Teaching Students About Climate Change
The evidence of climate change is here. Tomorrow’s engineers will be the solution.
Climate Change Is Here.
Dr. Berry is preparing his students to be
part of the solution.
“I fundamentally believe that we, as engaged and passionate engineering educators, have an innate commitment to society and to the profession, to ensure that our students have a core understanding of the threats to the survival of humankind. And, of most importance, understand their personal and professional responsibility to ‘get the engineering right’ to ensure our future.”
Climate Change:
Preparing Tomrrow’s Engineers to Provide a Solution
Every year, millions of Americans lose power frequently and for long durations due to snowstorms, hurricanes, and wildfires. Scientists around the globe believe an increased occurrence of severe weather events is related to climate change - climate change that is a direct result of our 21st-century way of life.
What can we do about this?
Dr. Berry is preparing his students to drive engineering solutions for global warming and climate change issues in the future.
One of his class assignments is to have teams of students write an essay about climate change issues. Several of these essays are presented here.
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1.) Climate Change and Global Warming
2.) An Engineer’s Responsibility: Preparing for Global Warming and Climate Change
3.) The Role of Engineers in the Fight Against a Changing Climate
4.) The Responsibility of Engineers in Guiding Climate Change Initiatives
5.) Engineering for a Global Change
6.) Global Warming’s Effects: An Engineer’s Responsibility
7.) Effects of Climate Change and the Responsibility of the Engineer
8.) Climate Change and Global Warming: Engineering’s Next Major Hurdle
9.) Engineering a Sustainable Future: The Responsibility of Engineers in Fighting Climate Change
10.) An Emerging Crisis: Climate Change and Global Warming
11.) An Engineers Role in Fighting Climate Change and Global Warming
12.) Climate Change, Global Warming, and the Social Responsibility of Engineers
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1.) An Essay on the Climate Crisis and Potential Mitigating Techniques
2.) A Glance of the Future with Global Warming and Climate Change
3.) Climate Change and Global Warming, Threats and Solution
4.) Climate change and Global Warming
5.) Climate Change and Mitigation Technologies to Save Mankind
8.) Climate Issues The World is Facing Today and Technological Solutions
9.) The Threat of Climate Change and Mitigation Technologies
Quotes from Students on Climate Change
Climate Change Impact On Life
“The human population is now trying to combat the effects of climate change that occurred because of our ecological footprint on this planet. Luckily, scientists and engineers are coming up with more and more ways to combat climate change.”
Read the full essay here.
Climate Change & Engineering Humanity’s Survival
“From a poverty standpoint, climate change will slow down the economic growth throughout the globe, making even harder the reduction of poverty and creating new poverty zones, concentrated mainly in urban areas and emerging famine zones.
Without additional mitigation efforts to the ones existing nowadays, global warming will result in a high risk of severe, widespread, and irreversible impacts throughout the globe by the end of the twenty-first century.”
Read the full essay here.
The Effects of Global Warming on Earth
“The most extreme and obvious examples of these changes are demonstrated during periods of severe weather. Hurricanes gain strength due to warmer sea temperatures and climate change has seen an increase in these surface temperatures. That means the storms we are seeing now have a significantly higher chance of being more intense, longer-lasting, and more damaging.”
Read the full essay here.
Global Warming and Climate Change
“A once natural greenhouse effect that sustained life on Earth ultimately is leading towards the destruction of our planet. Human activities from the past and present have altered this phenomenon and increased the rate of greenhouse gas emission production as a result of increased energy needs. Continued lack of interest for this phenomenon and the effects of it will result in total climate change.”
Read the full essay here.
Engineering for a Global Change
“It is the responsibility of today’s generation to produce solutions to these issues before it becomes irreversible. These issues could be the difference in the longevity and continuation of prosperity for mankind and future generations that follow behind us.
Read the full essay here.
Climate Change Design Project
Students in Dr. Berry’s Spring 2023 Fluids class were tasked with designing a product or engineering solution to countereffect climate change. Brenden Londeau, Annie Liang, and Matthew McMahon completed an impressive design process for a high-pressure vessel for hydrogen gas. Hydrogen is a popular alternative energy fuel source that must be stored in high-pressure vessels for certain applications. This team’s work highlights the considerations that must be made when storing hydrogen for alternative energy applications.
DTE Alternative Energy Summer Camp
In addition to teaching his collegiate engineering students, Dr. Berry is an organizer and instructor for the DTE Alternative/Sustainable Energy Summer Camp. This immersive experience exposes middle and high school students to our current power infrastructure through field trips to local Michigan Power generation facilities (Solar, Wind, Biofuel, Hydrogen Fuel). Students also learn about solar, wind, fuel cells, battery/energy storage, and energy through hands-on learning sessions taught by faculty, like Dr. Berry.
In this video, 6th-grade students are giving a presentation to their parents about all of the alternative energy information they learned during camp.
Learn More About Climate Change