Department of Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment

Brian W. Raichle, Chair

The Department of Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment has a reputation for teaching, research and development, and community service in the areas of green building practices, renewable energy, sustainability, and design for the human environment. The Department’s mission is to foster a strong and vibrant culture of inquiry, discovery, and innovation that integrates theory with application, problem seeking with problem solving, local issues with global perspectives, and technological progress with environmental stewardship. This mission is accomplished by 1) providing exemplary teaching that inspires and challenges students through experiential learning, synergistic curricula, and community engagement; 2) conducting and disseminating scholarly work that focuses on sustainable solutions to important challenges in the design, creation, and management of technological systems; and 3) serving as a resource and a catalyst for local and global communities through projects, partnerships, and outreach.

The Department’s diverse faculty includes registered professionals, such as engineers, architects, and general contractors with many years of design and construction experience, as well as recognized scholars from a wide range of sustainability fields, the sciences and building performance.

The Department of Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment offers two undergraduate degrees: the B.S. in Sustainable Technology, and the B.S. in Building Sciences.

The Sustainable Technology program practices an approach to technological development that is characterized by creative and sound engineering, which recognizes the social, environmental, political, economic, and technical aspects of a proposed technological solution to a problem facing a society. Generally, sustainable technologies are ecologically and socially benign, affordable, and often powered by renewable energy. The field is interdisciplinary and draws from the physical and social sciences as well as from engineering, architecture, and technology. Areas of emphasis include energy conversion systems, electric vehicles, waste and water management, community and shelter design, and technology assessment.

Students in the Building Science program receive a very comprehensive and diverse educational
experience, which prepares graduates for a variety of careers within the residential, commercial, industrial, performance, and design fields of the building industry. The program has three concentration areas, Construction Management, Architectural Technology & Design, and Sustainable Building Systems. Coursework emphasizes the importance of energy efficiency, sustainable design, construction processes and innovative materials. Applied learning techniques and the most current computer software, such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), is applied to building design, estimating, engineering and scheduling.

Honors Program in Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment

The Department of Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment offers a 9 semester hour honors program composed of 6 semester hours of Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment honors courses (or honors contracts or graduate courses), 1 semester hour of TEC 4509 : Honors Thesis Preparation, and 2 semester hours of TEC 4510 : Senior Honors Thesis. To graduate with “Honors in Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment,” a student must be a Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment major, maintain an overall GPA of 3.45, maintain an overall Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment GPA of 3.45, and earn a grade of no less than B (3.0) in all honors designated courses.

Programs

Bachelor of Science

Minor

Courses

Technology