Envision for Sustainability Education: From Concept to Impact

Using the Envision framework alongside other sustainability tools, faculty share valuable sustainability knowledge for real-world applications.

Increasing numbers of college and university professors are incorporating ISI’s Envision Sustainable Infrastructure Framework, responding to their students’ strong desire to learn sustainability concepts and knowledge that can be readily applied in their careers.

Envision is a framework and rating system designed to help infrastructure stakeholders implement more sustainable, resilient, and equitable projects. Envision includes 64 sustainability and resilience indicators, called ‘credits’, organized around five categories. Each credit includes criteria questions to help project teams examine options for incrementally improving a project’s sustainable performance.

When asked about the importance of sustainability education, Dr. Kandiah Ramanitharan, Professor of Environmental Engineering in the Department of Water Resources Management at Central State University in Ohio, stated, “Sustainability education plays a crucial role for students pursuing careers in engineering, as well as for all individuals who are mindful of the well-being of their fellow human beings and the quality of life for future generations.”

Envision is helping educators to address evolving needs. Prabh Banga, VP of Sustainability for Aecon, who also is a part-time Professor at Seneca College and the University of Toronto, teaching Corporate Sustainability, uses Envision because it “helps to foster critical thinking about how to balance environmental stewardship with social impact and economic growth, preparing students to be more responsible and innovative future leaders in sustainable infrastructure development.”

Undergraduate and graduate students in civil and environmental engineering, urban planning and environmental science, in particular, benefit from Envision in the classroom. The framework can be used to expand students’ thinking around potential sustainability trade-offs and benefits in the context of actual projects, and it can support course work. Banga noted that Envision exposes students to “tools used in real-world projects to evaluate the sustainability of various infrastructures, making their education more relevant to contemporary challenges in the field.”

Dr. Diana Byrne, an assistant professor in the University of Kentucky’s Civil Engineering Department, obtained her Envision Sustainability Professional (ENV SP) credential to better understand Envision and integrate it into the classroom — and valuable learning has resulted. After introducing the framework, she takes up a select number of credits in more detail with her class before leading into small-group discussion and presentations linked to specific project examples. “We spend some time looking at a few specific Envision credits that are highly related to course topics we discussed earlier in the semester, such as life-cycle cost analysis with LD3.3, greenhouse gas emissions with CR1.2, and water consumption with RA3.2,” Byrne explains. Students then apply this knowledge to consider the project focus, potential stakeholders, sustainability considerations, and relevant Envision credits for an Envision verified project.

“I use Envision in the classroom because from my perspective, sustainability rating systems like Envision are the most likely way that our civil engineering students will interact with sustainability in their careers in industry,”

— Professor Diana Byrne, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Kentucky

A similar perspective was shared by Dr. Ramanitharan, who says Envision equips students with the necessary tools to measure and implement sustainable practices effectively and a methodology to “evaluate both the sustainability accomplishments and the potential for sustainable practices in civil or environmental engineering projects.” With sustainability education playing a crucial role for students pursuing careers in engineering, Ramanitharan says he also benefitted from taking ISI’s Train the Trainer course. “It was instrumental in enhancing my ability to teach topics related to sustainability.”

The rise in interest in Envision among professors is no surprise to Dr. Leslie Brunell, ISI’s Director of Education, who was a civil engineering professor at Stevens Institute of Technology for 14 years before coming to ISI. In the latter part of her academic career, she observed how students and faculty gravitated to frameworks and tools designed for implementing sustainability in a professional context as opposed to those focused on theory. Specifically created for use in civil infrastructure, Envision was also unusual in having grown out of a collaboration with academia, through the then-Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. “The Envision Framework’s development embodies the growing momentum in both academia and professional practice that has put a stronger focus on sustainable solutions,” Brunell notes.

Achieving sustainability goals in infrastructure development is not confined to civil engineering; it requires collaboration among experts from many fields, including urban planning, environmental studies, and construction management, to name a few. Envision is a good fit in the classroom because students tend to reflect the cross-disciplinary makeup of teams working on sustainability projects, creating an opportunity for early cross-functional collaboration. This is supported by Envision’s common language for sustainability in infrastructure, which is not highly technical — or exclusive to one discipline. This can be especially helpful for introducing topics outside students’ major or concentration. “It’s very helpful for me to communicate environmental planning specifically – environmental planning, environmental impact assessments, sustainability reporting, those kinds of topics,” says Dr. David Abraham of Rice University, the current chair of ISI’s Academic Committee.

Envision offers a unique benefit in response to a growing emphasis on sustainability accreditation and certifications for students. Through engagement with Envision in the classroom, many students have an introduction to Envision. They now have the opportunity to pursue the credential on their own should they choose to.

Academic Community Engagement

ISI has collaborated with faculty and members of the academic community on the role and use of Envision in education since the framework’s introduction in 2012. An Academic Committee was established in 2013 to focus on Envision in the classroom, exploring student credentials and tools and resources over the last decade. Dr. Brunell joining ISI in 2023 energized this collaboration.

“We have currently three subcommittees that are tasked with developing content that we can disseminate to anyone who is interested in using Envision in the classroom,” explains Brunell. One subcommittee is tasked with developing a curriculum matrix – essentially mapping any courses in sustainability that would benefit from the application of Envision. A second is working on short presentations for faculty members to introduce Envision in the context of their course, mainly focused on the five sectors (transportation, water, energy, land-environmental, and waste).

A third committee is developing case studies that faculty can use within their courses, that not only integrate Envision but also might address some of the requirements of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) through the development of discussion questions.

“There is a lot of work to do, but strengthening engagement with academia and students is an important goal for ISI,” says Brunell. “This is the generation that will have the greatest influence on how projects are planned, designed, and delivered in years to come.”

Each year, the ISI Annual Conference hosts a poster competition, providing a platform for students to present Envision-related posters as part of a professional conference. The 2025 ISI Annual Conference will be held October 22–23. Both the call for posters and the call for abstracts were recently opened.

Read Part 2 of this article: How students and young career professionals are benefiting from Envision in practice