A Web Enabled Tool for Green Engineering Education

1 Vinod Lohani, Assistant Professor, Department of Engineering Fundamentals, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, [email protected] 2 Binaya Regmi, Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, [email protected] 3 Randy Dymond, Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, [email protected] 4 David Kibler, Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, [email protected] Abstract  The paper discusses potential of a prototype Problem Solving Environment (PSE) to explore environmental consequences of land development activities in a classroom setting. A PSE is a computer system that provides web-enabled access to scientific models. Our PSE encapsulates models for evaluating hydrologic, economic, and fish health response to watershed development activities. The study was undertaken as a part of a multidisciplinary research project, supported by USEPA during 1997-2001, at Virginia Tech, USA. The test watershed for this prototype application is the Back Creek watershed (57 sq. miles) in southwest Virginia, USA. The paper presents examples of how the PSE software can be useful in classroom settings to undertake hands on exercises related to green engineering. A brief demonstration of the PSE software was made to engineering students from freshman to graduate levels in fall 01 semester and summary of students’ observations are presented. Also, live demonstration of the software can be arranged subject to availability of Internet facilities.