracks’ in their program of study which would permit deeper immersion in domains such as renewable energy systems, systems modeling and analysis, product design, etc. Student interest in the programs has been very favorable. This paper describes the context at RIT from which the idea for these programs arose, the program development process that was followed, and the structure of the two programs.