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Purpose
This paper aims to explore the differences in first-year and senior engineering students' engineering agency beliefs and career goals related to sustainable development. The authors also sought to understand how topics related to sustainable development in engineering courses affect senior engineering students' goals to address these issues in their careers. This work provides evidence of how students' agency beliefs may be shaped by higher education, which is essential to workforce development.


Design/methodology/approach
Findings stem from two national surveys of engineering first-year (Sustainability and Gender in Engineering, n = 7,709) and senior students (Student Survey about Career Goals, College Experiences, n = 4,605). The authors compared both groups using pairwise testing by class standing.


Findings
The results indicate that undergraduate studies tend to reinforce students' engineering agency beliefs to improve their quality of life and preserve the environment. Significantly more senior students selected career goals to address environmental issues compared to first-year students. In general, students undervalue their roles as engineers in addressing issues related to social inequities. Those topics are rarely addressed in engineering courses. Findings from this work suggest discussing sustainability in courses positively impact setting career goals to address such challenges.


Research limitations/implications
The study compares results from two distinct surveys, conveyed at different periods. Nonetheless, the sample size and national spread of respondents across US colleges and universities are robust to offer relevant insights on sustainable development in engineering education.


Practical implications
Adapting engineering curriculum by ensuring that engineering students are prepared to confront global problems related to sustainable development in their careers will have a positive societal impact.


Social implications
This study highlights shortcomings of engineering education in promoting social and economic sustainability as related to the engineering field. Educational programs would benefit from emphasizing the interconnectedness of environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable development. This approach could increase diversity in engineering education and the industry, and by ripple effect, benefit the communities and local governance.


Originality/value
This work is a first step toward understanding how undergraduate experiences impact students' engineering agency beliefs and career goals related to sustainability. It explores potential factors that could increase students' engineering agency and goals to make a change through engineering.

Community input matters in long-term decisions related to climate change, including the development of public infrastructure. In order to assess the effect of different ways of informing the public about infrastructure projects, a sample of people in the United States ( n = 630) was provided with a case study concerning the redevelopment of the San Diego Airport. Participants received the same written information about the projected future condition of the airport. In addition, participants received images either portraying current conditions or portraying conditions in 2100 based on NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) sea-level rise data. Participants were asked to choose 7 out of 21 design options to implement in the redevelopment project. The framework used for the design options stemmed from the Envision rating system. We analyzed the participants selection of the credits using generalized linear mixed models. Those that received the images portraying the future were significantly more likely to select design options that would reduce the risk of climate change and flooding. Images portraying sea-level rise had different effects depending on participant demographics. Such images increased the selection of design elements related to the climate and risk for participants identifying as female or as Democrat. For participants identifying as male or as Republican, the same images increased their selection of design elements to enhance community public space. The results demonstrate the positive effects of portraying the future in terms of encouraging focus on long-term sustainable design decisions for infrastructure systems. ; Published version