Search for: All records

Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) are important elements of a sustainability mindset. As part of an initiative to develop a new program in Sustainability Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, and to evaluate the growth of a sustainability mindset among participants, we performed a qualitative analysis of results from a cohort of first year students (5 men, 2 women) who completed a 1-credit JEDI seminar as part of their enrollment in the program. Based on coding student essays, we identified three themes that students expressed that indicate their development of understanding JEDI principles: (a) Diversity and Inclusion: Integration of Diverse Perspectives; (b) Equity, Justice, and Accessibility; and (c) Community-Centric Approach, although the evidence also suggests that not all students fluently apply these ideas in a problem-solving context. Overall, the results suggest that the 1-credit seminar is effective to build essential literacy of JEDI, which will be instrumental in future work in sustainability engineering and design.