Undergraduate

A group of people at a table looking at their computers

EARTH will partner with industry to pursue an integrated approach to developing, piloting, and disseminating courses, broader curricula, and capstone projects. EARTH’s new technologies will create a need for updated curricula. In consultation with EARTH’s research teams and industry members, EARTH will develop, pilot, and disseminate materials for the EARTH Refrigerant Systems program—a suite of competency-based undergraduate and graduate courses and seminars (team-taught by faculty across all institutions) that incorporate elements from EARTH’s three technical thrusts. EARTH will also roll out course materials through pedagogy papers and presentations at academic and professional conferences, (e.g., American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), American Chemical Society (ACS), American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Airconditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), and Institute for Intergovernmental Research).

Member companies will be encouraged to provide, in collaboration with academic partners, experiential learning opportunities through internships and senior capstone projects that provide students both experience and research credits. 

EARTH will leverage an existing undergraduate Engineering-MBA program to pilot an interdisciplinary HVACR business development initiative. With guidance from the Kansas Small Business Development Center, students will complete a capstone in which they act as professional consultants to meet with clients, scope projects, research solutions, and present findings to business owners. Working with industry partners, EARTH will facilitate innovative capstone projects focused on HVACR-specific business development throughout the HVACR supply chain. Based on this KU pilot, similar programs will be developed in EARTH’s later years that leverage UM’s QUEST and ND’s ESTEEM programs. 

Technician to Engineer Pathway. The KU School of Engineering will develop a new bachelor’s degree in applied technology with a specialization in HVACR engineering and/or a HVACR Engineering Minor. This program will create a promotion path within companies for skilled technicians using a competency-based approach in which HVACR-industry technical work experience will count toward the bachelor’s degree. The curriculum will be developed in consultation with industry to include a combination of interdisciplinary technical electives and other topics, such as technical writing and communication, safety, ethics, leadership, and business/economic decision making. EARTH member companies and the broader HVACR community will be encouraged to both nominate and degree-sponsor employees from underrepresented groups as an effective means of growing the technical workforce. Employees benefit by gaining a bachelor’s degree related to their profession, and engineering students gain opportunities to interact with individuals from industry in a unique and valuable peer-mentoring experience. The Technician to Engineer Pathway provides an additional avenue to attract diverse populations into technician careers. EARTH will add a full time teaching professor of practice with HVACR-industry experience to complement our team’s expertise.